Students at Jesus were shocked to return to heavily inflated bar prices at the beginning of Michaelmas. A JCR mandate to reduce the price of a pint seems to have back-fired, making it the most expensive college at which to drink in Oxford. In a drive to bring their college bar within former University guidelines and fulfil their manifesto, Jesus JCR petitioned the governing body in Hilary to bring the average cost of drinking to twenty percent below that of local establishments. Relevant surveys by Senior and Junior Common Rooms were subsequently found to have marked discrepancies; the latter’s with the lower average price. Consequently the JCR’s report was thrown out by the governing body in favour of their own, and bar tariffs raised by fifty pence on alcopops, fifteen pence on beer and up to £4 on a bottle of wine, bringing the college in line with the original request. A source at the college told Cherwell that the JCR survey had been based on special offer rather than standard prices. However, the JCR President, Rich Davies, flatly denies this claim. The rise in prices comes alongside a college clampdown on binge drinking, highlighted at a specially convened meeting between the Dean and College Sports’ captains. Despite the hike in prices, the bar’s turn over on Friday of Freshers’ Week was £1200, Bar Rep Caroline Howe said that “Prices have had no effect on binge drinking, people are just poorer”. Disgruntled second year engineer Rhys Jones advises “Don’t drink? Come to Jesus.” JCR President Rich Davies, in an interview with Cherwell, admitted that the inflation “came as a major blow to the JCR’s campaign” but is “pleased the College now has a long term policy on bar prices to prevent future increases.” He added that the JCR enjoys a “much better relationship with our SCR than most colleges but we are seeking a compromise that will suit both the students and the SCR”.ARCHIVE: 1st Week MT2003
