CCTV of teen struggling to stand before he died at boozy university initiation

A student was captured on CCTV struggling to stand hours before he died at a boozy university initiation ceremony.

Edward Farmer, from Leicestershire, had been taking part in an Agricultural Society ‘initiation’ event in December 2016, where he had up to 27 shots of vodka in less than three hours.

The 20-year-old, a Newcastle University Fresher, "died due to the toxic effects of an excessive amount of alcohol in a short period of time", according to an inquest.

Edward’s death sent shockwaves through the university, which has now banned initiation ceremonies, reports ChronicleLive .

The ceremonies are often carried out when freshers join a new society and usually involve drinking large quantities of alcohol.

At Newcastle University, most students ChronicleLive approached had heard about the Mr Farmer’s death, and have seen stories about the inquest over recent days.

All agree that it is shocking – one calls the story "terrifying".

One man said his flatmate is a member of the Agricultural Society, the group which organised the initiation which ended in Mr Farmer’s death.

"They’ve all been warned about it," he said.

Music student Holly Clarke said it had been a "shock" to hear about the tragedy, which didn’t line up with her experience at university at all.

"I honestly thought it was an American thing that happened in frat houses there, or maybe at Oxbridge – it doesn’t seem like something that would have happened here," she said.

"I haven’t experienced anything like it. It’s terrifying that something like that could happen.

"Drink and death with students, it feels completely unheard of, and the fact that it was through an initiation process worries me.

"I think part of it is that with new students there’s this idea that you’ve got to go out and get drunk, that’s part of the culture, and that’s not just Newcastle.

"People are being inserted into a new environment, they want to fit in and make friends and the way they do that is by drinking – freshers are socially expected to drink a lot."

Newcastle University officially bans initiations to its student societies.

The university website warns "anyone found to have organised or participated in an initiation ritual will be subject to disciplinary action", saying the events encourage excessive drinking, force humiliating and degrading behavior, and may bring the institution into disrepute.

Speaking at the inquest, however, Lesley Braiden, academic registrar at Newcastle University, said it was "difficult, if not impossible, to monitor" initiation events.

The group of lads who met with the Chronicle, who admit to having some experience of initiations, therefore ask to remain anonymous.

Now studying for masters degrees, most of them completed their undergraduate at Newcastle, when several of them participated in the events as ‘freshers’.

However, they said they don’t recognise some of the more shocking ‘challenges’ mentioned in Mr Farmer’s inquest – apple bobbing in urine or drinking from a pig’s head – and they don’t think the initiations are a more general problem for the university.

One man said: "A lot of sport societies have initiations, a lot of first years get excessively drunk and do silly challenges.

"What happened is awful – when someone gets to that stage that’s when you stop and make sure they’re alright.

"But the way it’s being portrayed makes it sound like it’s a problem with our student culture in general. It’s being made into a bit of a witch-hunt against Newcastle and societies.

"You can’t say it’s completely safe, but when students take part, they’re 18 and they choose to do it. You might be egged on but you’re not forced to drink."

The group listed the activities they’d think of as being involved in initiations, saying it is "mostly drinking games", and some times tasting unpleasant non-alcoholic things.

"You’d pour spirits into a football boot and drink them, or do shots of something that’s a bit disgusting," one said.

When asked about the university ban on initiations, the students were only vaguely aware of it.

A third man said: "You get emails, but I don’t think anybody is really going to listen to it – they’d just call them something else."

While these students admitted to having experienced initiations, and one witness at Mr Farmer’s inquest said they were "widespread", most of those wandering around campus who agreed to speak said it was not something they’d come across.

Fourth year chemical engineering student Jono Morley said: "I haven’t experienced anything like that. I think it’s just sports teams, although I’ve got friends on sports teams who’ve never done anything like that."

He agreed there was a culture of heavy drinking more generally, but not more so than in other universities or cities.

"I would say most students here are the same as at any other university: it’s just students being students."

For third year psychology student Charlotte White, this drinking culture felt alienating as a fresher – so she started up the Newcastle University ‘Sober Socials’ society.

Teetotal Charlotte was keen to take part in activities which didn’t centre around drinking, but found most of the activities organised by university clubs seemed to involve going out.

She founded the society, now in its second year, for drinkers and non-drinkers alike who wanted a club whose social activities didn’t focus on boozing. The "really friendly" group go out for coffee, bowling, or host sober film nights.

"I tried to find societies I could feel comfortable in but a lot of them would only offer club nights," she said.

"In Freshers’ Week they do put on some non-drinking events but after that it’s just sort of expected that if you want to socialise you go out drinking.

"People are expected even before they go to uni to drink a lot as freshers – family members would say to me ‘oh, Newcastle, there’s great night life there’ so there’s a sense you have to take advantage of that.

"There can be a pressure to drink: a lot of friends have come to me and said ‘I wish I could say no’ but they feel like if they want to go and make friends they have to pretend they are really up for it."

The 20-year-old, who is also studying drinking culture in universities as part of her academic work, says that pressure can also extend to the amount drunk: there’s a sense that students should not just drink, but get drunk.

"People say ‘oh, I’ll come out for one’ but friends say ‘have another, I’ll buy you one’, even if you’re trying to control it and be sensible it doesn’t happen. They’re trying to make sure everyone has fun, but that means drinking."

Newcastle University registrar, Dr John Hogan, said: "Ed’s death was a great tragedy which shocked us all and we would once again like to express our deepest condolences to his family and friends.

"Initiations are banned at Newcastle University and it is made clear to all clubs and societies that any such events constitute serious misconduct.

"Since Ed’s death we have already made a number of changes to the way we raise awareness among our students about the risks of alcohol and how they keep themselves and their fellow students safe.

"However, having listened to the evidence we will be reflecting carefully on all that we have learnt at the inquest and looking at whether there are areas where we can improve what we do.

"Over the last four days we have been shocked to hear some of the details of what took place that night and do not condone this sort of behaviour in any way.

"Following our disciplinary investigations a number of students were found to be in breach of University rules and appropriate individual sanctions were imposed. The Students’ Union also took action against the society involved.

"The welfare and safety of all our students are of paramount importance to us and together with the Students’ Union we work hard to help them stay safe during their time at university.

"On behalf of the University, I would once again like to express to Ed’s family and loved ones our deepest sorrow about the loss of a young man of such potential who surely had a bright future ahead of him."

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