Into the Boarchive – Volume 48, Issue I

This section – looking back at stories from The Boar’s archive – originally appeared in Volume 48, Issue I of The Boar, published on Monday 29 September, 2025.

1985: Housing nightmare on campus

It’s true, history does indeed repeat itself. Back in 1985, the year Marty McFly zipped back in time, Warwick saw an accommodation crisis uncomfortably reminiscent of this year’s saga, of which first-years are bearing the brunt.  

Several factors were cited for the placing of over 200 students in temporary accommodation, including a rise in postgraduates and an overshoot in first-year admissions. 86 students were dumped in Westwood’s Felden Hall, which saw an emergency reopening midway through its conversion into a conference centre. The issue, though, was that it was designed for half the number cramped inside.  The University downplayed the fiasco as a “necessary irritation”, promising the crisis would only last until Christmas. But that didn’t come to pass. 

Responding to The Boar‘s recent reportage, some prospective students revealed they have considered deferring in the wake of the present debacle. Several in 1985 were equally disappointed with the perceived mismanagement, and pressed their parents to collect them, while one simply refused to pay rent until the day he received permanent lodgings. Uncertainty prevailed, and this year it has returned.  

Still, could’ve been worse. A decade earlier, some found themselves temporarily housed with their lecturers, while others were forced to share single Rootes rooms (and only one key between two, mind you!). The horror, the horror. 

2020: (Don’t) read all about it! 

Starting university can be a challenging experience at the best of times. Imagine, then, adding face masks and LFT tests into the mix, in place of pints of Purple and the sound of Baywatch.  

While the first Covid lockdown had come to an end, safety concerns were still very much a talking point for the freshers of 2020 – The Boar’s Freshers’ print fittingly sporting a masked porker on its cover. While the UCU, the SU, MP Zarah Sultana, and even Disco Dave had opposed in-person lectures (for legal reasons: one of these might be a lie), the University announced a return to teaching on-campus, albeit with strict measures.  

That move was, according to a Boar poll, supported by most students – though perhaps only in a hope that it would also mean a return to Wednesday night clubbing: “people will have house parties [anyway],” one restriction-limboing student quipped. What followed was indeed months of chaos, rule breaking, and positive tests — and, by the end of October, The Boar’s physical output was halted completely.  

Let’s hope that the half-decade of Covid will be marked with many more print layups watched over by Boaris, rather than a return to battling InDesign from home (though, this News Editor would not be totally averse to a bit more home InDesign, cup of tea in hand).