Remember the Bod!

People say the British are boring; staid; implacable; even uptight. Their days consist of drinking tea (pinkies out), cheering polo matches, discussing Shakespeare, and "By Jove"-ing. I read an article from The New York Times not too long ago contrasting the decorum of the British with their continental French counterparts regarding budget cutbacks; I can bear witness to the reporter's assertions about the Brits' relative equanimity, having shaken my head in amazement at the never-ending Parisian metro strikes.

But then again, it is not every day that the Bodleian Library is held hostage.

Yes, you read right: the Bodleian Library. At 9:24 am all Oxford University students received the following email in their mailboxes: "The Radcliffe Camera and Old Bodleian Library are closed to all readers and visitors until further notice as a result of student action. We will reopen as soon as possible." "Student action," indeed! Around 70 students (Honor Code admission: my main source for statistics is the BBC website) stormed the Bastille, I mean, the Bodleian, protest signs in hand, slogans committed to memory, and hearts stirred for action. A friend told me (presumably from first- or second-hand experience) that the protesters politely asked the library staff to vacate the building, while they proceeded to hang flags--and themselves--out the windows of the library.

The implications of this were interesting to consider. In my little corner of Oxford University, nothing seemed any different. There is one book waiting for me at the Duke Humfrey reading room of the Old Bod, but it is not urgent, and otherwise my life continued to consist of the English faculty building, the Social Sciences Library (the closest place to study and obtain food), and St. Catherine's College--all within two minutes of eachother. It was hard for me to envisage the protests actually affecting my life significantly, until I received another email from the president of our college MCR:

4:24 pm:

"Dear All,

As you might have noticed, some of the libraries in Oxford have been
closed due to an occupation by protesters. If you run into trouble
with your academic work because of that, please consider the following
two points:

1. Prior to deadline for submission, students may submit a written
request to the Proctors' Office seeking an extension to the deadline
equivalent to the time lost through the Bodleian Libraries' closure.
Any such request must be submitted by the student to their college
Senior Tutor...

2. Alternatively, students may submit their coursework on time and instead register a request that the examiners take into consideration the disruption in the Bodleian when marking their examinations...."

Now here was disruption! I could hardly imagine the protestors having food airlifted into the upper reading rooms by helicopter (although I wouldn't underestimate those Indian delivery guys), so I imagined that the library closure would not seriously impinge on my studying. But the idea raised by the above email that the closure could last long enough to actually require the formulation of official college regulations was both scary and (let's face it) slightly thrilling. I must admit, when I read on the BBC that the protestors had been "forcibly removed," according to one witness, from the building, my self-important bubble deflated the tiniest bit.

But I must also say, with my friend Ben, that the Brits' new-realized political fervor does not altogether reflect perfectly on the Brits. Ben told me that one protestor was literally hanging out the window of the Old Library, while disgruntled postgraduate students whose studying had been disrupted erupted in a chorus of "Fall! Fall!". As Ben reflected, the groupthink mentality evinced here is not only stupid, but dangerous. What if he had fallen? Who would have taken the blame? Would it have been the politicians who haven't been seriously acknowledging students' efforts to protest imminent cuts to the university system? Would it have been the University for not taking more stringent measures against the protestors? Would it have been the leaders of the protest, for failing to remind their members that they are not on the lowest order of the evolutionary scale? Would it have been the taunting students, who bear some responsibility for encouraging the student's stupidity without an ounce of pity? Or would it have been the student himself, whose lack of common sense makes me hope he wasn't a member of the same university as myself?

Thankfully, such questions are irrelevant. The student is safe, the Bodleian is once its empty apolitical self, and it's 2:30 am and all's well. It has been amusing to see British political ardor gets its groove back. I do admire the students' efforts to take part in the political process and shed the apathy so pervasive at Princeton, Oxford, and other single-minded academic institutions. The value of an education and how much it should be funded is an important issue about which people should get excited.

But I must confess that activism which involves hanging out windows seems rather fruitless, especially when the protestors' espoused goal was NO cuts to education at all (let's face it, gents: the economy is in recession, everything must be cut, and YOU DON'T PAY NEARLY WHAT AMERICANS DO!!).

And also, I just want my library back.