A first year student at Merton College pulled a bald woman’s hat off and then shouted ‘lesbian’, before being ejected from the popular Turf Tavern, according to an eye-witness account.
It later emerged that the student, who was dressed in formal attire, was part of an elite Merton drinking society called “MC Sans”, which has recently been created by Merton freshers.
A number of people witnessed the event, which has been branded by a Merton student as “immature”.
The victim of the attack has not been identified, but she was said to have been shaken after the boy attacked her. He is alleged first to have taken her hat, and when she tried to claim it back he was heard to have shouted “lesbian” before being forced to leave the popular bar.
A number of students have condemned the student’s actions, labelling his actions on the night “rude, obnoxious and aggressive.”
Tom Barnett, a fourth year Modern Languages student at Merton, said, “They were boasting about this in the college bar afterwards, but people did not find it particularly funny.
He referred to the perception, allegedly widespread at Merton, that those responsible for the incident “are a bunch of dickheads”.
He continued, “Obviously other Merton students just find it all quite distasteful.”
The Turf bar manager, Charlie, confirmed that the incident had taken place. She said, “I, along with the rest of the staff, were behind the bar at the time. As soon as it happened, they were out.”
The manager added that “most of them left very quietly after the incident.”
The drinking society has been set up to challenge pre-existing drinking societies in Merton, which have a reputation for being “more sedate than those from other colleges”, according to one second year PPEist.
However, Barnett added, “There are another couple of drinking societies at Merton, but they do not do anything like this. People in other drinking societies just think it is horrible.”
