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NUS = Not Usual Sleaze?

Apollo

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Apollo

Apollo

1st Gear
(edited)

Orientation - just fun or plain lewd?

Students, academics, freshmen and others weigh in on the sexual slant

By Shuli Sudderuddin

 

When National University of Singapore (NUS) freshman Rachel Lee turned up at an orientation camp in campus last month, she got a rude shock.

 

During one of the games, she was made to do a forfeit where the 'girls had to lie down and the guys had to do push-ups over them', she said.

 

Ms Lee, 19, declined to comply - she felt the act was lewd.

 

Another game she observed required participants to pass M&M chocolates to one another using their mouths.

 

'I left after the first day with five or six like-minded friends,' she said of the five-day camp organised by the NUS Students' Union.

 

'Lewd and improper' orientation activities were the subject of a letter by reader Soh Eng Phang, who wrote to the Straits Times Forum page recently complaining about this.

 

In a phone interview elaborating on this, Ms Soh, who is in her 40s, said: 'They are totally uncalled for and give youth a very superficial idea about making friends and finding a partner.'

 

Orientation is held at the start of a school year in July and August to welcome freshmen. This year, the three universities here welcomed 14,700 freshmen.

 

Most camps are run by students and attendance at most activities is optional.

 

In the past, the trend was to subject freshmen to humiliating treatment such as having one's head dunked in a toilet bowl or having to do chores at their seniors' bidding.

 

Over the years, however, orientation has taken on a more sexual slant.

 

Unlike Ms Lee, however, many other freshmen accept such games as a time-honoured ritual and do not find them objectionable.

 

Ms Yvonne Ho, 19, a freshman at the NUS faculty of arts and social sciences, attended a camp run by Sheares Hall hostel earlier this month. Forfeits included touching the chests of males.

 

'I don't see a reason to get agitated. This is in fun and we laugh about it. There's nothing sexual,' she said.

 

Students from NUS and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) said their orientation camps often included risque games and forfeits. At the Singapore Management University (SMU), students said games and forfeits were milder.

 

Dr Carol Balhetchet, director of youth services at the Singapore Children's Society, said the young today are more confident.

 

'They are bolder and some set up situations to break social barriers, especially since those between ages 18 and 21 are beginning to seek partners,' she noted.

 

Said Mr Sam Kuna, family therapist and executive director of volunteer welfare organisation Teen Challenge: 'Normal games and old-fashioned ragging just don't cut it anymore.'

 

But sexually-charged activities can backfire if they are too extreme, he said. 'At least 70 per cent of students are conservative and these games could make someone more inhibited.'

 

Universities said they put a firm foot down on any demeaning activities.

 

Associate Professor Low Aik Meng, dean of students at SMU, said: 'SMU does not feel that ragging will help our students achieve the objectives of building collegiality, team spirit and a sense of belonging.'

 

A spokesman for NTU said the university will take action against students who overstep the boundaries of decency.

 

Over at NUS, a spokesman said that if the university receives complaints, it will investigate and counsel or discipline students.

 

However, some students and organisers feel that activities involving physical contact are no big deal.

 

NTU Cultural Activities Club camp programmer Choi Wen Ting, 22, said: 'These games are only small elements and can boost the spirit of the camp. University students are sensible enough to speak up if they are uncomfortable.'

 

This sentiment is shared by Ms Nadya Huang, 20, who sits on the executive committee of the NUS Students' Arts and Social Sciences Club.

'It's just for fun and we're all adults. I've never seen people do anything against their will.'

 

[email protected]

Read also: From fun to sleaze

Are university orientation games getting too physical? Send your views to [email protected]

 

KSL happening... i think they short of doing pole dancing and lap dancing in the birthday suit.

 

Edited by Apollo
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Blackyv

Blackyv

Turbocharged

great.... we are moving toward the right direction in making more babies....., so, i wonder why they created such a big huha with "NYP tammy boy" huh???.. we should embrace it with "for fun" mindset....... [:p]

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Stary

Stary

Turbocharged
(edited)

This is no big deal what. I played some of these games in the U orientation last time also wat...and it's very very long ago.

 

All these push-ups or passing M&M using mouth is nothing physical. Wait until they play the one where the girls and guys have to cramp as many as possible inside a square. That one is REALLY physical.....[idea]

 

Then during my first year (more than a decade ago), there is this buaya night. The senior guys stole all the gals bra and tie it into one line hanging from one corner of the hostel block to another corner. I bet a lot of bras were lost that night.....

 

So after so many years, I am surprised people called these games sleazy. They have no seen the worse in NTU and NUS yet [laugh]

Edited by Starry
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Blackyv

Blackyv

Turbocharged

...... Wait until they play the one where the girls and guys have to cramp as many as possible inside a square. That one is REALLY physical.....

 

 

 

this game played in naked form??.... [sly]

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Mzrmazda3

Mzrmazda3

6th Gear

Me got no chance to get into Uni [smallcry][smallcry][smallcry]

 

But i have come across some of these so called seniors whom tends to be quite guai lan, wanna act act show those newbies that they are so eh sai ... [rolleyes][rolleyes][rolleyes]

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Mzrmazda3

Mzrmazda3

6th Gear

Then during my first year (more than a decade ago), there is this buaya night. The senior guys stole all the gals bra and tie it into one line hanging from one corner of the hostel block to another corner. I bet a lot of bras were lost that night.....

 

I guess you must be one of them [sly][sly][sly]

 

Got keep any for your rememberance [laugh][laugh][laugh]

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Sosaria

Sosaria

Twincharged
...Then during my first year (more than a decade ago), there is this buaya night. The senior guys stole all the gals bra and tie it into one line hanging from one corner of the hostel block to another corner. I bet a lot of bras were lost that night.....[laugh]

 

Buaya night more than a decade ago... by any chance were you in NUS? Which hall? KR? I remember there is also a buayi night, where guy freshmen had better watch out for girl gangs roaming the corridors... [laugh][laugh][laugh]

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