Stuart Croft answers to students

Warwick’s new Vice-Chancellor, Stuart Croft, took part in a Question Time session last night. This event was the first of its type and current plans suggest a question time will happen each term.

The event was well attended, with many students very interested to hear what the new Vice-Chancellor had to say about issues that are important to them.

Before the event, third-year student Lily Thomas commented that the event was a ‘positive start to [Croft’s] time as Vice-Chancellor.’ She went on to say how this “shows he is going to be proactive and will engage with the students, which is really fantastic”.

Lily, along with many others, voiced how they were hoping that Mr Croft wouldn’t ‘shy away from awkward topics’.

SU President, Isaac Leigh, opened the event by announcing that the Question Time will be run termly which received a positive reaction from the student audience.

Students posed questions to the new Vice-Chancellor Photo: Jamie Jenkins / Boar News

During the event, questions were posed to Croft which had been submitted to the SU website before the event; these questions were voted on by students.

The most prominent issue voted upon was how Mr Croft intended to deal with the concerning sexual violence on campus, and whether or not compulsory workshops should be put in place for first years.

Mr Croft addressed how the issue was “incredibly sensitive and important”, however, he believes that “compulsory workshops… are not the solution for the University as a whole”.

A question over whether or not the current injunction on protest will be lifted, was also posed to Croft.

The injunction was put in place last year to prevent students from occupation style protest following occupation protests in December 2014.

Croft was asked whether he would support removing the injunction and this proved quite contentious and required a follow up question from an audience member.

“I don’t think he answered any of the questions at all… I have little hope for his time in office”

Marie, Warwick Student

The topic was addressed numerous times during the discussion, with some feeling that the Vice-Chancellor had implied a link between violent actions and the protestors.

Mr Croft’s response was that there are “no plans to do any work to remove the injunction” and there are “particular things that none of us want to see”.

Other issues that were discussed included whether or not Mr Croft will reverse the decision taken for Warwick to be exempt from the Freedom of Information Act. Although he admitted it was a “difficult and important issue”, there was no implication that a reversal of the decision would take place.

The questions also covered issues such as access to mental health care on campus, the price of accommodation and why building affordable housing has not been a priority. The highly debated issues of free speech and academic debate on campus were also raised.

After the event there were mixed reviews from students. One student, Marie, stated, “I don’t think he answered any of the questions at all… I have little hope for his time in office”.

Isaac Leigh responded positively when asked how he thought the event had gone, he stated: “The best ideas are the simple ones”. He highlighted that in three months’ time Mr Croft “will be able to get more moving now that he knows what the students care about”.

Stuart Croft himself told the Boar that he found the event “challenging” but added “university should be about debates”. Although he admitted it was “uncomfortable at times” he said that “hearing what the students really care about was enormously helpful”.