Oxford University has launched a crackdown on alcohol-fuelled parties at a number of its colleges amid complaints about debauched behaviour.
Students at Wadham College will be forced to drink watered-down cocktails while Lady Margaret Hall (LMH) has suspended its ‘bops’ until the end of term.
Students’ hi-jinks have caused controversy over the years, with university officials trying to step in to put an end to the fun.
Oxford University has launched a crackdown on alcohol-fuelled parties at a number of its colleges. Pictured, students at one of the most notoriously debauched events in Oxford University’s social calendar: the annual summer party of the Piers Gaveston Society
An Oxford freshers’ party was advertised online with pictures of the organisers lying on the floor surrounded by bottles of vodka
Wadham College has reformed its alcohol policy at Queerfest – a week-long celebration of LGBTQIA – and Wadstock – a music festival.
Drinks promotions will be scrapped at the events, with cocktails limited to half pints and a maximum alcohol content of 6% ABV, according to Cherwell, Oxford’s weekly student newspaper.
The recommendations came in response to complaints of drunkenness at college social events.
Last October, security had to be called in to an alcohol-fuelled party at Oxford University after the gilded students’ behaviour got out of hand.
Undergraduates stripped off at the notorious ‘bop’ at prestigious Christ Church college, with male scholars going topless while females stripped down to their bras.
Bouncers were drafted into the college-funded party as revellers downed half-pint cocktails costing around 50p each.
The freshers’ party was advertised online with pictures of the organisers lying on the floor surrounded by bottles of vodka.
In November 2017, an LMH student was criticised for trivialising the ‘lived experience of survivors’ of sexual assault after attending a bop dressed as film producer Harvey Weinstein.
The student appeared as Weinstein for LMH’s ‘horror movie classics’ themed party, Cherwell reports.
And last June half-naked students were pictured standing at a bus stop next to stunned families while they waited to be whisked off to a society ball.
Debauched: Security had to be called in to an alcohol-fuelled party at Oxford University after students’ behaviour got out of hand and they stripped off
Every year students are pictured at one of the most notoriously debauched events in Oxford University’s social calendar: the annual summer party of a secretive dining club called the Piers Gaveston Society.
Founded in 1977, and named after the purported gay lover of Edward II, the Society boasts just a dozen full-time members at any one time.
Famous alumni over the years include actor Hugh Grant, billionaire financier Nat Rothschild and society conman Darius Guppy.
The Society’s main event comes after the end of each summer’s exams.
It sees every Piers Gaveston member invite between 20 and 30 liberally minded friends to a clandestine, all-night bash, traditionally held in the grounds of a stately home or country estate.
Here Oxford students to drink, dance, take class-A drugs, and indulge in casual sex in conditions of utmost secrecy.
Piers Gaveston party goers over the years have included Nigella Lawson, Tom Parker Bowles – stepson of Prince Charles – and David Cameron.