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Inside Tennyson’s Cambridge p.24
Take a copy
Celebrity Traitors star Nick Mohammed on laughter p.10
It’s not my fault I was followed home p.14
No.937 Friday 17th October 2025 varsity.co.uk The Independent Student Newspaper since 1947
Colleges fall short on student housing ● Five colleges could not supply for over 100 applicants ● 37% of Hughes Hall applicants denied accom ● Average Cambridge monthly rent is £1763 Bela Davidson News Correspondent Five colleges at the University of Cambridge have fallen short in accommodation supply for more than 100 students, with eight having over 100 students living out of college in 2023/24 and 2024/25, a Varsity investigation has found. According to Freedom of Information requests, St. Edmunds, Hughes Hall and Wolfson had the highest rates of accommodation rejection. Colleges were asked to provide statistics for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years on how many full-time students lived in college accommodation, how many requested this, and how many did not receive places. Of the 21 colleges that supplied data, ten said they do not keep records of how many full-time students live outside of college accommodation, while 11 provided statistics. At Churchill, in both years, 103 students lived off-site. Meanwhile, at Christ’s, 42 students were rejected from accommodation in 2023/24, and 21 the following year. However, 183 Christ’s students lived off-site in 2023/24 and 137 in 2024/25. Hughes Hall, one of the colleges with the highest rates of rejection, said that 136 lived outside college in 2023 and 141 in 2024. They added that 30% of applicants were denied college accommodation in 2023, rising to 37% in 2024. Continued on page 3 ▶
Footy captains’ fury at trans ban Maddie Harding and Alexander Brian News Correspondent & Deputy News Editor Several women’s and non-binary college football captains have expressed concerns about plans to ban college football teams from fielding transgender and nonbinary players, in advance of the new football season. The change comes in the wake of new guidance by the Football Association (FA) which states that players must be “biological females” in order to compete at a college level. However, the changes have been criticised by those involved in the college game, with former Jesus captain Lara
Branston describing it as a threat to a “vital queer-inclusionary community”. The acting Vice Captain of the Clare team said she was “disgusted” by the changes, while the Captain of the CaiusCatz-Hughes team stressed that “it’s not right”. The college league, Branston argued, “is defined by its inclusion.” Varsity understands that club captains raised their objections at a meeting last Thursday (9/10), which was attended by university sports staff. At the meeting, several captains pushed back against an email sent by the University’s Director of Sport, Mark Brian, on the 30th of September, which advised clubs to “adhere to the regulations of national governing bodies”.
Cambridge’s Deputy Director of Sport, Karen Pearce, told captains that, while inclusivity was a top priority, the University had a responsibility to abide by the law, as do students organising sports competitions. She added that governing bodies, like the FA, provide a framework for compliance with the law. Failure to follow FA guidance would heighten the risk of a legal case being brought against the club, given that CUWAFL is responsible for adhering to the law, and is liable for all players on the pitch. Varsity understands that the University has been receiving expert advice from an outsourced legal team on this issue. Captains discussed changing the
league from women’s to mixed to ensure trans inclusion. Several captains expressed support for reworking and renaming the league, and they are set to vote on the issue before the start of the new season. Branston, who is also the Women’s Blues captain, voiced her support for the proposal, arguing that “the anxieties around including trans players are not felt by the college captains”. Branston praised the university sports staff for their efforts to maintain an inclusive environment despite the law changes, but added that “trans inclusion in these spaces is very important Continued on page 3 ▶
Inside ● Foundation Year, three years on pg.9 ● Is Cambridge undergoing a religious revival? pg.12 ● What are people wearing to lectures? pg.23