Pythic Club

The Pythic (or "P") Club is a private students' dining club at Oxford University, formerly based in Christ Church.[1] While the club has historic ties with Christ Church and continues to select its members from the college pool, it is not an official society of the college and meetings are held offsite.

Membership is open by invitation to both 'Students' (i.e., fellows of the college) and undergraduates.[2] It is principally a cultural discussion based dining club.

The college archivist holds materials relating to the club dating back to 1845.[3]

History of the Club

The club was initially set up in 1845 as an essay society by Lord Dufferin, a British colonialist and administrator. Yet by the 1930s, it had become an invite-only dining society, with notable members such as the historian and Conservative peer Hugh Trevor-Roper.[4] It is Christ Church's oldest running and most prominent private members' club.

More recently, the club has been characterised as an exclusive club for "posh students"[5] with dinners believed to start at £90.[6] The dinners also involve select fellows and tutors of the college, who despite not selecting student members themselves, are believed by some to enforce the secrecy and exclusivity of the club.[5]

The club came into the spotlight after the Oxford Student revealed it was being run by the Christ Church's then Senior Censor, Brian Young.[5] The Club received intense criticism from Christ Church JCR members, and was eventually banned from meeting on college grounds.[6]

Criticisms

As the existence of the club became more widely known, students began to criticise the nature of the club. The criticisms were as follows:

  • Membership of the club was restricted to wealthier students and was predominantly made up of the privately educated, contravening equality and diversity rules[7]
  • The club undermined the college's access efforts by "sustaining discrimination on the basis of social class [and] neurotypicality"[6]
  • The club perpetuated the "classist" and "elitist" fallacy of intelligence being linked to ability to conduct oneself in dinner conversation, something "inextricably linked to cultural capital"[6]
  • The club undermined the relationships between students with tutor-members, who could be unsure of fair treatment in tutorials and teaching, leading to feelings of inferiority and self-consciousness[6]

Relationship with the College

Following rumours the Club was attempting to register, and therefore formalise its activities under official college auspices, the JCR Committee of the college voted to condemn the club.[7] An Open Letter was then circulated to students, calling for the club to be refused registration if it failed to abandon "all aspects of secrecy, selectivity, and exclusivity". The letter attracted around 100 signatures before being taken down for unknown reasons.[6] The club subsequently failed to register and was thus banned from meeting in Christ Church.[8] In response to the outcome, Christ Church stated that “Registration requires clubs and societies to abide by all college regulations and policies, including those related to equality and diversity.”[4]

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References
  1. LYALL, Alfred. THE LIFE OF THE MARQUIS OF DUFFERIN AND AVA . 1905
  2. "Hugh was also a member of the more secretive 'P' (the Pythic) Club, for which both students and Students were eligible, by invitation only." 'Hugh Trevor Roper: The Biography', Adam Sisman (WN, 2009), p.46
  3. 'Christ Church Matters', p.3 http://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Christ%20Church%20Matters%2027.pdf, accessed 2 March 2015 (12.27)
  4. Humphries, Will. "Oxford bans secretive dining club for failing diversity targets". ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
  5. "Christ Church Senior Censor Brian Young runs 'exclusive' dining society". The Oxford Student. 2019-06-13. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
  6. T, Arya; on (2020-02-02). "Christ Church bans exclusive 'P Club' from college". The Oxford Student. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
  7. Atkinson, William (2020-02-04). "Christ Church drinking society condemned by students". Cherwell. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
  8. Sampson, Annabel. "Why Oxford has banned a secret dining club". Tatler. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
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