Dunking someone's head in the toilet bowl for ragging? No, orientations today are more 'freshman-friendly'
By Fiona Liaw
September 17, 2007
IT was telling, the response from the Singapore undergraduate on the other line: 'I think there is a misunderstanding...
'I thought you meant ragging as in the float-building on Rag and Flag Day.'
And that about sums up the change of bearings that has taken place over time - how students who live, work and play in university, particularly in the hostels, are ch
annelling their energy into intense competition more instead of extreme teasing.
No tales of having your head held down in the toilet bowl and flushed, or crawling on your knees to serve drinks.
When MrOh Wen Jun, 23, a third-year undergraduate from the National University of Singapore's School of Computing, was asked to recall his experience when it comes to ragging, his first response was to talk about building floats.
Freshmen orientation began last month for universities here, and this period that lasts through September is the season for students entering universities abroad in the UK and US as well, who will face similar inductions.
Traditionally, ragging used to be a fear-inducing word, implying great suffering in store for the freshmen through harassment and torture by seniors on campus.
Now, it is still associated with the rite of initiation for freshmen, but is used loosely to refer to holding inter-faculty and inter-hostel games to build camaraderie.
For Mr Oh, the old definition of ragging is hardly a talking point these days.
He said: 'It has died down. Whatever 'ragging' in that sense is mild. If not, they are more for fun.'
He cited the example of how a senior may take something from a junior's hostel room and the junior will have to try to negotiate to get the item back. Lame? The junior would say it is 'freshman-friendly'.
And that about sums up the change of bearings that has taken place over time - how students who live, work and play in university, particularly in the hostels, are ch
annelling their energy into intense competition more instead of extreme teasing.No tales of having your head held down in the toilet bowl and flushed, or crawling on your knees to serve drinks.
When MrOh Wen Jun, 23, a third-year undergraduate from the National University of Singapore's School of Computing, was asked to recall his experience when it comes to ragging, his first response was to talk about building floats.
Freshmen orientation began last month for universities here, and this period that lasts through September is the season for students entering universities abroad in the UK and US as well, who will face similar inductions.
Traditionally, ragging used to be a fear-inducing word, implying great suffering in store for the freshmen through harassment and torture by seniors on campus.
Now, it is still associated with the rite of initiation for freshmen, but is used loosely to refer to holding inter-faculty and inter-hostel games to build camaraderie.
For Mr Oh, the old definition of ragging is hardly a talking point these days.
He said: 'It has died down. Whatever 'ragging' in that sense is mild. If not, they are more for fun.'
He cited the example of how a senior may take something from a junior's hostel room and the junior will have to try to negotiate to get the item back. Lame? The junior would say it is 'freshman-friendly'.
SENIORS BEING BULLIED
Miss Emily Chia, 22, a second-year nursing student at NUS, said: 'The funny part is, seniors are now the ones being 'bullied'. Like when we play haunted house, one of them was tied up like a mummy and tickled. Or we throw water bombs at them.'
Certainly, there is a big reason for this change - campus policies have become stricter on ragging.
The NUS code of st
udent conduct, for example, states that the university 'takes a serious view on students who engage in ragging, harassment or any method of initiation which causes bodily danger or mental intimidation/humiliation to other students'.
In Nanyang Technological University (NTU), its student affairs office states that it 'will take action against any student found ragging' because it is 'strictly not permissible'.
Of course, ragging was not approved in the past either, but that did not stop students from doing it.
One 58-year-old, who wanted to be known only as Mr Khoo, entered the Faculty of Law in 1968.
He recalled: 'The bulk of orientation was ragging, with activities like briefings and the Freshie Hop (dance) as booby traps to lure freshmen for ragging.
'An example would be the Royal Flush, where a senior would put the freshman's head in a toilet bowl and flush it.'
Of course, revenge was also sweet, with the freshies ragging their seniors on the last day of orientation.
Mr Khoo's most memorable experience?
'The seniors wanted to extend the six-week orientation period because they felt the freshmen were too cocky. There was a huge rally to settle it.'
Banker Matthew Tay, 52, who entered the then-University of Singapore in 1975, said even in the past, mild ragging existed if you were lucky as a junior, 'like just being woken up in the middle of the night'.
'But there were instances of making freshies blow condoms into balloons, and stripping,' he added.
For trader Soon Teck Onn, 39, a former Arts student, he remembered ragging in the late '80s and early '90s as being about seniors treating juniors like servants.
udent conduct, for example, states that the university 'takes a serious view on students who engage in ragging, harassment or any method of initiation which causes bodily danger or mental intimidation/humiliation to other students'.In Nanyang Technological University (NTU), its student affairs office states that it 'will take action against any student found ragging' because it is 'strictly not permissible'.
Of course, ragging was not approved in the past either, but that did not stop students from doing it.
One 58-year-old, who wanted to be known only as Mr Khoo, entered the Faculty of Law in 1968.
He recalled: 'The bulk of orientation was ragging, with activities like briefings and the Freshie Hop (dance) as booby traps to lure freshmen for ragging.
'An example would be the Royal Flush, where a senior would put the freshman's head in a toilet bowl and flush it.'
Of course, revenge was also sweet, with the freshies ragging their seniors on the last day of orientation.
Mr Khoo's most memorable experience?
'The seniors wanted to extend the six-week orientation period because they felt the freshmen were too cocky. There was a huge rally to settle it.'
Banker Matthew Tay, 52, who entered the then-University of Singapore in 1975, said even in the past, mild ragging existed if you were lucky as a junior, 'like just being woken up in the middle of the night'.
'But there were instances of making freshies blow condoms into balloons, and stripping,' he added.
For trader Soon Teck Onn, 39, a former Arts student, he remembered ragging in the late '80s and early '90s as being about seniors treating juniors like servants.
He recalled: 'They wanted us to greet them and call them 'senior lady' or 'senior gentleman', even if we saw them in the toilet.'
He said he 'rejected' their rag, and got away with being slightly sidelined.
'I wasn't as bonded to the rest. I regret that a little bit,' he said.
Indeed, the aim of orientation, along with ragging, is to get freshmen to fit in quickly, so as not to be anti-social or left out. But taking things to the extremes could hurt or alienate people further.
Or it could be seen as sexual harassment, particularly in games where food is passed through bodily contact between strangers.
DIRTY IDEAS
A 29-year-old Nanyang Technological University alumnus, who wanted to be known only as James, recalled how his hostel mate was doused by a gross mixture of cat food, toothpaste and oil, and how he had to roll about in mud as seniors called out numbers to indicate how many times you had to roll.
'I heard there were also others who were taken to the Nanyang Lake (on campus) and dunked there.'
Other physical 'tests' include having to do as you were told by road markings such as 'strips ahead' or 'hump ahead'.
'You do what the words say when you reach there,' James said.
These days though, it seems getting wet is about the wildest it can get.
Law freshman Yvonne Poon, 19, said: 'During one of the night walks, the seniors asked us questions, and anyone who answered wrongly had water poured on them. It was all in the name of fun.'
Mr Oh, who recalled 'mistakes' in a dance item as the only embarrassment in his freshman year two years ago, suggested why students have disengaged themselves with the old concept of ragging these days:
'It's a generation thing, maybe. Just like how teachers used to be able to cane students in schools, now they can't or don't do it. In the past, too, people were more 'obedient', they took what they got and did not complain. Now, people are more vocal, they voice their objections readily.
'There is also a shift in perepctive and orientation goal, to make freshies feel more comfortable rather than to just let seniors have fun by ragging the juniors.'
Mr Khoo, who was a freshman in 1968, saw the 'good' in the bad old ragging though: 'Sometimes it is through hardship that you can really see the character and nature of a person. This whole process of ragging can also develop it.'
The young could also argue that in place of severe bullying, 'hardship' these days can kick in through the rumble of inter-hostel rivalry and contests, the fight to be the overall champion 'hall of residence', or to get the award of best float.
In NUS, the building of floats for the yearly Rag Day is the dominant event. And students parade their floats and perform dances and back-breaking acrobatic stunts to thank supporters for their donations on Flag Day, which happens a few days before.
There is also a competition to see which faculty or hostel can raise the highest amount.
Mr Oh, who was the co-head of the 'float committee' at last year's Rag and Flag, said that during orientation, they often worked from 9am to midnight every day and will hardly have time to engage in ragging to sabotage the juniors.
'You'd be too tired to do that,' he said.
But at the end of orientation, after all the 'work' is done, the parties and feasts still go on. More bonding may even take place in nightclubs, as in this year's NUS Law Camp, for example.
Mr Manfred Pan, 22, a Singapore Management University undergraduate, said his most memorable camp experiences were usually those when they went to clubs and had a few drinks.
And that, as they say, might make the freshman game of finding out 10things you never knew about that 'senior gentleman' seem much easier.
He said he 'rejected' their rag, and got away with being slightly sidelined.
'I wasn't as bonded to the rest. I regret that a little bit,' he said.
Indeed, the aim of orientation, along with ragging, is to get freshmen to fit in quickly, so as not to be anti-social or left out. But taking things to the extremes could hurt or alienate people further.
Or it could be seen as sexual harassment, particularly in games where food is passed through bodily contact between strangers.
DIRTY IDEAS
A 29-year-old Nanyang Technological University alumnus, who wanted to be known only as James, recalled how his hostel mate was doused by a gross mixture of cat food, toothpaste and oil, and how he had to roll about in mud as seniors called out numbers to indicate how many times you had to roll.
'I heard there were also others who were taken to the Nanyang Lake (on campus) and dunked there.'
Other physical 'tests' include having to do as you were told by road markings such as 'strips ahead' or 'hump ahead'.
'You do what the words say when you reach there,' James said.
These days though, it seems getting wet is about the wildest it can get.
Law freshman Yvonne Poon, 19, said: 'During one of the night walks, the seniors asked us questions, and anyone who answered wrongly had water poured on them. It was all in the name of fun.'
Mr Oh, who recalled 'mistakes' in a dance item as the only embarrassment in his freshman year two years ago, suggested why students have disengaged themselves with the old concept of ragging these days:
'It's a generation thing, maybe. Just like how teachers used to be able to cane students in schools, now they can't or don't do it. In the past, too, people were more 'obedient', they took what they got and did not complain. Now, people are more vocal, they voice their objections readily.
'There is also a shift in perepctive and orientation goal, to make freshies feel more comfortable rather than to just let seniors have fun by ragging the juniors.'
Mr Khoo, who was a freshman in 1968, saw the 'good' in the bad old ragging though: 'Sometimes it is through hardship that you can really see the character and nature of a person. This whole process of ragging can also develop it.'
The young could also argue that in place of severe bullying, 'hardship' these days can kick in through the rumble of inter-hostel rivalry and contests, the fight to be the overall champion 'hall of residence', or to get the award of best float.
In NUS, the building of floats for the yearly Rag Day is the dominant event. And students parade their floats and perform dances and back-breaking acrobatic stunts to thank supporters for their donations on Flag Day, which happens a few days before.
There is also a competition to see which faculty or hostel can raise the highest amount.
Mr Oh, who was the co-head of the 'float committee' at last year's Rag and Flag, said that during orientation, they often worked from 9am to midnight every day and will hardly have time to engage in ragging to sabotage the juniors.
'You'd be too tired to do that,' he said.
But at the end of orientation, after all the 'work' is done, the parties and feasts still go on. More bonding may even take place in nightclubs, as in this year's NUS Law Camp, for example.
Mr Manfred Pan, 22, a Singapore Management University undergraduate, said his most memorable camp experiences were usually those when they went to clubs and had a few drinks.
And that, as they say, might make the freshman game of finding out 10things you never knew about that 'senior gentleman' seem much easier.
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