Glossary of Cambridge jargonGlossary of Cambridge jargonSabbatical - system of academic leave, where every six term's service qualifies one for one term's paid leave to undertake research free of all other teaching and administrative duties (or six years earns one year's leave).
SAR (i) - Senior Assistant in Research.
SAR (ii) - Society for the Application of Research.
Scarlet - the festal gown for Doctors, normally bright red.
Scarlet Day - a day in the university calendar when Doctors wear Scarlet.
Scholar - a student who holds a Scholarship. See also: Commoner, Pensioner, Sizar.
Scholarship - a college award whereby a student receives income from the endowments of the College, thus offsetting living expenses. Formerly, a scholarship might result in free tuition and commons.
School (i) - grouping of University Faculties, by broad subject area. Each School is governed by a Council.
School (ii) - (now rare) university teaching building, e.g. Arts School, Divinity School, and possibly Old Schools.
Scientific Periodicals Library - library in the Arts School, formerly that of the Philosophical Society.
Sconce - (strictly an Oxford term) a drinking forfeit imposed after a breach of table etiquette at Hall.
SCR - see Combination Room.
Screens - properly, the passage formed by screening off a dining hall from the doors leading to the outside world. Subsequently applied to the notice boards which were hung on the screens gates. Now a generic term for notice-boards.
Second - as in "I got a Second". Second Class Honours.
Second M.B. - the second part of the M.B. examination, taken during undergraduate pre-clinical training.
Secretary General of the Faculties - University Officer who is head of the General Board administration, and secretary to the General Board itself.
Sedgwick - the Museum of Geology. Not to be confused with Sidgwick.
Seeley - library of the Faculty of History; the building containing the library on the Sidgwick Site.
Senate - the body of all Masters of the University (whether resident or not), now having almost no powers. Meets at Discussions.
Senate, Council of the - former name of the most powerful committee in the university; submits Graces to the Regent House. Now called simply The Council.
Senate House - university building beside the Old Schools where Congregations of the Regent House and Discussions of the Senate are held.
Senior (noun, now rarely used) - an undergraduate or graduate student who is not a fresher, as in "Seniors should call on their Tutor on Wednesday." Not to be confused with Senior Member.
Senior Assistant in Research - university academic post with an emphasis on research and limited in the amount of teaching that may be undertaken.
Senior Bursar - a college officer, responsible for finance and investments.
Senior Fellow - the Fellow who has been a Fellow longest.
Senior Member - a member (of college, or of university) who is a Master or higher.
Senior Treasurer - a Senior Member of a student club who has overview of the finances.
Senior Tutor - college officer responsible for college teaching and discipline, assisted by the other Tutors.
Senior Wrangler - the Wrangler who came top.
Sent down - the colloquial way of saying "expelled". A punishment, now rare, involving premature termination of a university career. In former times, sometimes celebrated with a mock funeral procession (usually to the railway station).
Septemviri - seven persons constituting (i) a court of appeal against decisions of the Court of Discipline in the case of junior members; and (ii) a court of first instance in disciplinary cases against senior members.
Set - residential room(s) in a college.
Sex Club - the JCR at Peterhouse.
Shire Hall - the offices, on Castle Hill, of the Cambridgeshire County Council.
Sidgwick - a university site between Sidgwick Avenue and the UL. Not to be confused with Sedgwick.
Single Transferable Vote - voting system, as defined by Ordinances, used within the University for elections to certain Councils, Boards,etc.
Sizar - in medieval times, a poor student who paid his way at college by taking on menial domestic chores.
Slits - Undergraduate and B.A. gowns have slits cut in the fronts of the sleeves through which the arms can be passed when eating so that the sleeve proper does not trail in food. M.A.s and higher degrees do not have these slits; perhaps they are reckoned not to have such problems at table.
Small Bridge - the huge bridge carrying Silver Street over the river. See also: Great Bridge.
Small Bridges Street - former name of Silver Street.
Smoking Concert (or Smoker) - a comic revue, or light-hearted concert, where the audience (certainly in former times, less so now) dress in smoking jackets, or dinner jackets.
Societies Syndicate - university committee dispensing assistance to university societies.
Soph (for Sophister) - archaic term. Junior Soph = second year undergraduate. Senior Soph = third year undergraduate.
Special - Now extinct. See Ordinary (i).
SPL - Scientific Periodicals Library.
Sport - as in to sport one's oak: to close the oak (q.v.). To signal to the world that one does not wish to be disturbed. It is a grave social offence to knock upon a sported oak., a fact which seems to have been forgotten by most current students.
Sport keys - extinct term for room keys.
SPRI - Scott Polar Research Institute.
SPS - Social and Political Sciences.
Square - the square academic cap, popularly, but incorrectly called a mortar board. See also: bonnet.
Squash (i) - a game played with racquets in a Squash Court.
Squash (ii) - a party or reception, usually at the beginning of the academic year, with the object of introducing large numbers of people to some club, society, or organisation.
Squire - the library of the Law Faculty.
in Statu Pupillari - the state of being an undergraduate or graduate student in the university. All persons in statu pupillari must have a Tutor, and are subject to disciplinary rules.
Statutes - the formal legal powers granted to the University or a College by the Crown, acting through the Privy Council, enabling the University or College to be a self-governing corporation. Within the framework of Statutes, the University enacts Ordinances by Grace, creating internal legislation defining how the University conducts itself.
Steward - college officer responsible for the kitchens and food in Hall.
Stipend - Cambridge academics have stipends, not salaries.
Strings - bits of a Cambridge B.A. or M.A. gown; signify the wearer is a Cambridge graduate. Those who hold merely the status of B.A. or M.A. should remove the strings from their gown.
STV - Single Transferable Vote.
Suicide Sunday - the Sunday immediately after the end of Easter Full Term, after exams have finished, but before the results have come out. Usually celebrated with cocktail parties.
Supervision - a tutorial held by a Supervisor.
Supervisor - person appointed by the college to teach students. At Oxford, such a person is called a Tutor. The supervisor for a research student is appointed by the University.
Supplicat - (noun) the application made to the university by the Praelector of a college for the award of a degree to student(s) of that college.
Syndic - a person who serves on a Syndicate.
Syndicate - in the university, a general term for a committee which is grander than a plain committee, but not as grand as a Board.
Syndicate Room - a room in the Old Schools.
This compilation is Copyright (C) R.D.H. Walker 1991-97. rdhw@cam.ac.uk