There’s no denying what a wonderful environment Cambridge is. From the sublime architecture and the ‘sublime’ music at Cindies, to fascinating debates at the Union and gripping theatre shows, the city perpetually lives up to its reputation as an incredible place in which to reside, packed with amazing things to do at every hour of the day. Even within days of first arriving as a student in the city, the thought of living at an unfeasibly staggering distance to the Van of Life seems appalling.

But imagine if, God forbid, the ‘Week Five Blues’ have hit you like a truck, or your supervision removed all traces of any positive self-esteem you had been cultivating, or you are simply experiencing a distressing period of time. What then? Perhaps you might feel that you needed a quick visit home for the weekend to cuddle your pets, or eat a proper meal, or actually get a good night’s sleep. And, at any other university, this would be possible. Yet, if you’re at Cambridge, you can forget it.

While most of the University of Cambridge’s customs are bizarre yet ultimately harmless, the obligation to ‘keep term’ has the potential to trigger severe suffering. The tradition threatens to confiscate your chance of acquiring a degree from Cambridge for the trivial reason of failing to spend the required number of nights within three miles of Great St Mary’s Church. Living under the pressure of such a threat can become incredibly fatiguing: who wants to be perpetually reminded of the fine line they walk upon? And if you attempt an escape from the confines of this ridiculous rule by persuading your college to allow you to leave Cambridge for a night or two, it is necessary to stay in Cambridge for a longer period at the end of term to make up for the lost time, a solution that can be problematic in itself.

At particular colleges, the menace of ‘keeping term’ becomes truly evident: the website of one claims that if you have been “deemed not to have kept Term … [you] are therefore not eligible to continue your studies at Cambridge”, while another declares that if permission to leave Cambridge is not officially sought, a student may “jeopardise their standing to … be admitted to a degree”. It is clear that the custom of ‘keeping term’ is considered a serious aspect of life at Cambridge – so serious, in fact, that if not obeyed it can result in expulsion from the University. It is rather frightening to realise that there could be horrific consequences even if you only decided to leave Cambridge for fewer than 24 hours. And whether such threats are empty or not, the psychological damage of these comments remains.

The idea of ‘keeping term’ almost transforms Cambridge into a prison-like environment: yes, it’s a lovely place to live and work, but to have no option of leaving means you are effectively trapped for eight weeks. Feeling claustrophobic yet? No matter what you do you must, without fail, sleep for 59 nights within the established vicinity of Great St Mary’s. That’s an awfully large amount of time to be confined for.

Maybe I’m being too harsh. After all, the rule is there for a reason: by being forced to stay in the academic whirlwind of a city that is Cambridge, you are encouraged to work rather than waste time doing goodness knows what at home. And it does help create very strong social ties with great people, leading to long-lasting friendships. Plus you will never fail to miss out on the best weekend events Cambridge has to offer. (In any case, comparing Cambridge to a prison justified by the tradition of ‘keeping term’ will never be a fair association: at least in prison you have the option of parole.)

But removing the possibility of being able to escape can be extremely detrimental to an individual’s mental health. The Cambridge workload is unparalleled in its intensity and can thus become psychologically harmful, and so it may be necessary to take a break from your learning for a day or two. Sometimes a breather can give you the inspiration you need to keep going with your studies and, after all, your state of mind will always be more important than getting that essay done, or reading that 500-page book.

But if you can’t get out, the inevitable tension, stress and anxiety that is so intrinsic to a Cantabrigian’s education simply mount up and up and up, stifling all reason behind a heavy curtain of apprehension. This can then trigger damaging results, from self-harm to eating disorders, and everything in between. This is not to mention the obvious reason to despise the ‘keeping term’ custom: that of homesickness. Despite being ultimately rewarding, life at Cambridge is sometimes so very hard, and occasionally you may have to get away from it all.

So what do you do, then, if you can’t officially leave? It seems that the only way out is to keep quiet if you do go home – this is indeed the approach taken by most. But sometimes you can keep quiet too much, and that is exactly what we are doing about this outdated, distressing tradition. We need to speak out and tell people just how terrifying, unfair and potentially agonising the custom of ‘keeping term’ actually is. Only then will a proper escape route be open to us all