College crackdowns threaten bops
St Anne’s has become the latest in a series of colleges to clamp down on bop regulations following complaints about the drunken and often destructive behaviour of students. Students’ actions after the college’s Christmas dinner have resulted in the college limiting bops to one per term, instead of the usual three.
This follows a decision by St John’s College to suspend all bops last term after squash courts, a table tennis room and other areas of college were vandalised, and now The Oxford Student has learnt that JCRs across Oxford could be facing similar restrictions. After the St Anne’s dinner at the end of last term a fire extinguisher was let off, toilets were covered in vomit and spindles were removed from a staircase.
An email sent to the JCR by the Dean, Peter Ireland, described the aftermath: “A staggering list of complaints of damage and reckless actions... There was considerable damage to college property and much extra cleaning required by scouts. A fire extinguisher was also illegally discharged, potentially putting lives at risk.
Ireland told The Oxford Student that college kitchens were left in an appalling state and expensive cleaning equipment had to be hired in order to make the college suitable for conference guests. More seriously, two male students were also spotted on a college roof in the early hours of the morning,. When ordered down by a college porter, one of the men refused to move.
JCR President Sally Lambert attempted to negotiate the restrictions with the dean after the bop, and sent a list of the dean’s complaints to all students before the start of Hilary term, asking the culprits to come forward in order to allow the rest of college to keep having bops. Ireland said, “The JCR President apologised on behalf of the JCR and asked those responsible to own up. However, to date, no one has stepped forward and accepted responsibility.
It is not fair to load the infrastructure of the college and the college staff in this way,” he added. The JCR are now looking at alternatives, including joint bops with other colleges and a charity event outside college. Across the university, college authorities are taking similar action against irresponsible behaviour during and after bops.
Christ Church JCR President Will Dorsey said, “We currently have two bops per term, but have had increasingly onerous restrictions placed on us as a result of past misbehaviour.” The college has now reinstated guest dinners after banning them last year for drunken behaviour, including urinating in the kitchens and simulating anal sex on High Table.
Nevertheless, these gains come with heavy warnings to students that the college will not hesitate to ban events again if similar misdemeanours occur. They must have doormen at all bops, and ensure that no one is admitted if they are very inebriated. Worcester too have faced cuts from three to two bops a term, but JCR President Dom McKean insisted the change was due to new licensing laws and was unrelated to student discipline.
Magdalen have also had to restrict their bops to 120 people after the changes in the laws which JCR President Iain Anstess said he found disappointing. “However, the college currently plans to build a bridge from the terrace on to one of the islands which will allow us to have 200 people, and that will be great,” he said.
19th Jan 2006