Catching up on Warwick politics

Warwick’s recent political history is certainly not tame. For anyone arriving as a first year and needing the low-down, here is my take on what’s been going on to get you up to speed on everything from tear gas to activist geese.

The first thing you will probably notice about the political scene here is that we love campaigning; after all, who doesn’t love a good protest? We have demonstrated against everything from the running of our Unibus service to the election of Donald Trump over the last few years, but a few moments particularly stand out. Warwick for Free Education have made a lot of headlines on campus fighting against ever increasing tuition fees, and demanding they be scrapped altogether. This has taken the form of anything from peaceful protests to full on building occupations, the latest such event happening just last year.

The group occupied Warwick’s new conference building The Slate in December 2016, in an attempt to highlight the crippling debts faced by students, and took aim at Warwick’s treatment of staff. Our university has come in for sharp criticism in this area, and it’s easy to see why. Warwick Anti-Casualisation have claimed that some academic and operational staff are classed as workers and not employees, thus  depriving them of job security and pay progression.

Warwick made national headlines as police were accused of brutality

Although the confrontation resulted in bad blood and little progress for the anti-casualisation movement, it was nowhere near as heated as a 2014 sit in protest which drew a police presence. Warwick made national headlines as police were accused of brutality and of drawing a Taser and spraying CS gas into the faces of students staging the protest.

Likewise, our elections are certainly not ordinary. Being closer to home than national ones, they focus on our everyday lives and revolve as much around the price of our favourite drink ‘Purple’ as they do on anything meaningful. Despite this, they provide the chance to choose representatives, and what SU policy should focus on. So when campus is covered in posters and cardboard boxes, and people interrupt your lectures with shout outs, remember the elections can make a difference to your experience of Warwick.

They also happen to border on the insane sometimes, as demonstrated by an ill-fated bid for the parliamentary seat for Warwick and Leamington by our own Warwick Goose, before the campaign sadly ran out of funding. The Goose, who is a prominent public figure at our University, also failed to become the president of the SU.

Don’t assume however that Warwick students only care about issues within the bubble of our own campus; over the last few years our student body has turned its fire on big national issues. Aside from constant attacks on the tuition fee system, our student body has taken on issues from the new Higher Education Framework which was responded to with a boycott of the National Student Survey.

Over 34% of voters rejected the NUS, and the debates about its value for money and ability to represent all students are far from over

While success in these areas has been limited to put it politely, Fossil Free Warwick have made a lot of gains championing the environment. Our university was only the third in the UK to commit to full divestment from the fossil fuel industry. The group now want to end the presence of BP’s archives on campus, claiming that Warwick is complicit in the hiding of extensive research on renewables to protect the company’s profits.

Whilst a lot of campaigns run at Warwick have focused on furthering the student agenda, political feuding and controversy exist internally as well. Take the National Union of Students (NUS) for example, which brings together student unions across the country to represent our interests. Last year a petition to leave the organisation garnered 500 signatures, in response to long term dissatisfaction and the election of the president Malia Bouattia, who had been accused of anti-Semitism. Whilst Warwick students eventually voted comfortably to stay affiliated, over 34% of voters rejected the NUS, and the debates about its value for money and ability to represent all students are far from over.

You can always escape the hubbub and join the cheese and chocolate society instead

Nothing and no one, it seems, is safe from the wrath of enraged Warwick students. Even the Queen is under threat, as the student council decided to submit a motion to abolish the monarchy to the NUS conference.

For anyone interested in geese, tabling ridiculous motions, and having elections about bus timetables, throw yourself in at the deep end and have a great time; we have everything you need. Equally, there are a lot of opportunities at Warwick to make an impact on vital political issues, or at the least choose who you want making these decisions. If none of these things thrill you, don’t fret. You can always escape the hubbub and join the cheese and chocolate society instead.