Peterhouse students have been warned against “racist” and “misogynistic” behaviour, following multiple “unacceptable” incidents across College and online.

In emails sent to all Peterhouse undergraduates last week, the College’s Tutor of Discipline reminded students to consider how they conducted themselves online, and noted that there had been multiple posts containing “elements of misogyny, bullying and racism”. This was followed by a separate email from the College’s JCR President, who noted that there had been multiple instances at College events “where students have been subjected to misogynistic, racist, and hateful language and rhetoric”.

This came after a racial slur attacking Black people was used by a Peterhouse student at a JCR pub quiz. Varsity understands that the student used an acronym of the slur as their group’s team name for the quiz before publicly pointing it out to the rest of the attendees.

This was labelled, “entirely unacceptable” by the College’s BME officer, who in an email addressed to the College, stated that the incident “has caused a great deal of harm, particularly to our BME community”.

They added that “discrimination and the use of racial slurs have no place anywhere,” and that the use of such language “undermine the safety which BME students feel within their own college”.

“Moving forward, I will be working with Sarah [Peterhouse JCR President] to determine what to do next […] to address the structural problems which make people feel able to act in such an appalling, insensitive manner”.

The incident was also described as being “deeply disconcerting” by a Peterhouse student, who told Varsity that they were “deeply upset to share a College with people who make light of such serious issues”.

In a separate event, a post on Petfess, the College’s anonymous Facebook confessions page, compared first year female students to porn stars. The admin of the page has since deleted the post, explaining in a later post that they did not “have an intimate knowledge of porn stars,” meaning the original post “slipped under the radar”.

These incidents led the College’s JCR President to point to relevant support networks, including the provision of a series of welfare pop-ups led by the BME, and WMG/W&NB Welfare officers.

“My priority is to keep student welfare at the forefront – everyone should have a space to express their concerns, vent their frustrations, and receive support,” the president said.

While condemning the incident, the email from the Tutor of Discipline and Acting Senior Tutor stated that the College staff will not be policing inflammatory comments or material online, claiming that the student body is best suited for this responsibility. But, content that is deemed to “cross red lines” and breach the College’s regulations will be “thoroughly investigated,” with “formal disciplinary procedure implemented”.

A spokesperson for Peterhouse said: “The College is aware of some recent behaviour among a small minority of our students which was found to be in stark contrast with the values we uphold.”

“There is no place for any form of racism, misogyny or other discriminatory language or abuse at Peterhouse, which has been demonstrated in the reaction within our community to these incidents. We are committed to promoting a respectful and inclusive environment for all members of our community and our dedicated welfare team has been offering support to students impacted by these recent events,” they continued.

They added: “We encourage any students who have concerns, or would like additional support, to reach out to the welfare team or their tutors.”