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Trash talk from Balliol staff

Balliol is to provide its students with water pistols in an effort to prevent mess from post-exam trashings.
 
College staff and the JCR committee have arranged for a trashing kit to be available to students for rent. The kit includes four Supersoakers. Other trashing materials encouraged are: shaving foam, champagne and grass clippings and flower petals.
 
The new kit comes as part of an effort to combat the amount of cleaning required after more traditional trashings involving flour and confetti.
 
This year the University has asked all colleges to try and encourage students to trash friends on college property rather than on public streets. However, this has contributed to trashing debris being left around Balliol, leaving college staff having to clean up the mess. Balliol, as well as providing trashing equipment, has clarified its rules on trashing in an effort to encourage students not to break University regulations.
 
In an email sent round the JCR, President Alex Bartram explained why the rules were being clarified. He said, “Basically, the point isn’t that trashing is banned: it’s perfectly allowed. However, doing stuff that will damage college property and mean that some poor soul will have to spend an hour or two hours cleaning up after you when it’s not their job is bad, as you might expect. So far, the system’s worked very well, and all parties seem to be satisfied, but we’ll have to wait and see.”
 
The new guidance have been seen as a reaction to some students being fined for ‘illegal’ trashing. A Balliol student, who wished to remain anonymous, told Cherwell that some of her friends had been fined £80 each for throwing an allegedly small amount flour over a finished finalist. “My friends were grabbed by a security guard and actually treated quite badly, and then had to pay the fine (we all split it) in 48 hours or they faced rustication.”
 
The student further commented, “We broke the rules and were punished very annoyingly, but very fairly.” Despite this she agreed with Balliol’s trashing rules, telling Cherwell, “The Balliol changes ensure that college doesn’t get messed up with confetti etc. and the porters don’t have to spend their time cleaning up, but that we can still have fun trashing.”
 
Other Balliol students have also responded positively to the changes. Alex Robertson, a first year, said “I’ve no real idea what the rules are but if it helps to keep people out of trouble then I guess it’s a good thing.”
 
Entz Rep Josh Jones said ‘I think the new rules are a good idea. Trashings have the potential to get out of hand and really ruin things so setting down what’s ok, but not banning it entirely, can only benefit everyone. Water is harmless and good fun, and so far I’ve seen a lot of people enjoying the supersoakers.”
 
Balliol Dean, Douglas Dupree, said, “We decided to bring together an informal committee of JCR members and College Officers to try and solve the problem of trashing in a way that allows people to celebrate post-Exams without making a mess that is difficult to clean up.”

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