A group of Christ Church boys were outraged at the behaviour of the Balliol porters and the Domestic Bursar who refused to readmit them to the ball, after they accidentally wandered out of the college.
Skomantas Pocius, Tom Morris, Tobi Neumann and another student decided to explore Balliol college grounds. They went through an open door and up a staircase leading onto a balcony. However, they failed to make sure the door didn’t shut behind them and were stuck on the balcony.
As no one could hear their calls for help, two of the boys climbed down the pipe, only to realise they landed on the grounds of Trinity college. Having explained the situation to Balliol porters, the students were reassured that once the porters had released the other boys, they would all be able to enter the ball. However, the porter refused to keep his promise later on.
Skomantas Pocius commented, “Not only did they break their word when saying that they would let us all back in, but also gave no explanation whatsoever why they threw out my two friends who were still inside college.”
He explained that the porters had shouted at them and refused to let them explain the situation.
He said, “Firstly, the porters slammed the door in our faces a few times, before I managed to speak to one of them. Secondly, the head porter who threw my friends out was extremely unpleasant and rude – he kept on shouting and yelling at us. Also, none of them even attempted to levelheadedly explain the situation or talk to us. Thus, their behaviour, and especially that of the head porter, was in my mind quite unacceptable especially seeing that we were paid guests of the ball.”
Tom Morris added, “the fact that the porters lied was utterly disgraceful. If porters expect respect, they should behave in a manner that deserves it, not act like angry school-children.”
Pocius, who has received the backing of Christ Church’s college junior censor, explained that he wanted to make sure that students have some channel through which to voice their complaints about mistreatment.
He said, “Ultimately, I want to make sure that the college staff will realise that they can’t get away easily with whatever they do, and that they apologise if that is deemed appropriate , which it in my mind is.”
Pocius was also ‘disappointed’ by OUSU, who failed to reply after he contacted them regarding his mistreatment.
He said, “You can often hear people complaining that OUSU doesn’t have much of a role in the lives of Oxford students, and I would imagine that especially in a case like this OUSU could try to make an effort.”
The matter is being looked into by Balliol’s JCR President, who declined to comment as the affair is still under investigation.
Balliol porters refused to comment on the matter.
