IT PROMISES to bring an end to what Evelyn Waugh memorably described as “the sound of English county families baying for broken glass”.
After hundreds of years of leaping off bridges, baring their buttocks and showering each other with champagne to celebrate the end of finals, the party is over for Oxford students.
Growing complaints from police and residents about rowdy post-examination celebrations every June have forced the university to devise a special code of conduct.
On-the-spot fines of up to £70 will be levied for offences such as “fluid-spraying or egg-hurling”, while more serious crimes, such as daubing university buildings with satirical graffiti, will be punished with £500 penalties or arrest.
Thames Valley Police, who assumed responsibility for the japes last year after the disbanding of the university police, insisted on the move after being shocked by the debauchery of undergraduates.
Waugh, referring to the wanton, piano-smashing antics of the Bollinger Club in Decline and Fall, was chronicling a proud tradition of disgrace at British universities.
As a rule, the worst behaviour occurs at the best universities. Recent “japes” at Oxford include filling buckets with pigs’ offal and human waste material and tipping them over the heads of fellow revellers. At Cambridge, they prefer to drink heavily and jump into tourists’ punts from bridges, or simply roll into the river.
The code, which applies within a six-mile radius of Oxford city centre, is the result of negotiations between the police, the university, the students’ union and the council. If it is approved by the Student Union next week it will be sent to all undergraduates.
It proposes a sliding scale of fines from £30 — for relatively harmless activity such as squirting “silly string” — up to £70 for pranks that could be dangerous, such as hurling eggs at passers-by or using high-velocity water pistols. Glitter and confetti can be thrown, while flowers or balloons may be displayed. Bottles of sparkling wine can be held, but not opened.
Superintendent Keith Ringsell, from Thames Valley Police, said that they had been forced to take action. “The situation occurred over the last few years where there have been an unacceptable number of complaints from residents and colleges about the behaviour of students, and we welcome anything which reduces these nuisances,” he said.
He added that if student behaviour was too riotous, the guilty parties would be arrested for breach of the peace.
The code’s aim is to “allow students to celebrate, but to minimise both the danger caused when crowds gather and the disturbance to local residents, examination candidates, drivers and passers-by”.
Rosie Buckland, from the Students Union, said that the code had been drawn up as a compromise option, after the police and some senior dons had demanded a complete ban on all celebrations.
“It is designed to ensure student safety and help to prevent accidents as much as it is to clamp down on the unacceptable noise and mess levels created by the celebrations,” she said. “I don’t want to see the university stamp out students celebrating after exams, as some senior members were initially keen to do.”
Paul Sargent, from Oxford City Council, said that the code was the best way of preventing the celebrations being cancelled. “It is regrettable that it has come to this. I do think that this is the most positive outcome that could have been reached considering the stance of the university and Thames Valley Police at the outset.”
A university official acknowledged that students wished to celebrate. “However, the university is concerned about the disruption that can be caused to others and urges students to be considerate in their conduct.”
Laura Hamilton, a law student at Keble College, said she resented the killjoy attitude of the university. “The idea of spot-fining students who are celebrating the end of weeks of hard work seems excessive. It is just another example of the university trying to control every aspect of students’ lives.”
Stephanie Johnston, from Hertford College, said that celebrations were necessary to release anxiety. “The build up to exams creates phenomenal stress for students,” she said. “Putting restrictions on post-exam celebrations seems unrealistic to me. Although I appreciate that other people may be affected, it is hardly a regular occurrence and I feel that it ought to be a tradition embraced by citizens and students alike, much like any other city tradition in the university’s history.”
A Cambridge official said that existing statutes and college rules were deemed sufficient to govern post-examination behaviour. Other leading universities, such as Durham and Bristol, agreed.
STUDENT CELEBRATIONS: THE CODE OF CONDUCT
WHAT YOU CAN’T DO:
Throw or spray foods or fluids; for example, sparkling wine, fizzy drinks, flour, eggs, or even shaving foam
Bring along any foods or fluids with the above intention
Throw anything at all other than glitter or confetti
Bring or use water-pistols
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Bring along flowers and balloons
Take a bottle of champagne or sparkling wine into a local pub, but do not open it without the consent of the manager
WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU BREAK THE CODE?
You can be forced to identify yourself to a university official
You can be given a spot fine (£30-£70) payable within two working days
For a serious breach you can be referred to the proctors, or the Court of Summary Jurisdiction, which has powers to rusticate or fine up to £500
After a breach of the peace, police can arrest you.
(The code applies within a six-mile radius of Oxford city centre)
Original article in The Times.