GREAT STUDENTS' "RAG."

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 40, 16 February 1929, Page 8 (Supplement)

GREAT STUDENTS' "RAG."

WINHOW-SMASHING RAID. BOGUS OFFICIAL NOTICES. A midnight window-smashing raid at Clarendon Buildings by undergraduates in motor cars, followed next morning by an elaborate hoax which involved close on 1000 students, the lire brigade and many police, gave the Oxford University authorities one of the biggest disciplinary problems they have had for years.

Trouble began just before midnight, when four or five motor cars rilled with undergraduates pulled up in Broad Street, near Clarendon Buildings, which are the University headquarters. The occupants of the cars jumped out, ran to the pavement, and threw bottles filled with whitening through the windows.

Before the "bulldogs"—proctors' police —could intervene the raiders rushed back to their cars and drove olf.

Eye-witnesses state that the number plates of the cars were covered and that during the raid, in which about 20 students took part, head and side lamps were extinguished.

Twenty-seven panes of glass were smashed and considerable damage done to furniture and furnishings in the rooms. A valuable mahogany table was considerably damaged and a marble mantelpiece chipped.

The second episode in this drama, which is by, way of protest against the numerous restrictions imposed recently on students, began next morning, when close upon 1000 students gathered outside the Clarendon Buildings, armed with official notices summoning them to appear before the Proctor for an interview.

Apparently someone had been able to appropriate 500 of the official summons forma used by the Proctor, and these were sent to students at various colleges. They are stated to have beon delivered by men dresed to look like "bulldogs."

Officials of the Proctor's office endeavoured to persuade the crowd of undergraduates besieging the building that there had been some mistake and denied all knowledge of the summonses, but for half an hour the crowd surrounded the building, stopping all traffic in Broad Street, and yelling "Down with the Proctors. Down with gown rule."

Policemen summoned to the spot dealt good-naturedly with the j-tudonts, among whom "bulldogs" moved with paper and pencil taking down names.

At the height of the rag tlie Oxford fire brigade dashed up -with a fire escape and tender, and firemen armed with extinguishers entered the building. Their appearance was cheered by the students, and when they reappeared from the building and drove off there was a further outburst. The call was part of the hoar.

The fact that several non-professional members of the brigade lose pay every time they turn out to a tire apparently carried no weight with the undergraduates.

The authorities are determined to get to the bottom of the affair.

There is little doubt that the students' action was largely the result of the numerous restrictions imposed upon them recently, and particularly the revived rule that they must wear their gowns on almost all occasions.