Anger over ‘chav’ circle

**Concerns have been raised over the way in which societies dress and behave during circling in the Students’ Union (SU).**

The concerns were raised after the tennis club’s Facebook event page was screenshot and shared across the internet.

The event, titled “Council Houses and Violence”, addressed its guests by saying: “Aight boiz n gurls, Rite da plans 4 Wednesday r u all cum as chavs, yh?”

Many students objected to the way in which coming from a lower-class background and living in a council house were portrayed in a derogatory light.

Alexander Shirfield, a second-year Biological Sciences student who first raised concerns about the page, described it as a mockery of the working class which exemplifies “Warwick students completely lacking self-awareness”.

However, some students, including second-year Philosophy student, Will Sheard, disagrees with the idea that “the terms ‘chavs’ and the ‘working class’ are somehow synonymous”.

Third-year Louisa Ackermann agrees, but feels that there is “something unsavoury about a bunch of well-educated university students dressing up to mock people for whom the stereotype includes being poorly educated”.

Not all students feel the page should be taken seriously, and a third-year Engineering student, who wished to remain anonymous, argued that the event was “a one off, amusing thing”.

The tennis club’s executive team later issued a statement saying: “We apologise to anyone who was offended by last Wednesday’s theme.”

However, the tennis team also thought that they were being unfairly singled out. They said: “The theme is commonly used for circles by numerous clubs, and even last year for an SU event. Unfortunately, on this occasion, tennis was made an example of.”