Student Initiations

dowie · 3 Oct 2008 at 08:24

Burnsy2023 said:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7647099.stm
So has anyone gone through something like this? Is this normal? Because I've not witnessed anything like this (bar the excessive drinking which is normal)

Seriously - you've never played sports at uni?

Tis pretty normal (not the nazi uniform thing) to have some form of drinking based initiization.

Rugby, hockey teams seem tend to take the freshers out, they all get team 'nicknames' and normally get involved in some form of nakedness - usually some form of drinking rules in force and various freshers will screw up causing them to have to 'shoe' a pint etc... Most sports clubs did it at my uni though with a lot it would just be a bit of fun - i.e. a boat race/relay race with beers, drinking a pint as quickly as possible through a snorkel with the scuba club etc... tis mostly just the rugby team that takes it too far at times.

MattandJet · 3 Oct 2008 at 08:29

dowie said:
Seriously - you've never played sports at uni?

Tis pretty normal (not the nazi uniform thing) to have some form of drinking based initiization.

Rugby, hockey teams seem tend to take the freshers out, they all get team 'nicknames' and normally get involved in some form of nakedness - usually some form of drinking rules in force and various freshers will screw up causing them to have to 'shoe' a pint etc... Most sports clubs did it at my uni though with a lot it would just be a bit of fun - i.e. a boat race/relay race with beers, drinking a pint as quickly as possible through a snorkel with the scuba club etc... tis mostly just the rugby team that takes it too far at times.

Oh yeah that sounds like a barrel of laughs

(Barrel = beer.... lol )

dowie · 3 Oct 2008 at 08:30

Killa_ken said:
What happens if you don't do it? I would love to see the toss pot that even tried to make me do something as stupid as that.

You wouldn't *have* to do it you'd just get a lot of abuse from about 60 or so of your future team mate. AFAIK there was a guy who didn't drink alcohol in my uni's rugby team - they pretty much accepted it though he probably got a fair bit of stick during the first social. It would be pretty naive of you to turn up in the first place then kick up a fuss about it.

gillywibble · 3 Oct 2008 at 08:46

The secretly-filmed video shows students drinking and vomiting.

That must be seriously difficult to do at the same time.

RoboCod · 3 Oct 2008 at 08:51

dowie said:
Seriously - you've never played sports at uni?

Tis pretty normal (not the nazi uniform thing) to have some form of drinking based initiization.

Rugby, hockey teams seem tend to take the freshers out, they all get team 'nicknames' and normally get involved in some form of nakedness - usually some form of drinking rules in force and various freshers will screw up causing them to have to 'shoe' a pint etc... Most sports clubs did it at my uni though with a lot it would just be a bit of fun - i.e. a boat race/relay race with beers, drinking a pint as quickly as possible through a snorkel with the scuba club etc... tis mostly just the rugby team that takes it too far at times.

That is what the OP just said, he understands there being drinking games but the Nazi stuff and the tasks are a little odd.

Freefaller · 3 Oct 2008 at 09:10

I'd rather choose some ribbing over being some sort of sheep doing things to be "accepted". The Nazi stuff is disgraceful however.

oxygene · 3 Oct 2008 at 09:23

Strange. All I ever got asked to do was assassinate a member of parliment.... They never did report it on the news though.

sunama · 3 Oct 2008 at 18:12

fez said:
I think that if you dont want to do it then you dont have to. I went through initiations at uni for hockey and it just involved a lot of drinking. If you are too weak to say no to something if you dont want to do it then you are going to run into bigger problems in life than initiations.

I think that hits the nail on the head.

A lot of the time, its the "followers", who want to follow. The "leaders" tend to make up their own minds as to whether or not they want to take part in the drinking sessions or not. When you are young, you are impressionable and more likely to follow.

Myself, I am teetotal and wouldnt even entertain the idea of going to a pub or drinking establishment, let alone drink to the point I am sick. no one would be able to persuade me otherwise.

I dont quite understand why a sports fraternity would advocate heavy drinking. I could understand if their initiation consisted of some athletic feat, eg. running 10 miles, however, to drink vast quantities of alcohol goes against everything a sports-person should be doing.

I went to University in 1993-1996 and again in 2000/1. In both instances, I never heard of anything that involved forcing people to do things against their will.

sunama · 3 Oct 2008 at 18:21

Azza said:
If I was to post what the rugby team here got freshers to do the other night, which wasnt even for initiation, I would prolly get banned.

Awww, come on. Do tell.

I want to know how stupid freshers were to fall for the antics being requested of them.

daz · 3 Oct 2008 at 18:25

Another student, died in an initiation ceremony at Staffordshire University after choking on his own vomit in 2003.

How do they know it was his own vomit? You can't really dust for vomit.

pitchfork · 3 Oct 2008 at 18:26

Nah, we had no initiation, we just had a huge **** up by choice.

James07 · 3 Oct 2008 at 18:28

Thats quite wierd tbh..

shauncr91 · 3 Oct 2008 at 18:30

Greenlizard0 said:
We threw rotten cat food at the new first years.

bigmouse64 · 3 Oct 2008 at 18:30

Tefal said:
I thought this was a yank thing?

Never seen it here :/

Same, seen that episode of Law and Order, was nasty.

AJUK · 3 Oct 2008 at 18:42

As a resident of Gloucestershire I am fully entitled to say this; the Uni is just a creche to look after them until they manage to fill out an application form for MacDonalds. As for their behaviour, not nice, but I bet all of those criticising the 'ceremony' probably got up to much worse than that. Let them have their fun, after all, it won't be long before the poor things realise that their degree is useless, they are stupid and they have been conned into wasting the early part of their career on a crap degree from a crap college on the back of a government social engineering project. :rolleyes:

sunama · 3 Oct 2008 at 22:55

AJUK said:
...the Uni is just a creche to look after them until they manage to fill out an application form for MacDonalds.

Thats cruel.

AJUK said:
As for their behaviour, not nice, but I bet all of those criticising the 'ceremony' probably got up to much worse than that.

Nope. I never got upto any funny business. The fact that I dont drink or frequent pubs/bars was probably the reason for this. If I drank and got drunk/drugged, then I would probably have been upto no good. This is the reason why I dont drink - I like to be in control of things and also its one of the worst things you can do to your body - nothing good comes of it.

AJUK said:
Let them have their fun, after all, it won't be long before the poor things realise that their degree is useless, they are stupid and they have been conned into wasting the early part of their career on a crap degree from a crap college on the back of a government social engineering project.

I'm sure if they get a good grade and are bright enough, they will do well in their assessments (when they apply for graduate positions) and can go through and get a good job. Unless you are genuinely accusing them of all being thick and incapable of doing well in exams/job-assessments.

Bes · 3 Oct 2008 at 23:19

sunama, I think he means the degrees (even firsts) are not worth the paper they are writtern on- likey many former polys/ colleges (and I can say that 'coz I went to one)

Sime · 4 Oct 2008 at 00:29

Never understood this...If they accept it. They deserve it.

thecremeegg · 4 Oct 2008 at 00:44

We had one where all the first years had to sit on chairs naked having taken viagra pills......then the cheerleaders came along

That was the footy team, the other teams did similar things but you can just opt out.

AJUK · 4 Oct 2008 at 00:46

Bes said:
sunama, I think he means the degrees (even firsts) are not worth the paper they are writtern on- likey many former polys/ colleges (and I can say that 'coz I went to one)

The University of Gloucestershire does not even have the accolade of being a former polytechnic. It was just made up out of thin air, a holding pen.

To put it in perspective, the most notable research from this esteemed seat of learning was a study of drummers, they concluded that banging a drum makes your heart beat faster. :rolleyes:

Of course such a complex scientific principle is too in depth for just one university, they needed the help of yet another 'holding pen/creche' to help them draw conclusions.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7518888.stm

GLOSCAT, the former tech college (now another creche) was the best in the country, Hartbury College is one of the finest agricultural colleges in the country. The University of Gloucestershire is a very sad joke, unfortunately it is being played out on young people that will be in for a very rude awakening.

Candidate: "I have a first from the University of Gloucestershire in the study of drummers"
Employer: "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Stop it, I am wetting myself"

Young people are being seriously let down in this country.