The Cambridge college dean and an indecent proposal from her drunken student



Problems: Churchill's dean, Dr Priyamvada Gopal

It was founded with the backing of the famously hard-drinking Winston Churchill.



But even the former prime minister might be shocked by the drunken misbehaviour of students at Churchill College, Cambridge, these days.



Indecent exposure, vandalism, violence and alcohol-fuelled high-jinks have been revealed as a regular part of the social scene.



And the wild behaviour came to a head when the dean was caught up in it, as a drunken student propositioned her during a group’s naked rampage through college.



Since 2005, some 91 incidents involving more than 100 students have been recorded at the college, it emerged after a Freedom of Information request.



The college dean, Dr Priyamvada Gopal, reported how she had to reject the advances of one inebriated student in March 2007.



‘Several very drunk students and alumni after a rugby dinner, some of whom were running naked around college, and one of whom propositioned me,’ she noted.



In October 2006, two amorous students were caught indecently exposing themselves in the library.



A report states: ‘Two students, one female, were cautioned and told to see the librarian to apologise.’



In March 2008, members of the outlawed Bulldogs drinking society booked a ‘fake sports dinner’ under the name of the University Lacrosse Club.



‘The result was extreme drunken behaviour, damage and fouling of the room and adjacent toilets,’ it was recorded.



In February this year, one student, who is not identified, assaulted another, leaving him with bleeding wounds, in need of hospital treatment. According to the official report, there was a ‘serious incident at the Spring Ball involving one student assaulting another with a beer bottle then fists’.



Crime scene: Churchill college, which was founded with the backing of Winston Churchill

The culprit had his bar privileges rescinded, was put under a 10pm-6am curfew, fined £250, ordered to pay his victim £150 damages, and told to undergo ‘mandatory counselling’.



But he was later discovered walking on the roof of the college by a porter, who contacted police. When he eventually came down, he ‘refused to stop when summoned’.



The report added: ‘Police dog let loose after three warnings. Apprehended person. Found to be person from Spring Ball incident.’



He was ‘cautioned strongly’ but subsequently broke down a door, ‘injuring himself in the process’, after going out drinking with friends to celebrate the lifting of the curfew.



It was recommended that ‘he either be rusticated [suspended] for a year or sent down [expelled] permanently’, although it was not clear yesterday what action was taken.



Other high-jinks included the discovery of a secret casino and drunken students found jumping out of windows.



Punishments ranged from fines and curfews to the withdrawal of alcohol-purchasing privileges at the college bar and formal apologies.



And Churchill, whose Nobel laureates include Francis Crick, the co-discoverer of DNA, wasn’t the only college to record problems.



There were 112 disciplinary cases at Sidney Sussex College and 43 at Clare College. One Sidney Sussex student ‘vomited in the room hand basin, left it running, which blocked and flooded the library below’ – although porters managed to save the books from damage.



But yesterday, an unrepentant student said: ‘We’re no different to students at other universities – you let off a bit of steam and try not to get caught in the process.’



Churchill junior common room president Alan Cruickshank blamed some of the escapades on a weekly music event called The Pav, which is open to all students.



He said: ‘I think we might be slightly more likely to be badly-behaved in college simply because of the great facilities and ents [entertainments] on offer.



‘The consistent weekly turnout at The Pav I think, is probably proof,’ he added.

