Dr Charlotte Proudman poses on the King's College lawn. Image / Instagram
Dr Charlotte Proudman poses on the King's College lawn. Image / Instagram
Thousands of tourists pass the gates of King’s College Cambridge every year marvelling at the immaculate lawn that lies behind.
But the grass court of the university’s fourth oldest college, one of the city’s most recognisable sights, has now found itself at the centre of a sexism row about who is allowed to stand on it.
A feminist academic has accused a student of “male entitlement” for shouting at her to get off the grass.
Dr Charlotte Proudman, an award-winning barrister and a Cambridge research associate in gender inequality, walked on to the Front Lawn at King’s College this week to pose for a picture in front of the fountain, which dates back to 1879 and features a statue of King Henry VI, the college’s 15th century founder.
The 35-year-old claims that as she stood in the centre of the pristine lawn while her cousin took a photograph with the Gibbs’ Building in the background, a “white male student” shouted: “If they catch you, you’ll get chucked out.”
She said she “sharply told him, ‘I belong here, my portrait hangs in the College Chapel – not his’.”
Dr Proudman's portrait features in the college's exhibition. Image / Instagram
It was either a misunderstanding or a not-so-subtle swipe. College rules hold that while students are banned from the lawns, associate fellows, completed PhD students and mature masters graduates are allowed to walk across them. The “keep off the grass” signs, which apply to all students, even inspired a line in the Pink Floyd song Brain Damage.
Proudman, a leading feminist commentator in the legal world, was visiting to mark how she is featuring in a new portrait exhibition celebrating 50 years of women at the college, as well as remembering her “wonderful and happy years as a PhD student” there.
Her Sunday night post on Twitter where she accused the student of “male entitlement” has been viewed more than two million times.
She told The Telegraph: “When a photograph was taken of me on the lawn to mark this momentous occasion, a student shouted out to me that I would be ‘chucked out’ if I continued to stand on the grass, which ruined what was otherwise a warm homecoming experience.
“I very much doubt the student would have spoken to an older white man standing on the lawn in the same way. It goes to show that young women are still perceived as not belonging in traditional academic institutions.
“I encourage everyone to visit the King’s College exhibition featuring 50 portraits of 50 amazing women, which shatters the stereotypes of what an academic looks like. I urge us to refocus on the shared values that truly define Cambridge, values of respect, growth and an unwavering love for learning.”
Parade one’s entitlement
Dr Proudman said she did not know whether the student was from King’s or another college, and neither the college nor the university responded to requests for comment.
The row has met a mixed reaction online. Patrick O’Flynn, a former member of the European Parliament who graduated from King’s College in 1987, said: “As a ‘senior member’ of King’s, I would be allowed to walk on the grass when visiting.
“But along with most graduates of the college I never would because literally the only reason to do so would be to parade one’s entitlement at the expense of the lawn.”
Ben Ramanauskas, an economist and fellow at the University of Oxford, said: “King’s is probably the most progressive and liberal college and also the best. So it’s unlikely the student was being misogynistic.”
It is the latest row over traditions to flare at Cambridge despite most students being on vacation.
In 2020, the neighbouring King’s College Chapel lawn in Cambridge, which slopes down to the River Cam, was trampled on for the first time in 300 years when it was transformed into a wildflower meadow.
