Wills Rant
So after the last formal in Wills last year there was a food fight and Donald banned our whole year from the Returners Formals this year. Having not been there for the first 3 weeks of term I was slightly surprised by this. I emailed Donald about this, pointing out, reasonably I thought, that they were punishing people who they knew weren't even at the formal.
'Hello,
I hope this email is addressed to the relevant authorities. You may or
may not know that I was in Wills last year, and as such have
apparently fallen into the undesirable category at formals due to my
having been in the same year group as a number of people who had a food fight at formal.
I would like to know if it is indeed true that I am not allowed to
attend formals as a guest of my sister this year and that there are no
available places at returner's formals for people from my year group in Wills.
Furthermore I would like an explanation, if the above alleged policies
do exist, as to why people who were not at the formal where the food
fight I have been told about took place have been banned from
returning for formal meals this year. Surely you have a list of
everyone who was at the formal? It seems frankly ridiculous that
people who weren't even within 70 miles of Bristol at the time of the
incident ought to be punished for other's misbehaviour.
I apologise if I am incorrect in my assertions, but this is an issue
which I feel strongly about, as I am sure you understand that formals
are a big part of the appeal of Wills Hall and are something that I
will always remember and would have loved to have had the opportunity
to revisit and in particular get together with the good friends I made
in a highly enjoyable year in Wills Hall last year.
Harry Walker'
After a long fortnight, during which I had come to the conclusion the relevant authorities had no adequate response to my rather reasonable email which I had been tempted to follow with a more aggressive one, I finally received the following reply:
'Dear Harry
As was made clear last year, because of the disgraceful behaviour at the final formal last session, quite unprecedented in my ten years here, and because those responsible for this refused to accept responsibility, the enormous privilege of having a "Returners" formal (introduced for the first time about 6 years ago) has been withdrawn for those who were in hall last year. This ban includes visits to formals as guests of this year's hall members. This is of course a deeply regrettable situation, probably regretted most of all by me because I so enjoyed seeing former hall members return here. I sincerely hope it will not be necessary to repeat this. We had an excellent Retuners formal for third and fourth year students last Friday.
Donald Shell'
Frankly I don't care about their 'Retuners' formals being wonderful without us. I also fail to see an adequate explanation for the punishment of people who were definitely not at the formal. Even people who were at the formal in question have indicated to me that they find it bizarre and unfair that people who could not have possibly been involved are punished too.
Furthermore, I am told, but have no way of proving that a number of people attended the meeting the following day to admit to the food fight and as the number of people actually involved was in the region of 20 the attendance of the meeting was a fair reflection of this total. Nonetheless an enormous privilege for the ex-members of Wills Hall 2005/6 has been removed with little justification as far as I can tell.
I suppose their only argument can be that juvenile behaviour of the sort perpetrated at the formal can only be punished with a response most usually applied to primary school children: blanket punishment.
'Hello,
I hope this email is addressed to the relevant authorities. You may or
may not know that I was in Wills last year, and as such have
apparently fallen into the undesirable category at formals due to my
having been in the same year group as a number of people who had a food fight at formal.
I would like to know if it is indeed true that I am not allowed to
attend formals as a guest of my sister this year and that there are no
available places at returner's formals for people from my year group in Wills.
Furthermore I would like an explanation, if the above alleged policies
do exist, as to why people who were not at the formal where the food
fight I have been told about took place have been banned from
returning for formal meals this year. Surely you have a list of
everyone who was at the formal? It seems frankly ridiculous that
people who weren't even within 70 miles of Bristol at the time of the
incident ought to be punished for other's misbehaviour.
I apologise if I am incorrect in my assertions, but this is an issue
which I feel strongly about, as I am sure you understand that formals
are a big part of the appeal of Wills Hall and are something that I
will always remember and would have loved to have had the opportunity
to revisit and in particular get together with the good friends I made
in a highly enjoyable year in Wills Hall last year.
Harry Walker'
After a long fortnight, during which I had come to the conclusion the relevant authorities had no adequate response to my rather reasonable email which I had been tempted to follow with a more aggressive one, I finally received the following reply:
'Dear Harry
As was made clear last year, because of the disgraceful behaviour at the final formal last session, quite unprecedented in my ten years here, and because those responsible for this refused to accept responsibility, the enormous privilege of having a "Returners" formal (introduced for the first time about 6 years ago) has been withdrawn for those who were in hall last year. This ban includes visits to formals as guests of this year's hall members. This is of course a deeply regrettable situation, probably regretted most of all by me because I so enjoyed seeing former hall members return here. I sincerely hope it will not be necessary to repeat this. We had an excellent Retuners formal for third and fourth year students last Friday.
Donald Shell'
Frankly I don't care about their 'Retuners' formals being wonderful without us. I also fail to see an adequate explanation for the punishment of people who were definitely not at the formal. Even people who were at the formal in question have indicated to me that they find it bizarre and unfair that people who could not have possibly been involved are punished too.
Furthermore, I am told, but have no way of proving that a number of people attended the meeting the following day to admit to the food fight and as the number of people actually involved was in the region of 20 the attendance of the meeting was a fair reflection of this total. Nonetheless an enormous privilege for the ex-members of Wills Hall 2005/6 has been removed with little justification as far as I can tell.
I suppose their only argument can be that juvenile behaviour of the sort perpetrated at the formal can only be punished with a response most usually applied to primary school children: blanket punishment.