Sir – The front page story of your September 30 issue was depressingly familiar, not least in the official attitude expressed by Anne Gwinnett of Brookes University.
On all such occasions, Dr Gwinnett mentions the ‘procedures’ which Brookes has at its disposal to deal with the antisocial behaviour of its students; but by Brookes’ own reckoning, any disciplinary procedures they have up their sleeves are never used.
And I do mean ‘never’. Janet Beer, the Vice-Chancellor, has written personally to me to admit that in the last ten years no Brookes student has ever actually been punished as a result of any of the hundreds of complaints from Oxford residents.
Brookes officials call formal warnings and suspended penalties a form of discipline, but they are not. As somebody revealed by The Oxford Times to be earning more than the Prime Minister, Prof Beer might be expected to put more effort into addressing this problem. And Dr Gwinnett should avoid casting doubt on the truth of residents’ versions of events.
Roger Teichmann, Oxford
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