Outraged Oriel students have rallied round their college staff
in a confrontation over whether they should be allowed to drink
at the college bar. Two weeks ago the College Steward banned staff members from
drinking with students. The Steward, Jean Medd, was unavailable
for comment at the time of going to press but has provided no
official justification to either staff or students for his sudden
decision. The ban has been met with a combination of anger and
perplexity. The Steward has been described by one graduate
student, who wished to remain anonymous, as “an evil
man” who has soured relations between staff and the JCR for
some time. In response to the College’s actions, a motion was
brought at last weekend’s JCR meeting calling for the ban to
be lifted and college staff to be allowed to drink alongside
students just as they had done for centuries. The meeting was
attended by a “sizeable crowd” and the motion passed
unanimously. However, the JCR lacks the authority to decide who can and
cannot drink at the college bar and so the motion is little more
than a protest and signal of solidarity with college staff. One
member of the college told Cherwell that “the college is
notoriously bad at listening to its students and so I doubt
they’ll take any notice of this vote”. Other students argued this was about a broader principle than
simply drinking rights; Rhiannon Brooks explained, “The
college staff are very nice people and we are one college, one
community. This ban threatens the tight knit close atmosphere
that makes a small college like Oriel so special.”
Second-year lawyer Mohammed Khuram agreed that “healthy
relations existed between college staff and students” and
that he was outraged that these “good chaps should be forced
into an Upstairs, Downstairs relationship with students”. College staff echoed the views of students; one porter
commented, “There is a long tradition of porters drinking
with students. We are all members of the college after all and I
see no reason why we should not be treated as such. College staff
have been given no reason for why this ban has been introduced
and I’m pleased that the JCR are fighting it.”ARCHIVE: 3rd week TT 2004
Don’t mix your drinkers
