University initiations

The University of Gloucestershire says it will investigate after the BBC obtained footage of students taking part in a bizarre initiation rite. The secretly-filmed video shows students with bags over their heads, drinking and vomiting.

Many former and current students have been writing to the BBC to tell us about some of the initiation rituals they went through, here are some of their views and stories.

DAVID HARRISON, BIRMINGHAM

I went to Cheltenham and Gloucestershire College of Higher Education in September 1994, to study English Literature.

I was away on holiday when they assigned halls of residence so instead of being with other student from my course I ended up in halls with all the sports students.

It was there that I saw lots of initiations and it was a complete nightmare.

One particularly bad initiation involved the lad who was in the room next to me. He was taking part in an initiation for a group where they all had to dress up as policemen.

He came back in a state beyond belief, covered in his own vomit and half-dressed. I had to help him to bed and make sure he didn't choke to death. The surprising thing for me was that he wasn't bullied into taking part, he wanted to.

I just didn't feel the need to puke into a bucket and drink it to prove myself.

Basically, out of a block of 50 or so students, only a handful of them engaged in these activities. Those that did take part loved to boast about it in subsequent days and weeks.

I never wanted to be part of that group I believed that if these people wanted to endanger themselves with such ludicrous behaviour then let them.

I did used to play in the rugby team. But I never took part in the drinking culture I just didn't feel the need to puke into a bucket and drink it to prove myself. I left the team as I was often left on the bench during games.

If these people didn't give in to this social pressure then they'd be giving in to some other form of peer pressure that would lead to some other undesirable, or potentially life-threatening situation.

If you're old enough to make your own decisions about what course to study to steer your life in a certain direction, then I'm sure these people can be left to decide if they choose to adorn offensive costumes, act like animals and roll in their own vomit.

EVAN JONES, CARDIFF

Evan Jones on the beach

I was initiated into the cricket club at Aberystwyth University. All the first-years were paired with heavy drinkers from the third year and told to drink the same as their 'buddy'. Mine seemed to drink a pint of Guinness every 15 minutes.

By midnight we were all wasted but were frogmarched to the beach. We had to run up the beach to a third year holding a bottle of vodka, drink from the bottle and dunk our heads in the sea.

By the end the freshers were all vomiting and collapsed on the beach where we stayed the night, passed out. Thinking back, it was pretty dangerous, but everyone got into the swing of things because they didn't want to look a 'wuss'.

At the time, I loved my university initiations! There was a feeling of us all being in it together and it helped me make good friends, especially the first-years who were in the same boat as me. A few of them are now my closest mates six years on.

I never felt uncomfortable during initiations. There was never any kind of intimidation from the older lads, I doubt there would have been any hard feelings had I said no.

I was part of the cricket club committee that initiated freshers when I was in my final year, and have to say I found it endlessly amusing. So did the freshers from what I could see, no one ever complained.

JASON PEACHEY, CHELTENHAM

Jason Peachey (on the left) with his partner

When I was at university, I was president of a society and in charge of overseeing initiations and society drinking games.

I also fell victim to the university drinking culture and ended up being admitted to A&E with serious alcohol poisoning so I can see this from both sides.

As I was a well known character in the student union, on my 19th birthday I was forced to down 'dirty pints' of spirits and bought drinks by all the other society presidents. It all got out of hand and I ended up being hospitalised.

As President of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Society, I also organised drinking events for freshers joining the society where we would play drinking games. If new students didn't follow the rules, they would be 'ginned' which involved drinking a neat shot of gin.

Drinking games

On the spectrum, our initiations weren't too bad. The rugby club was well known for having particularly rowdy initiations. They were held in a closed room but there were rumours of people being forced to drink vomit.

I think that our drinking games for new students were just harmless fun. Playing drinking games bonded everyone together. There was a drinking culture but people who didn't drink could still join in and down pints of orange juice.

I think initiations are fine as long as no-one is forced to do anything they don't want to do. Students have to be careful that everyone looks after each other and no-one gets in trouble.

RICHARD GODLEY, BRUNEL UNIVERISTY, UXBRIDGE

I'm studying Law at Brunel University and am also the President of the Brunel Circus Skills Society. I want to voice my horror at the video of the initiation ceremony. I had no idea this type of thing was going on.

I have never heard of any of these types of initiation ceremonies going on at Brunel.

Societies should be welcoming and fun.

Yes, I have seen drinking games, and extreme drinking games in the student bars but nothing like this. I just can't understand why people think this type of thing is fun.

University societies are meant to be welcoming especially to freshers who are new to the university and are still making friends. These people shouldn't be made to pass tests to belong to a society.

It's not good for the reputation of the university to be associated with this type of behaviour. I think they should take a greater responsibility in monitoring what goes on in these groups.

Yes you should enjoy yourself at university, especially in your first year, but there are other ways to have fun and make new friends. People forget but you are also at university to learn about responsibility.

I would say that if anyone in the society I am accountable for did anything like this to any other student they would be banned from the society and dealt with further. I would probably resign myself.

DANIEL, LONDON

I was a student at University College London for three years and the initiation ceremonies that went on went far beyond what is acceptable.

At my school there were 'initiations' but these seemed very mild in comparison to what went on at University.

I heard stories of freshers being made to eat their own vomit!

We would go out as a team and enjoy nights out and get very very drunk and would often get up to all sorts.

There always seemed to be an element of control about it, and yes going out together did help with team bonding and a sense of camaraderie.

However, at my university this so-called 'team bonding' would take a very noticeable plunge towards levels of extreme depravity. I have often heard stories of freshers being made to eat their own vomit!

I was a very keen rugby player at school and wished to continue it at university, but it was made very clear that if I didn't join in on our so called 'sports night' then my chances of getting into the team were slight so I decided to stop playing, it was that simple.

With regards to controlling or stopping these ceremonies, I don't think you can, I know that my union banned initiations only for the rugby team to go onto some estate and do them there.

Obviously some people choose to do them but that is their is prerogative.

SIMON, LONDON

I took part in an initiation for my university rugby team and, although I had to drink a lot of booze and ended up naked on an assault course, I never felt bullied or forced into anything.

I think those who want to ban initiations want to take all the fun out of university.

When I joined the rugby team, it was tradition for new members to down cans of lager at various points around the pitch while spinning around and taking their clothes off.

We all ended up naked and then had to run back to the club house where we had to drink a bottle of red wine as quickly as possible through a funnel.

I never felt initiations got out of hand. If people didn't want to drink they were given pints of milk instead of alcohol.

When you turn up for initiations, you expect some sort of rowdy behaviour - we all knew it wasn't going to be a tea party.

Rugby initiations were great for team bonding. The new team members had come from all over the world and had different backgrounds so it gave us a shared experience.

I thought up initiations for the freshers when I was in the second and third years but we never did anything cruel or malicious.