Balliol’s Nintendo bop on Saturday was cancelled as a result of students tampering with fire extinguishers.
The Dean called off the event as a disciplinary measure after several extinguishers on the main site were fiddled with. A total of five fire extinguishers have been damaged since the start of term. Three of the items were found on one staircase, and two on another.
Not all the fire extinguishers were actually set-off. One was discovered simply with its security tag, pin and dust cover removed. The damage could cost up to £350 to repair.
The Dean set a deadline of Friday of 5th week at 9am for someone to own up to damaging the fire extinguishers. When this deadline passed, the Dean sent out a further email cancelling the bop.
One Balliol student commented, “It’s a bit stupid that the whole college has to miss out on bops, which are mental fun, just because some muppet decided to be boring and tamper with fire extinguisher tags. Given that it’s either cancellation of bops or a blanket fine on the JCR, I think the former is fair, but still highly antisocial. The search for the sly one is on.”
Iain Large, Balliol’s JCR President, was supportive of college’s decision. “The Dean informed students on Thursday 5th week that the bop would be cancelled if no one came forward about setting off fire extinguishers. I had previously sent an email warning against the misuse of extinguishers, also stating that the bop was at risk. No one came forward, and so the bop was cancelled.
“I and the JCR committee have been entirely supportive of the Dean’s decision, which was one of the few options available to deterring this sort of behaviour. My reaction to the people responsible is far less sympathetic, as their childishness has put the JCR at risk of discipline in the first place, and damaged its reputation generally.”
Sebastian Fassam, Balliol’s Entz rep commented, “It was my responsibility to inform people that the bop was cancelled. It’s an unfortunate incident. People are quite annoyed about the bop being cancelled, but most people think it’s not an unjust punishment. At Balliol, we normally take pride that we can be trusted to do things on our own. We don’t have much CCTV, especially not in the corridors, but perhaps things will have to be alarmed in future.” He added, “I don’t think there’s any chance those responsible will own up.”
William Browne, another Entz rep added, “Sadly, those responsible clearly don’t care about the rest of the JCR as no-one owned up. The theme was Nintendo and now my Bowser outfit will have to stay in the wardrobe for another year.”
Large commented, “It is, of course, sad that everyone in the JCR had to suffer for one or two individuals’ idiocy, and even more sad that no-one felt prepared to come forward for the sake of everyone else. However, I am hopeful that this has highlighted the severity of the incident, encourage a bit more maturity, as well as preventing it from happening again.”
