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Father Demands Zero Tolerance After Son's Tragic Initiation
24 Sep
Summary
- Student died from toxic effects of excessive drinking at initiation.
- Revellers downed vodka shots from a pig's head during the event.
- Father urges universities to expel students involved in initiations.
Jeremy Farmer, father of Ed Farmer who died at age 20, is demanding a strict zero-tolerance policy against university initiations. His son tragically passed away following an agricultural society event at Newcastle University, which involved excessive alcohol consumption. Witnesses at the inquest reported that around 20 first-year students attended a bar crawl where older students ordered 100 triple vodka shots.
During the ceremony in December 2016, students were instructed to drink vodka from a pig's head before having their heads shaved. Ed Farmer was found passed out and later taken to the hospital, five times over the drink-drive limit. Experts stated that excess alcohol caused cardiac arrest, leading to fatal brain damage.
Farmer also criticized bars for supplying large quantities of alcohol to students whose condition was unknown. Newcastle University confirmed that initiations are banned and any student organizing such an event could face expulsion, with at least one student having been expelled following this incident.
