Visiting Goodenough College – information for Alumni

In terms of access to the College estate by Alumni (and, indeed, our other friends and partners), there are two issues at present (2022).

First, many of the London universities are restricting student access to facilities on their campuses, which has meant that our own on-site amenities, from libraries to common areas to dining facilities, are much busier than usual throughout the day. Since we must clearly prioritise the needs of current Members, I took a decision at the start of the academic year that we would restrict access to the College estate to Members only, to ease the pressure on resources. Until the universities open up more fully (I suspect not before the next academic year), we will need to continue to reserve access to the College estate to our Members. This becomes particularly important as we move into the exam season: most of our Members will be sitting their exams and writing their theses here in College and we’ll need to maintain an atmosphere of calm and ordered industry for their benefit.

Secondly, a number of incidents have given rise to safeguarding concerns in the context of the College’s policy on access to its estate. It is clear that we need to manage the risks differently. You will understand that it makes sense for the College to be clear (for example, in the event of fire) who precisely is on its premises at any given moment. This is the reason that all Members are asked to be scrupulous in signing in guests. After serious and repeated abuses of the sign-in system by a small number of individuals, including some unpleasant behaviour towards our kind and hard-working Reception staff, I regret that the College is unable to be open freely to Alumni until we have further reviewed our safeguarding strategy.  As I am sure you will appreciate, ensuring that our Members feel secure during their time with us is of utmost importance.

This does not mean, of course, that Alumni aren’t able to visit the College. Our Alumni team arrange a variety of events at which you would be most welcome (for example, we have a monthly Formal Hall dinner by candlelight and the Alumni Association has all sorts of treats planned). Please see the Alumni diary for information on upcoming events. We also remain very happy for Alumni to visit the College if they are hosted by a current Member or staff member whilst on the College estate. And if you’d simply like to drop by to show off the Great Hall to your friends or relations, do feel free to email alumni@goodenough.ac.uk to submit a request. All visitors are required to sign in at Reception and Alumni should show an Alumni ID card. (If you don’t have a card, you are welcome to apply for one by emailing a photo of yourself (in jpeg format) to alumni@goodenough.ac.uk, along with your full name, the dates you lived at College and the House in which you resided.)

Best wishes

Alice Walpole