Boars gone by…

This issue sees the launch of ‘Boars gone by’. We will be delving into Warwick University’s past and taking a look at the sort of stories which made the headlines. At the start of each month, we’ll be retracing our Boar steps and covering a story which occurred maybe five, ten, or 15 years ago. Enjoy!

In this month nine years ago (2005), news reporter Lucy Knowles covered the successful implementation of a smoking ban in all Student Union (SU) buildings and events.

The SU faced a number of cuts after Warwick’s student community voted overwhelmingly in favour of the ban.

As a whole, the SU appears to have been against the decision to enforce the smoking ban. Despite a massive campaign by senior Union officials claiming that a smoking ban would force huge budget cuts, the motion passed by a large majority.

Kat Stark, the SU president at the time, supposedly led a “controversial ‘pro-choice’” campaign against the proposal to ban smoking.

The newly-adopted smoking ban stipulated that the Union would cancel or scale-back its least commercially successful events, possibly including Vapour, Crash, Pressure and live music events to offset the projected financial losses arising from the ban.

Cuts were also be made to society funding, opening hours, computing and support facilities.