A controversial email has sparked an argument about "posh boys" and privilege at Sidney Sussex.

The email, sent out by Sidney Sussex College Student Union (SSCSU) Access Officer Sam Reed, mocked class privilege, and was met by an angry response on Facebook.

The debate began on Sunday, after Reed sent an email to college members entitled “Women Listening to Cambridge Public School Boys in Sidney's Art.”

The email contained a series of pictures of portraits of bemused women from the college's art collection, interspersed with text describing the inner monologues of them listening to "posh boys" speak, such as: “I am really paying attention hard / to you telling me about your internship in London that your dad got you / even though no one asked you about your internship in London that your dad got you.”

The email, which contained 11 portraits each with its own associated caption, was intended to promote the role of SSCSU Access Officer, a role for which elections are being held at the end of term.

It was followed by another email on Sunday afternoon, entitled: “Women Confirming That The Content Of My Previous Email Was Purely Representative Of My Own Views And Not Those of SSCSU, in Cambridge University's Art”. It contained several more portraits, with captions including “oh noooooooo / some men told us we may cause offence to some other men / #CuffMeNow.”

The second email described how the first “was meant to be a tongue-in-cheek attempt to provide some light Sunday morning comic relief while also highlighting the struggles access students face in comparison to those granted more privilege.” It also said that Reed hoped "to clarify that any help is really really welcome.”

Early on Monday morning, a post was made on a Facebook page for college members, which accused the Reed of having made an “unnecessary clichéd dig” at "posh boys."

“I would have hoped such an individual,” the poster said, “would be able to transcend such arbitrary lines and focus more on encouraging people from all backgrounds to help with the important issue of access without being divisive.”

It was met with derision in the comments, with one user commenting “#PoshBoyProblems”, and saying “this post comes from such a position of privilege.” Others agreed, with one saying the post was “trivialising class issues”. Reed was the first to comment, saying “aww bby”.

Reed later commented more fully, arguing that the “arbitrary lines you speak of are the very real and tangible disadvantages” faced by applicants.

“…maybe those who were offended by the email can volunteer their time,” said Reed, “and personally dispel the myths about this place to prospective candidates - instead of y’kno, complaining on a Facebook group with loads of other lucky people who jumped enough hoops to get into a pretty great uni.”

“No one is trying to start a class war or anything,” said Reed.

This was followed up by another post by the same user on Monday afternoon. He said that with retrospect he “would like to apologise to Sam [Reed] for singling him out”.

“It is clear,” they said, “that the intention of my post was to encourage the breaking down of social barriers. By poking fun at ‘posh boys’, Sam’s email, in my opinion, alienated individuals of the college, thus creating, ironically, more social barriers than it broke down.”

They wrote that “the issues of sexism, racism and homophobia are not solely found in the white middle class community but throughout wider society. Throughout the comments there are overtones that these traits are being coupled with white privileged men in an inextricable way, and that university “is a chance for individuals to have their views challenged, and in turn refine and or change their viewpoints.”

One comment praised the “more thoughtful, nuanced, and frankly different response”.

Reed commented, accepting the poster’s apology and saying “I look forward to you volunteering for future access events - something you are yet to do”.

Speaking to Varsity about the row, SSCSU President Olly Hudson said "An email was sent out from the JCR Access account encouraging students to stand for the position of Access Officer in upcoming JCR elections. However some of the content of the email was considered to be inappropriate. All elected JCR officers have free access to the student mailing list, so no member of the JCR exec was aware of the email before it was sent. The officer responsible was asked to apologise and has since done so".

Sources close to SSCSU suggested to Varsity that the incident had also caused difficulties within the committee, and that Hudson had threatened to revoke Reed’s access to an email account. Both declined to comment on this.

“It's clear that the email was a joke,” a second year student at Sidney told Varsity, “which I and many students, both private and state educated may I add, found very funny....the email was not directed at anyone in particular or private-school educated people in general, an interpretation which he seemed to take, but rather a certain type of private school student that make up the Cambridge stereotype and from my experience put off a lot of people from state schools applying to Cambridge in the first place.”