Emmanuel College, Cambridge

Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.

The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay on the site of a Dominican friary. Mildmay, a Puritan, originally intended Emmanuel to be a college of training for Protestant preachers to rival the successful Catholic theological schools that had trained Dominican friars for years.

Emmanuel still has some theological students, but has broadened itself to include students of a wide variety of subjects. Emmanuel College opened its doors to female students in 1979.

"Emma", as the college is known throughout the university, attracts large numbers of undergraduate applications owing to its reputation as a "friendly college" (although several other colleges also claim this).

Emmanuel topped the Tompkins Table, which ranks colleges according to end-of-year examination results, in 2003, '04, '06, '07, and '10 and was second in 2001, '02, '08, '09, and '11. Emmanuel has been among the top five colleges since 1998. The 2011 figures ('10, '09 in brackets) were 69.79% (69.11%,66.99%) with 31.8% (33.2%,26.2%) awarded as First Class degrees.

Emmanuel is one of the wealthier colleges at Cambridge with an estimated financial endowment of £140m (2008).

Notable features
Emmanuel's chapel was designed by Christopher Wren in 1677 replacing the original chapel, which became the library (until 1930). There is a large fish pond in the grounds, home of a colony of ducks. Until the late 1990s, these were largely Mallards, but a former Master donated a variety of more exotic duck species, including the Carolina, the Mandarin, the Pintail, the Tufted, and the Wigeon.

There is a fine example of an Oriental plane tree in the Fellows' Garden, which is reputed to have lived far longer than is typical of the species. The Fellows' Garden also contains a swimming pool which is one of the oldest bathing pools in Europe.

The college also holds a celebrated May Ball biannually, traditionally falling on either the Sunday or Monday of May Week.

College Grace and Thanksgiving
The following Latin grace is recited before formal dinners at Emmanuel College (Oratio Ante Cibum):

Oculi omnium in te sperant, Domine,

et tu das escam illorum in tempore opportuno.

Aperis tu manum tuam

et imples omne animal benedictione.

Benedic, Domine, nos et dona tua

quae de tua largitate sumus sumpturi;

per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

Translated into English, the Oratio Ante Cibum reads as follows:

The eyes of all wait upon thee, O Lord,

and thou givest them their meat in due season.

Thou openest thine hand

and fillest every living thing with blessing.

Bless us, O Lord and these the gifts

which of thy bounty we are about to receive;

through Christ our Lord. Amen

The following Oratio Post Cibum is sometimes read after dinner:

Confiteantur tibi, Domine, omnia opera tua,

et sancti tui benedicant te.

Agimus tibi gratias, omnipotens Deus,

pro universis beneficiis tuis,

qui vivis et regnas Deus per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.

Translated into English, the Orato Post Cibum reads as follows:

Let all thy works give thanks to thee. O Lord,

and let thy saints bless thee.

We give thanks to thee, almighty God,

for all thy goodness,

who livest and reignest as God for ever and ever. Amen.



Students' Union
The Emmanuel College Students' Union (ECSU – ) provides a shop, a bar, a common room, and funding for sports and other societies. ECSU's Executive Committee is elected on a yearly basis at the end of Michaelmas Term. The individual officers fulfil varying roles, each designed to aid and improve student life within the college. ECSU also acts as a formal channel of communication between the students and the College authorities.

The Emmanuel College Middle Combination Room Emma MCR is the union for post-graduate students at Emmanuel College. The MCR is situated in a comfortable and well equipped room the Queen's Building. The MCR committee organises regular social events for graduate students, including well-attended formal dinners in hall every few weeks.

Sports and Societies in Emmanuel College
A large number of student societies and sports clubs exist at Emmanuel College. Sports include Tennis, Rowing, Cricket, Rugby, Football, Squash, Netball and more. There are also a whole host of other societies including Emmanuel College Music Society (ECMS), the Christian Union, the Mountaineering Club, the Emmanuel Real Ice Cream Society (ERICS), and the Politics and Economics Society. Students are able to get funding for new societies from Emmanuel College Student union (ECSU).

Civil partnerships
In February 2006, the Rev. Jeremy Caddick, the Dean of Emmanuel College, announced that Emmanuel's chapel would be open to the blessing of same-sex civil partnerships—becoming the first in the Church of England to do so. Emmanuel's chapel is not under the formal jurisdiction of the local Church of England bishop, and did not have to obey a House of Bishops ruling against such blessings.

Only members and alumni of the college may be blessed in this way. The decision was supported both by the College council and the students' union.

May Ball, 2009
In 2009, Emmanuel College hosted its May Ball based on the theme of the 'British Empire'. Some of the promotional material for the ball included wording such as "Once, there was an empire that governed a quarter of the world's population, covered about the same proportion of the earth's land, and dominated nearly all her oceans" and "They say that the sun never set on the British Empire - but at the Empire ball, you'll be wishing it never rises". This caused significant controversy, with some outside observers even going as far as saying that the College was advocating racism and slavery, and opposition was substantial enough that the story made it into the national press.

Eventually, under intense media scrutiny and after a Facebook campaign attracted over 100 supporters, the organising committee of the May Ball decided to remove the word 'Empire' from the title of the Ball, although the overall theme was still maintained, as participants were invited to "experience the Pax Britannica and party like it's 1899".

Notable alumni

 * See also Category:Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge

Emmanuel graduates had a large involvement in the settling of North America. Of the first 100 university graduates in New England, one-third were graduates of Emmanuel College. Harvard University, the first college in The United States, was named after John Harvard (B.A., 1632), who was an Emmanuel graduate. Early Emmanuel men included several translators of the 1611 Authorised Version.

Other alumni and members of Emmanuel include:

• 3 Fictional characters who have been said to have gone to Emmanuel include Jonathan Swift's Lemuel Gulliver.

It is implied that Sebastian Faulks' eponymous Engleby and Thomas Richardson also matriculated at Emmanuel.