Every member of St Anne’s College who went on the Varsity ski trip at Christmas was summoned to see the Dean this week.
The request follows stories in the press of the antics in the Valley Rally contest, a competition on the final day of the trip to win a free skiing holiday. The winners of th contest, members of St Anne’s College, were mentioned specifically.
Students participated in a number of challenges in the competition, including smashing an egg in the most imaginative way possible, posing naked for pictures in front of a crowd of hundreds of people, and eating “yellow snow”.
In a recent email, the St Anne’s Dean, Dr Geraldine Hazburn, stated that although she understood there were varied levels of involvement with the story that ended up in the papers, she wished to speak with everyone nonetheless to discuss the behaviour of those concerned.
During the meeting, which took place on Monday evening, the Dean attempted to counter the tales being circulated by asking students for some positive feedback and what had been good about Varsity.
The meeting has been described by students as not disciplinary, and just intended to garner information about the trip so that the students could be represented in a balanced way to College authorities. Dr Hazburn declined to comment to Cherwell about the situation.
It is understood that students were told they had violated College regulations. It is stated in St Anne’s College Regulations that “No junior member shall intentionally or recklessly engage in conduct likely to bring the College into disrepute.”
“In cases where there is an allegation of behaviour in breach of the College Regulations the Dean shall investigate the matter.”
The question has arisen among some students as to whether such regulations should apply to incidents occurring both outside term time and outside the country.
“I don’t think it’s a matter for the College to be dealing with”, remarked one student who went on the Varsity Trip.
“Other universities go on these trips and I’m sure they get up to worse stuff. The scandal will blow over.”
Some believed it unfair that all students had to go and see the Dean. Despite a large number of students initially signing up, many had dropped out of the contest after learning what the challenges would involve.
One student said, “I was there for the skiing. I wouldn’t have participated in any of these competitions”.
However, the JCR Constitution of St Anne’s, written by students, says that members must “respect the undergraduate community embodied by the JCR”.
An undergraduate at St Anne’s said after the meeting that “at first I was unsure why she called it, but now I think it is good that she did”.
The Varsity ski trip has expanded greatly in recent years and is now attended by around 2,500 Oxbridge students every December. Competitions have always been a part of the event, which has been running annually for 88 years.
