Downing master slams ‘predatory’ drinking soc over ‘illicit’ invite to female students

Female students received invitations to a ‘an evening of drinks and merriment’

Alan Bookbinder warned students 'not to put your place at risk in Downing's mutually supportive community'Herbert Baker / CC BY-SA 2.0

by Meg Byrom

This article is 3 years old

Saturday October 15 2022, 12:39pm

The master of Downing College has criticised the college drinking society after several female students received invitations to “an evening of drinks and merriment” which the College called “illicit”.

In an email seen by Varsity, Alan Bookbinder said: “the group has no place in the Downing community”.

After the president of the society, the Gentleman Patricians, sent the invites, the master said the College hadn’t “approved and won’t approve of any society called the Downing College Gentlemen Patricians, so it has no-so called President and no official members.

“A group dedicated to drinking in excess is not acceptable”, he added.

The email also said that the group’s behaviour had been “unacceptable.” Commenting on the invites sent to young women, the email said that the group target “women they deem attractive, inducing them to drink in excess, and treating them in a misogynist and predatory way.”

Despite many drinking societies being banned across Cambridge, or not formally recognised by their respective colleges, many continue to operate in secrecy. The Gentlemen Patricians, as well as Downing’s other drinking societies, were involved in controversy in 2018, when the JCR abolished the position of head freshers’ rep over allegations that the position was tied to drinking socs, after alleged drinking soc members held the position for two successive years.

In previous years, Downing’s drinking societies have had reputations for being particularly egregious, a source told Varsity, saying that the groups were allegedly known for disrupting meetings of the College’s feminist society.

Drinking socs are a perennial problem at Cambridge. Their antics during annual pre-exam celebrations on Jesus Green regularly result in embarrassing photographs being printed in the Daily Mail.

As a result, the University has often criticised the groups. Stephen Toope, the former vice-chancellor, said he was “not sympathetic of any organisation where the primary purpose is to drink.”

Despite the embarrassment and official disapproval, however, efforts to stamp the groups out have, thus far, been unsuccessful.

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