Oxford University is facing criticism after officials suggested the generosity of students had led to a rise in the number of rough sleepers in the city.
In an attempt to rid the university of its Bullingdon Club image, Oxford sent an email to students in an attempt to curb the practice of “trashing”, an undergraduate tradition involving covering each other in champagne and food after final exams.
It has become so unruly that the university says it cost £25,000 each year in security and cleanup costs.
The email also said the waste of food involved added to the stress of people sleeping rough in the city, whose number has doubled in the last year.
It also implied, however, that the goodwill of students was a contributory factor in the increase. “Oxford’s students have a highly developed social conscience, as is evident from the number of homeless people who come to seek assistance in this city. Needless waste of food is an aggravation of their distress,” it said.
The email, which was sent by the university’s senior proctor, Prof Mark Edwards, and the junior proctor, Cécile Fabre, went on to complain that trashing was harming the reputation of the university, as it portrayed “the whole of Oxford [as] one giant Bullingdon Club”.
“This is unlikely to have a positive effect on applications from underprivileged minorities,” it said.
Students flagged up the email on social media to express their incredulity at the suggestion that homeless people were drawn to the city because of the generosity of students.
Just been forwarded this email from Oxford University senior management, in which they claim the city's acute homelessness problem is because homeless people come here to take advantage of generous students. pic.twitter.com/3q185P5K25
— Neha Shah (@nehashah_) June 12, 2018
Defending the email in Cherwell, the Oxford student newspaper, Edwards said: “The fact that homeless people come to Oxford from elsewhere is clearly acknowledged. This is a credit to the city’s excellent facilities, but also, we believe, to the generosity of students, townsfolk and tourists.”
The university played down the comments, insisting the email was primarily aimed at curbing trashing. A statement said: “The overall intention of the proctors was to appeal to the social and environmental consciences of Oxford students, urging them to consider the impact of the waste and inconvenience caused by trashing.”
Jane Cranston, a former high sheriff of Oxfordshire who now chairs an inquiry into rough sleeping in the city, said the proctors were right to highlight the well-developed social conscience of students, but added: “To suggest that homeless people are attracted to Oxford because of it is a more questionable statement. Oxford has a reputation as a ‘safe’ city for homeless people and many people, including the city council, the county council, many charities, the churches, students and members of the public contribute a great deal of time, care and professionalism to tackling this distressing social problem.”
Alex Kumar, the chair of Oxford student union’s homelessness campaign, accused the university of trying to “cynically weaponise Oxford’s homelessness crisis as an attack on students”.
He added: “One cannot view the escalating homelessness crisis in this country as detached from the housing crisis – a crisis exaggerated, even driven, by speculation on the housing market and the ownership of property throughout this country increasingly in the hands of few, as demonstrated by recent revelations about the grand scope of property held by the university across this entire country.”
Linda Smith, the deputy leader of Oxford city council, said the rise in rough sleeping in the city was driven by government cuts to mental health and substance addiction services.
“It is a national problem. We didn’t have this problem on our streets of Oxford 10 years ago,” she said. “Belatedly the government has woken up to this and Oxford was awarded £500,000 last week.
“We already fund 167 beds and we will be expanding our provision to fund an extra 64 beds next winter. We want to get to a position where nobody has to sleep rough on the streets of Oxford.”
Asked whether rough sleeping was linked to the generosity of students, Smith said: “Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I’m not going to suggest that people should not give to beggars.”
