With finals completed and a graduation ball out of the way, students at the University of York have been fully engaged in exam celebrations. However, students at Worcester College, University of Oxford, seem to have taken their exam celebrations too far.
An undergraduate was fined £80 for throwing and then rubbing trifle in another student’s face during exam celebrations. Taking drastic action, Worcester College issued the female student, who cannot be named for legal reasons, with a spot fine and told her that she could not graduate until she’d paid it.
The incident is a result of a University tradition known as ‘trashing’. ‘Trashing ceremonies’ follow the completion of exams, and students often engage in huge food fights both within the colleges and on the streets of Oxford.
University officials have been attempting to keep control of the anarchy by searching for any incriminating photographs on Facebook. They are wary of the allegedly serious nature of the food fights, preferring students to express themselves with silly string and party poppers instead.
The proctors this year said in an email to students: “Safety and public order are our core concerns. We therefore need your help in keeping people safe, and stamping out the abuse of all foodstuffs.
“No flour, no eggs, no beans, ketchup, let alone rotting food or worse. Rotting food, vomit, broken glass and other items causing litter are simply not what any of us wants to see,” they threatened students.
Some witnesses have deemed the punishment unfair, arguing that proctors failed to list trifle as a ‘potentially dangerous’ item. Perhaps the students in question should have been more aware of its ingredients.
Oxford student Alyssa Grossbard is just one student who upholds the vital importance of food fighting. Writing for Cherwell, she commented: “trashing is a necessity; a quintessential part of the Oxford experience, without which your degree is really not complete.”
See Page 7 for a report on the antics of our own finishers here at York.