Students thrown off course for throwing a party.

[Cotbedy]

Basically, a load of students held a party of around 16/17 people. They got reported, they all got a £400 fine, apart from the host who got a £10,000 fine.

Then their Uni kicked them all off their courses for bringing the Uni into disrepute.

I think this is probably a fair and reasonable punishment, but DP thinks the Uni have gone too far and they're being unfair.

I'm curious to hear others' thoughts on the matter! Fair or unreasonable?

Good. Too many teens and young twenties think rules don't apply to them. University's are warning students that will happen if they break rules. These students chose to break rules anyway.

It's really harsh and I have a lot of sympathy but all students have been well informed of the possible consequences yet they still went ahead. It is blatantly breaking known rules.

They knew and didn't care. They don't care about other people's safety or authority. I'm not sure if it's the University I think it is but the attitudes of some of the students concerned will most likely not have won any favours.

Rapists generally do not flaunt their crimes and act in plain sight.

Our local university made it abundantly clear to students that behaviour like this would not be tolerated, and that penalties would be harsh. Consequently, I would not think it unreasonable if they kicked students off the course in this kind of scenario.

A valuable lesson in not breaking the law surely?

I guess they had to make an example of them. I do feel sorry for them but it was a silly thing to do.

Sounds fine to me. The fine and being thrown of the course is the punishment. I can't blame the University why would they want people who break lockdown laws as students?

So if you are a politician or MP, someone in a position of authority who should be leading by example who breaks the rules all you have to do is make a pathetic attempt at apology, you get to keep your job and all is forgotten after a few weeks

Nobody has forgotten anything. It's disgraceful and the only thing we can do about it is take it to the polls come election day. We have that power to remove them from that job.

@EllaPaella came on to say the same!

Harsh but fair imo. Student parties massively increase the risk of covid transmission on campus, with possibly serious and life-threatening consequences for both themselves and anyone who might have caught it down the line. They're adults. They'll have known that and decided to break the rules anyway

@firsttimedad79

They were punished already with a fine. Throwing them off their courses is way over the top :(

Just shows the signs of the times where everything is too PC :(

"Too PC"?

Working at University i know students are warned of the University policy on covid and consequences. They may even have signed an agreement so whilst it is harsh it is not unfair, unless they were unaware of this possibility.

These 'students' had no common sense and showed a lack of intelligence, not the kind of people that any university wants.

My own dd is at Uni and following the rules rigidly. Lots of her friends aren't though.

I think it’s harsh

Most of us on here are way past the time when socialising every weekend and making new friends was so important In our lives (I know not everyone when through this phase) to have that taken away plus everything else has been really hard on them

@Stirmecrazy

This does make me wonder wether Unis would enforce such punishments on their own. If a lecturer was found to be in breach of covid rules would they be out of a job. I wonder I am continually amazed how we talk about students being adults with responsibilities for their actions and yet we have spent the last year controlling all their actions , where they can live, what they can do , when they can leave campus when they can go , the quality or lack of quality of their education. While dictating that they should still pay full price in tuition fees and in some cases accommodation fees. There is no sympathy and if anything this sector of population is continually vilified We have all had restrictions made on our life this last year but I think students are a sector which has been hit most hard with least sympathy.

I fully agree that students have had a harsh time of it. My son is one! But he will also be first to criticise the small minority of other students on his course or in his flat who break the rules. Out of 8 in his Uni campus flat, 6 have followed all rules, 1 has been a bit hit and miss but no serious rule breaking (i.e. not going to parties etc), and 1 just didn't give a toss (but he didn't give a toss about other rules either as he was also a drug taker) - he was the one the Uni threw out after he failed to isolate after catching covid (he had already been warned re other law/rule breaches so not a first offence).

Students have had an awful time and paying £15k p.a. for it which makes it worse. (Not to mention being expected to pay £18 per day for Uni provided food parcel when isolating!!), not getting rent refunds for their halls that they're not allowed to return to, etc. The vast majority have taken this on the chin and making the best of it. Rather than criticising students, we should be celebrating all those who have complied with the rules! I can guarantee the vast majority of students who have complied are fully supportive of sanctions/punishments given to their fellow students who havn't!!

Imagine if we had a UK-wide policy that anyone caught breaking a covid law loses their job and their home. And the level of security in every town and village that there is in halls - security guards who keep keys to your home and enter your bedroom with dogs at 2am.

Still reasonable? We need to treat students the same way we treat other adults.

Which uni is this?
If they were warned of the specific penalty they can't complain. But the uni shpuld refund them their fees!

Unlike this
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/09/06/northeastern-university-kicks-11-students-coronavirus-violations/

Good. We're a year into this and by now, everyone knows the rules and the risks.
If they don't care enough to follow the rules, they should accept any consequences they may face.

Seems excessive. Loads of others have broken covid rules and hardly anything happened to them. Football players were fined a measly £2k which is nothing to them. These students get thrown off their course. One rule for us......

I think its too harsh. Their lives are changed forever due to one stupid mistake resulting in a £400 fine.

We live in unprecedented times where young people have been locked away for over a year, the decisions being made by people who have enjoyed the same period of their lives without any such restrictions. Its stressful to be denied this period of your life.

A lesser penalty (eg suspension for a year) would have worked just as well. Its obvious that a message is being sent out, but give that we are near the end of the pandemic and that most students are ignoring the rules now anyway, whats the point?

I think it is perfectly reasonable. I would prefer the organiser to have faced a court of law and perhaps a conditional discharge instead of a fine (or a travel ban), but given the law as it is, agree 100%.

A university student should have the intelligence to have read the Covid 19 guidance and followed it.

@gamerchick two wrongs don't make a right and I for one have not forgotten Robert Jenrick and Dominic Cummings breaking the Covid guidance. Neither have I forgotten that a competent Tory Prime Minister would have acted quicker in March and September 2020 and perhaps 10-15,000 fewer people would have died.

@JustTurtlesAllTheWayDown

Harsh but fair imo. Student parties massively increase the risk of covid transmission on campus, with possibly serious and life-threatening consequences for both themselves and anyone who might have caught it down the line. They're adults. They'll have known that and decided to break the rules anyway

I agree. It's probably parties and socialising against the rules that caused the outbreaks in Universities last October. My son hasn't had a single "face to face" teaching session, the campus bars are closed, their common room is closed, the library is socially distanced, so there really wasn't anywhere else it could have spread.

I think it's within the realms of action the university should be entitled to take but I doubt it is the decision I would make if this was the first infraction I was aware of.

I don't think it's "unfair" but it does seem at the very harsh end of the scale given the potential consequences for those students' whole lives.

Most unis will have codes of conduct and rules around bringing the uni into disrepute so this seems fair enough, and this sort of thing happened pre COVID too. Many employers also have similar rules.

Just trudged through 90+ replies to this thread and not ONE has bothered to fact check. I had a quick look through the news and found a recent story about some students at Portsmouth facing expulsion because they threw a party in a student halls block/flat in January, we caught and fined, and THEN THREW ANOTHER ONE a few weeks later and that is why some are facing expulsion.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-56204899