'Women's' Oxford college under fire for all-male University Challenge team

Oxford University's St Hugh's College has been criticised for fielding an all-male team
Jessica Morgan3 October 2017

A former all-female Oxford college that was set up by a woman for women has been blasted for putting forward an all-male team in University Challenge.

St Hugh's College, which has famous alumni including Theresa May and Barbara Castle, began admitting men in 1987.

But some questioned the all-male team submitted to Tuesday's episode, including Jeremy Paxman who joked: "On the basis of tonight's team, we could be forgiven for thinking they'd (men) rather taken it over."

Others waded in, including the pro-vice-chancellor of the University of Brighton, Professor Tara Dean, who tweeted: "St Hugh's College, Oxford. Set up-1886 to offer women a HE opportunity.

"In 2017: an all man university challenge crew from St Hugh's. Hmm.."

A Twitter user wrote: "Where are the women? Appalled that there are so few on @BBC #UniversityChallenge It's becoming a male club."

Another added: "That's the second time recently I've seen what used to be a women's college with an all-male team, grr. #UniversityChallenge"

This is not the first time the show has been embroiled in a row over being male-dominated.

Jeremy Paxman himself addressed the issues earlier this year whereby he wrote in the Financial Times that "since we know that intelligence is not determined by gender, it must be a question of taste.

"The teams are not chosen by the college or university authorities but by the students themselves.

"The students are encouraged to enter teams which broadly reflect their institution. I suspect that - like football or darts - more males than females care about quizzing."

He added that "long experience" had convinced him that "the contest cannot be engineered at any stage."

A BBC spokesman said: "The make-up of each team is determined by the universities themselves, and whilst we do encourage them to reflect the diversity of their student population, ultimately each university has their own team selection process."

St Hugh's College has been contacted by the Standard for a comment.

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