We’ve all had that lecturer. You know, the one who’s so convinced that they’re just one of the lads, they come out drinking with you. And then start discussing philosophy and the deconstruction of self while you’re three pints down.
But the University of Northampton’s vice chancellor is so keen on student drinking culture that he’s been dubbed ‘The Wolf Of Northampton’ on Twitter by his students/fans. This is, of course, in homage to The Wolf Of Wall Street, as played by Leonardo DiCaprio in the hit film of the same name.
Nick Petford, who is 53 and on £200,000 a year, turned up to the student union’s sports awards and downed wine – at the command of comedian Lee Nelson – before moving onto Jägerbombs. After crowdsurfing over students, he bought drinks for them.
‘He was buying shots for the students joining in with the Jägerbombs – he was well up for it and having a great time,’ a student told The Telegraph. But not all the students were happy with his behaviour. ‘You could tell some people were uncomfortable with his behaviour, considering he is so senior.’
In fact, the student union was so upset with his actions that they released a statement about it. ‘We are deeply concerned about the disrepute this sort of irresponsible behaviour by our Senior Managers brings to an institution we work hard to support and promote, and call on the governors to address this behaviour so that we – and our students – can continue to be justly proud to be part of the University of Northampton.’
A university spokesperson, meanwhile, simply confirmed that he had attended the event.
Now we don’t want to scream ‘overreaction’ if people were genuinely unsettled by what he did – and we know how annoying and boistrous sports students can be. But it sort of seems like things can’t be so bad on campus in Northampton if this is the sort of thing the student union’s getting riled about.
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Picture: Newsteam
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.