Coping and Capping

Well that was fun! Quite high up there in the set of things that I never even considered I might do would’ve been awarding degrees. But by dint of being President and thus standing in for Simon, on Saturday I did exactly that.

The University held a Congregation for those being admitted to the Cambridge MA (“Magistri in Artibus” – Master of Arts). Degrees are conferred by the Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor or nominated deputy. Apparently, typically, for this one and the main undergraduate congregation in July, that nominated deputy Vice-Chancellor is usually the Head of House for the College concerned. In this case, as President at Christ’s is effectively deputy Master (~ Head of House), it me.

So instead of the usual Batman-style black gown, I got to wear the rather natty Superman-style cope, hence I was coped. I also got to wear one of the fancy hats (“square cap” or mortarboard) for the first time, hence I was also capped.

And as many other officers were also appropriately hatted, and out of respect to the role would cap me at many available opportunities, the written advice I received was literally that “officers will cap you – you do not have to cap back” because the cope makes it difficult to do so.

So, in brief, it seems I coped with being coped and capped but could not cope with capping while coped. To add to the excitement, I also had to Do Some Latin. Thankfully it’s a dead language so I assume all it could do was turn in its grave while I butchered it.

I hope everyone had a good time anyway!