Senate House turn students away

The Boar has learned that students are reportedly being turned away at the doors of Senate House in advance of today’s #CopsOffCampus protest.

A Facebook event for the #CopsOffCampus protest due to happen this afternoon at 3.30pm now has over 1,400 people “attending.”

The Boar witnessed several students being turned away by staff on the doors of Senate House, and other students have reported they have been told the building will be locked.

Postgraduate students working inside the building told the Boar they have been advised to leave for security reasons.

Denise, a PhD student studying Chemistry, told the Boar from inside Senate House, “The whole of senate house is being evacuated out of fear for our safety.

“Two entire academic departments have been shut down just because the building we work in shares walls with the place the vice chancellor has meetings.”

Other postgraduate students working in Senate House expressed concern that their work was being affected by the action today.

Joe, a MOAC DTC student in his second year at Warwick, told the Boar : “these protests do not represent the whole student body, and that protests positioned outside Senate House do nothing but disrupt and anger other students, like my coursemates, who reside there. I believe the police response yesterday was legitimate and proportional, and today’s demonstration is really just an embarrassment.

“My main gripe is the fact that we who work in Senate house are the ones suffering, not the University.”

Students involved with Warwick Free Education spoke to the Boar about the importance of the protest.

Billy Barrett, a fourth year English and Theatre student, said: “I’ll be attending today’s demonstration as an urgent and heartfelt response to the unprovoked, disproportionate and frankly terrifying police violence I experienced yesterday, during our peaceful sit-in meeting in the Senate House foyer on the subject of free education.

“I hope today’s event highlights both the necessity that universities permit and encourage dissent and debate on campus, and the importance of challenging the dangerous direction that the higher education sector is taking towards a fully privatised and marketised model.”

Since the events yesterday, both the vice-chancellor Nigel Thrift and Warwick Students’ Union (SU) have released statements regarding the allegations.

The #CopsOffCampus demonstration will be taking place at 3.30pm outside Senate House on campus.