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COLLEGE LIFEThe life of a JuniorEnrique Sacau (2003, DPhil, Music)‘My wrath is as fearsome as my countenance is splendid’Emma Thompson in Angels in AmericaTHE ABOVE QUOTATION, taken from an American miniseriesbut reminiscent of the Old Testament, is not simplya pedantic way to say ‘don’t hate us because we’rebeautiful’, but is an elegant encapsulation of what beinga Junior Dean means and represents. Whether we break upparties or put people to bed, we do not bear grudges. Butwhat do we really do? In describing our duties, it wouldbe too easy to indulge in extravagant descriptions of our‘terrible’ position in College: half graduates, half membersof the establishment; half young, half old; half prisoners,half guards and as many etceteras as the baroque writermay want to add. Indeed, after eight terms juniordeaning,I could gather an eye-popping list of misdemeanours andother embarrassing situations which involve respectablemembers-to-beof society. The jocularity of this accountcould then be ornamented sombrely with countlessreferences to the welfare of many and to the sadlyunforgettable pieces of information we have heard in thecourse of duty. Fear not, for I do not intend to inflict suchpain upon my readers. Instead, I will offer you an overviewof ‘the life and works of the Junior Deans’, starting fromwhen I first heard about that intrinsically Oxford entity.Along with ‘scout’, ‘battels’ and ‘subfusc’, I had tofamiliarise myself with the concept of the Junior Dean (JD)at Oxford. Rather an odd title, I thought, for a rather oddjob. Do people really need JDs to tell them when to party?Do students really go to these people to talk about theirproblems? I was soon to find out. The opportunity waspresented to me by Dev Gangjee, my predecessor, whoencouraged me to apply for the job. What followed wereeight terms of utter shock and bliss. Breaking up parties(showing our ‘fearsome wrath’) was, arguably, not the bestpart, but helping to plan them in a safer way has beenexcellent. I have also thoroughly enjoyed being involvedin devising better protocols to deal with disciplinary issues(such as abolishing fines) and sorting out problems beforethey spiral out of control. Then there is the welfare side ofEnrique Sacau6 /THE LIFE OF A JUNIOR DEAN