STUDENTS at Magdalen College, Oxford, have voted to rename their junior common room Gryffindor, in honour of Harry Potter’s house at Hogwarts.
Students passed a motion on Sunday in a vote that could change Magdalen JCR’s name for the first time in its 550-year history and see the JCR referred to as Gryffindor in all official documents.
The student paper Cherwell reported this week that Magdalen JCR president Laurence Mills is planning to contact the JCR presidents of Christ Church, St Hugh’s and Merton, urging them to rename their common rooms Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw respectively.
The motion was passed in the JCR’s general meeting, with only six votes in opposition.
The motion noted that “Magdalen College embodies the values of courage, daring, nerve and chivalry”, the supposed characteristics of Gryffindor in the Harry Potter novels.
Third-year student Zoe Tyndall, who proposed the name change, said: “Magdalen College JCR embodies the exact same values as Gryffindor house at Hogwarts.”
During the debate on the motion, several amendments were suggested.
One would have mandated the JCR president to write to the college president, Professor David Clary, asking if he would change his name to Albus Dumbledore.
Tom Meakin, president-elect of Magdalen JCR commented: “Magdalen does, after all, look a little bit like Hogwarts.”
But some students believe trouble could be on the horizon, if it is established that the name Gryffindor is owned by Warner Brothers, maker of the Harry Potter films.
It is also understood that the decision could have to be ratified by Magdalen College fellows.
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