Minutes after the big reveal by the Daily Mail on Sunday evening, social media went wild with an allegation by Lord Ashcroft that Prime Minister David Cameron “inserted a private part of his anatomy” into a dead pig’s mouth. Hashtags such as #piggate #Hameron and #Oink hit the trending lists and by Monday #piggate was top trending in the world. Cameron claims he was “stabbed in the back” by Lord Ashcroft however does this scandal prove that what happens with your mates at university doesn’t actually stay at university?
Careers advisors are constantly reminding us that potential employers can search your name online and therefore all social media accounts should be made private and you should keep your professional profile just that. With constant improvements and updates to technology and social media it’s almost impossible not to possess an electronic footprint these days. Cameron’s #piggate scandal was the result of an Oxford University society initiation in the late 1980’s, however these wild initiations are still commonplace 30 years later. Considering the barbarity of University initiations nowadays combined with the technology of the 21st century it is clear that you will struggle to fully escape your past without being a total hermit.
Tabloids jump at the opportunity to publicise and ridicule university initiations, I’m sure you’ve all seen and heard of young men crawling along the ground in tutus, downing pints of eggs and cat food and inserting strange objects into “private parts of their anatomy”. And this isn’t just the rugby clubs; these barbaric initiations cannot be blamed on ‘lad culture’, girls and mixed teams can be equally as harsh to their freshers.
Do you really want your employer to be able to search your name and find images of you incredibly drunk and doing questionable tasks? I think not.
Most universities have now banned such initiations with Aberdeen famously trying to ban the King Street Shuffle last year but we all know that these rules are inevitably broken in the spirit of ‘unay’ and students will go to all lengths to hide their activities from university officials. However initations aren’t all outrageous, St Andrews have a traditional university wide initation type weekend called Raisin Weekend which always sees the students in high spirits.
University clubs and societies can be great fun and are a perfect way to make friends for life but let this just be a warning to all students both present and future; the internet is your worst enemy while at uni and it’s wise to keep your social life on the down low while partying your 20’s away just in case you end up being the PM or something. You never know!