Three generations of Warwick: How the University has changed (or not)

Just two years after Warwick University was founded in 1965, my grandfather joined as an undergraduate. Here, he met, married, and had a baby with my grandmother (yep, all in their third year). Then, that baby, who grew up to be my mother, was the second of my family to enrol in 1989. She too met the father of her children here, and now I am the third generation of my family to be a student at Warwick, potentially one of the first ever third generation students at this university.

There were similar pull factors for all of us when choosing to come here. Both now and in the 1960s, Warwick University was a new and exciting place, not just for academic research and development, but for growing student activism. My grandmother was present for the sit-ins in the early 1970s, which opposed the University’s prioritisation of marketisation and industry over the rights of its staff and students. My mother spent hours protesting outside the Barclays branch in the former Students’ Union, protesting the bank’s financing of apartheid in South Africa. For just the one term that I have been here, I have been lucky enough to witness the Warwick Stands with Palestine movement making their voice heard on campus. The culture of empowerment here has therefore persisted throughout decades of social change.

My dad’s room cost only £19 a week, compared to today’s £123.

Other things have stayed the same since the ’90s: the Cannon Park Tesco is the same one my parents used to shop in – trolley theft was much more easily forgiven back then. The men’s hockey and rugby clubs, although previously more contained to the Westwood area before the increased regulation of circling, have the same less-than-holy reputation. But the part of Warwick that has stood the ultimate test of time? Rootes. Rootes was the very first purpose-built accommodation on campus, where my grandmother and both my parents lived – albeit my dad’s room cost only £19 a week, compared to today’s £123.

There is definitely an argument to be made that there was charm in the simplicity of 1960s and 1990s Warwick.

Overall, that seems to be the trend. While I am the one to see Warwick at its most sleek and aesthetically pleasing (see: the Faculty of Arts Building), both my parents argue that so much of the University’s heart could be found in its cheapness. The Union, they say, was the ultimate hub of the university. As the only place to get food and drink on campus, while also being home to multiple bars and pubs, people spent more time there than they did off-campus, which is definitely a lot less common now. My mum describes how, in the equivalent of what would be today’s Copper Rooms, everyone’s sweat would vaporize and drip down from the ceiling as the night went on. While I could certainly live without cold sweaty ceilings, there is something appealing about a night out costing only £5.

Whether it’s because tuition fees have been hiked up and so students demand more bang for their buck, or because off-campus socialising has become more common in adjacent towns such as Leamington Spa, there is definitely an argument to be made that there was charm in the simplicity of 1960s and 1990s Warwick. As Warwick becomes more polished over time, perhaps it’s up to the students to keep the heart of previous decades beating. Until then, I’ve got to start looking for my future husband.