Sexism row as Oxford college picks men-only club for bash
ABASTION of political correctness, Oxford University has nevertheless become embroiled in a sexism row after choosing a gentlemen’s club that bans women members as the venue for its dinner for former students.
New College, whose famous alumni include the actors Kate Beckinsale and Hugh Grant and the late Labour minister Tony Benn, decided to hold its Society Dinner at the Savile Club in Mayfair. The club, which was used to film scenes in ITV period drama Downton Abbey and includes Rudyard Kipling among its former members, has banned women from joining since it was established in 1868.
After an outcry from Oxford graduates, the college, whose motto is ‘Manners Makyth Man’, has cancelled the dinner, which was scheduled for November, and is now looking for an alternative place to hold it.
‘The decision to change the venue follows comments received from a number of Old Members regarding the Savile Club’s membership rules,’ says Jamie
Dundas, president of the New College Society (NCS), in an email to alumni.
‘We had of course established with the Club that our dinner would be open to men and women. But the fact remains that the Club’s rules, other than for events of this sort, restrict ordinary membership to men only.’
Dundas adds: ‘The whole purpose of this dinner is to bring together as many Old Members as possible who would like to join in what I hope will be a very convivial evening, attended also by Miles Young, the new Warden of the College.
‘I and the NCS Committee do not want to risk causing offence to any Old Member on account of the venue.’
The sexism row will be particularly embarrassing to Young, who is due to take up his post as Warden at the end of this month.
He is boss of advertising giant Ogilvy & Mather, whose rival firm Saatchi & Saatchi has been the subject of a furious sexism row this week. Yesterday, Saatchi’s executive chairman Kevin Roberts resigned after being accused of chauvinism for claiming that women in the advertising industry lacked the ambition to get to the top and were not held back by sexism.