The Syndicate slammed for School-girl themed event

 An exclusive drinking society, consisting of Teddy Hall’s most “macho” lads, The Syndicate has come under attack recently due to its “In Bed With The Syndicate” event.

At this party, which was invitation only, female freshers were required to dress up in schoolgirl uniforms.

Is this what they had in mind?

“It reminds of the bits in My Super Sweet Sixteen where the ‘birthday person’ gets the entire school of 600 on the field and dishes out only 300 invites. Its divisive and sends out a nice message of ‘you’re not for us’ to some of the student body,” comments Michael Rundle, a Teddy Hall undergraduate.

“I would never be invited into it on the basis that I’m not macho and didn’t go to a public school” says Christopher Pike.

While The Syndicate is controversial in itself, ‘In Bed With The’ seems to be causing more waves.

“I’m fairly confident that none of those girls would have attended the event if they felt objectified or disrespected by the theme” comments Chris Pike.

Spot the difference.

“However, with The Syndicate there is a stigma attached to declining invitations and I don’t think it’s good for a college society to hold that much power, especially when some of their activities may make people feel uncomfortable”.

While other UK universities are slowly getting rid of the “lad” culture on campus, The Syndicate and other such cabals seek to extend it.

Vikram Dhillon and James Ferguson, both finalists at Teddy Hall, agree that the nature of the event is objectionable, but place responsibility on the female participants involved.

“The nature of the event lends itself to an image of misogyny and encourages sleazy behaviour, but ultimately it is the choice of the women themselves whether or not to attend.”

“Getting a load of fresher girls to dress up in uniform and ‘meet the Syndicate’ after buying them drinks seems dodgy to me” Michael continued.

Some quarters have applauded the bravado of these ‘enterprising’ young lads whilst others have condemned the idea as a strong reminder of thriving, casual sexism.