Exclusive: Chunder In The Jungle: John’s Ent Ends In Carnage

The future of St. John’s Ents is in doubt following Saturday’s raucous ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ event.

The Tab can exclusively reveal that as the night got under way, bystanders witnessed:

-Drinks being STOLEN

-A Porter being MANHANDLED

-CARNAGE on the dancefloor as broken glass and sick built up

In an email sent this morning, the JCR president, Dawn Kelly, said that, “because of the ill-behaviour of a small minority, the future of St John’s Ents is uncertain.”

Saturday’s Ent faced problems even before it began. Several third years managed to steal a stamp, using it to gain free entry.

This created chaos and confusion for the Porters, and to make things worse full capacity was quickly reached.

Several societies had been sessioning and pre-drinking before the event, and that meant many who turned up were, in the words of one attendee, “already completely battered“.

By about 10pm there were large crowds gathering outside the Fisher Building in Cripps Court where the Ents are held. Fellows later complained about the growing crowds and the noise.

Inside the Ent, things weren’t much better. The JCR email indicated that people were “stealing alcohol or mixers from the bar and asking for free drinks”, and one member of the Ents committee was fired on the spot for handing out free drinks.

A shortage of bins meant that bottles were everywhere, including the main dance room where drinks are banned, and large amounts of broken glass were found in the toilets, not to mention sick.

Tempers began to flare both inside and out and some students took their anger out on the Porters. The JCR this morning said, “the way some of [the students] treated our Porters [was] entirely unacceptable”

But the most serious incident came when an unidentified student manhandled one of the Porters, reportedly grabbing the front of his shirt. This led one of the Porters to threaten that this would be the last Ent the JCR would host.

One second year Medic at Johns, who wished to remain nameless, was refused entry after arriving late and threatened with a Deaning for standing outside: “I wasn’t even tipsy, but they treated me like I was the one wrecking the place.”

Another second year at the college suggested that it was members of the rugby team who were among the rowdiest contingent at the bop. She told The Tab they were “just generally being the Red Boys at their worst”.

But it wasn’t all-bad. A member of the John’s Trojohns said that for him the Ent was all about “booze, babes and banter.”

And an attendee who was repeatedly thrown out said the JCR were making a fuss about nothing. He told us: “there were a few playfights, as is to be expected, and obviously there was a lot of drinking. But generally the JCR are just being anal about it.”

Rumours are now circulating that the Ents have been indefinitely suspended. However, the JCR were keen to insist that they don’t want things to be blown out of proportion and were working with the college to resolve the situation.