The presidents of Trinity and St John’s May Balls have released a joint statement condemning an email to May Ball and June Event presidents from the editors of The Tab Cambridge, James Wells and Xavier Bisits.

In the email, Wells and Bisits had encouraged the May Ball Presidents’ Committee to drop its ban on the provision of “free or discounted tickets” to student reviewers, and made it clear that the publication “will not be giving any free publicity to May Balls this year in the form of reviews”.

The email claimed that highly subsidised or free tickets were “one of the only ways [The Tab Cambridge] could incentivise [its] authors”, and that The Tab Cambridge would not review any events besides Trinity and St John’s as part of its May Week coverage unless the policy is changed.

The email went on to state that a May Ball review from The Tab Cambridge was “of course highly valuable.” Wells and Bisits claim that the current policy breaks a convention of issuing tickets to reviewers, and insist that The Tab has been offered such tickets in the past.

In their response to the email, Julian Darby and Harriet Gordon, Trinity May Ball Presidents, and Tom Zhang, St John’s May Ball President, requested that “The Tab does not review Trinity or St John’s” May Balls if the publication maintains what they characterise as an “embargo on the remaining Cambridge Balls”.

The statement argued that The Tab’s policy “aims to undermine the atmosphere of cooperation and solidarity between the respective Ball committees.”

It then stated that The Tab’s approach “seeks to portray us as rivals”, in contrast to what they characterise as the May Balls’ “common goal” of “providing a night to remember for all of our guests.”

Their comments echo those made by Derek Chan, May Ball Presidents’ Committee Chair, who called The Tab Cambridge’s actions “particularly irregular” and “heavy-handed”, criticising them for intending to “block pro bono review submissions from publication.”

The Tab Cambridge declined Varsity’s request for comment in relation to the joint statement.