Happy, erm, whatever is in the week before Palm Sunday.

What a daft thing to say, as if the better the university, the fewer “religious” people there must be. Perhaps that would be true if by “top university” you mean one where you can take courses in “Gender privilege” or “sociology of homosexual disadvantage”, which would mean, er, The University of York.

As a Catholic I am both intrigued and disturbed by the Minster proposal. On the one hand letting any of my precious student finance go to the Church of England would be an affront to the 40 Martyrs of England & Wales. On the other, it would be fun to use the building as an historic venue for mass self-congratulation (which is what Liberalism is turning it into anyway).

Happy Easter.

//Cider > Grammar

Looks to me like old scar forehead is the common factor here. I suggest an in-motion meal on the aforementioned express, followed by Stephen Fry reading the Order of the Phoenix to the background delights of Harry and the Potters in the Chamber of Secrets. That should last until 6am when our breakfast is served by Merpeople at the bottom of the Campus lake.

I think I might’ve been one the first to suggest this, though I am open to correction.

Jason, individuals have been suggesting the Minster as a Ball venue for 40 years. Get off your high-horse and stop talking ruibbish. The Easter bunny isn’t kind to children who lie and try to take credit for things they haven’t done. There’s a good chap…

It’s not a dry venue and it seats 600+. The religious argument doesn’t really affect many people – people will see sense that the Minster is a public building and an architectural landmark of the city. It’s not as if we’re going to have to pray before each course. Only extremists will have a problem with having dinner in the minster. If it can allow atheist/ other religious followers to take a tour or walk up the tower, it can let them have a dinner. I doubt many people at a top university are particularly religious anyway. (Save the existence of god debate for another time though!!)

I don’t agree with graduating in the minster for logistical reasons, but we probably deserve to hold at least one event in conjunction with the Minster. It’s a great shame that so many students spend 3+ years in this city without even stepping foot inside.

Regardless, for the reasons I stuck at the bottom of the thread, it seems unlikely to be the perfect venue. Shame.

However, after a lot of discussions I have found that many Christians wouldn’t be that happy with the ball being there, many non-Christians wouldn’t attend because they’d feel uncomfortable and it would take a LOT of work from Democracy&Services/Campaigns/whoever to get that to happen… it looks like an unsuitable venue, even if I for one 100% wish that my graduation dinner will be there.

But I’m sure if we look enough we can find somewhere. The National Railway Museum looks unsuitable for a number of reasons and I suspect would ask for an earlier closing time and not have a suitable gig venture (we could have it just for the dinner but there’s no real difference between the Racecourse and NRM for that and it would still be awkward)…

But hey-ho, after Fresher’s on-campus Ball people may change their tune or may decide that they loved the Racecourse all along, or suchlike. We’ll see!

From what I understand it, Durham have their Graduate supper in the Cathedral and Kent hold theirs at Canterbury Cathedral; neither are ‘dry’ events. Quite the opposite.

From a personal view, I’m glad the debate has been above and beyond ‘campus or racecourse’ and people are considering other options. Let’s hope Lewis makes this a key aspect of next year’s aims in his new position on YUSU. I for one, think certainly a meal at The Minster would be a serious was of saying cheerio to York.

Umm… does anyone honestly think that the Minster would be ok with hundreds of drunken students holding a ball inside their medieval cathedral?