“Loutish” drinking games that formed part of an initiation ritual for new students at Cambridge University have been condemned by the master of one of its oldest colleges.
Sir Alan Fersht said in an email to all students at Gonville and Caius College that freshers were “pressured by some second-year students to drink shots of liquor until they vomited and were then made to drink more as further forfeits”.
He said the bullying behaviour could have resulted in deaths if some of the highly intoxicated students had choked on their vomit after they were left abandoned on the floor.
“There is a national scandal of students drinking irresponsibly, indulging in laddish behaviour and sadistic initiation rights, and men plying women with drink and abusing them. The [National Union of Students] and many universities are taking action against such behaviour,” Fersht wrote in the email reported by the Cambridge Student.
“I fear that these bullies will leave the college and become unethical pariahs like insider traders, exchange rate riggers and corrupt Volkswagen engineers,” he added.
Fersht urged students involved in the initiation game to write letters of apology to the freshers. He said he had written the email so that “the minority of students think about what they are actually doing and to make a clear statement that irresponsible behaviour will not be tolerated”.
A ball for new students at Caius was cancelled following a significant number of complaints and incidents earlier in freshers’ week.
One second-year student at Caius challenged Fersht’s comments and told the Cambridge Student that no freshers were forced to take part in drinking games.
“I’ve spoken to freshers who greatly enjoyed it,” the student said. “I think it’s unfair to accuse those who led the groups of bullying, and calling them insider traders is frankly insulting.”
