Students strive to ban sale of The Sun newspaper in campus shop

7:46am Monday 25th February 2013 in News

STUDENTS at the University of York are campaigning to have a national newspaper banned from being sold in their campus shop.

A Facebook event entitled “York Uni SU: stop profiting from offensive publications” was posted on the social network, prompted by The Sun’s front page following the death of Reeva Steenkamp which showed photos of the model in a bikini.

Some students took exception to the paper’s front-page headline “3 shots, screams, silence, 3 more shots” alongside the photographs of the scantily clad woman.

Helena Horton, one of the students objecting to the paper being on sale on campus, said: “I am not in favour of censorship and have no real problem with the presence of ‘lad mags’ and The Sun on campus.

“But I do not think that our union, which is supposed to help and represent us, should be selling discriminatory material in its shop.”

Initially the campaign aimed to get all publications with sexist content including “lad mags” banned, but students have since narrowed the field to The Sun alone.

A referendum on the same issue in 2011 did not result in a ban. Students held a debate on the matter on campus on Friday.

Student welfare officer Bob Hughes said: “A number of students approached the Students’ Union with an idea to withdraw The Sun from being stocked in our Union shop.

“We welcome debates on either side as it is something that a lot of students feel passionately about either way, and it will be put to a student vote next term.

“We really hope that students engage with the issues and feel able to participate in the discussions, and we will gladly take appropriate action based on what students vote for in the upcoming student vote.”

Comments(23)

MrsHoney says...
7:58am Mon 25 Feb 13

For goodness sakes. Stop being so uptight! The woman was a model. As for sexist materials being banned, I hope that works both ways and anything being sexist towards men would be banned too?!

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AnotherPointofView says...
8:26am Mon 25 Feb 13

Good luck with your campaign.

There's been a successful campaign on Merseyside against this rag ever since 1989 when they printed dreadful lies about those who died in the Hillsborough tragedy.

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coldcoffee says...
9:00am Mon 25 Feb 13

Democracy and free speech alive and well in our student community. When you see something you disagree with, ban it.

As for the people of Liverpool, they happily bought the Sun in their millions as long as it was spewing lies about other people. That it was a lying rag only suddenly began to matter when the lies were about themselves.

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capt spaulding says...
9:21am Mon 25 Feb 13

AnotherPointofView wrote:
Good luck with your campaign.

There's been a successful campaign on Merseyside against this rag ever since 1989 when they printed dreadful lies about those who died in the Hillsborough tragedy.
Cant help but mention that a bit of tittilation is a far cry from the obscenety that was the article printed about Hillsborough.

The two simply do not relate.

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binsysmith says...
9:45am Mon 25 Feb 13

Typical behaviour from a bunch of buffoons with nothing better to do with their time. No wonder the country is in such a state with clowns like these.

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powerwatt says...
9:48am Mon 25 Feb 13

When did society become a culture of if you don't agree with something, ban it.

I have always if I don't agree with something vote with my feet and avoid it/ignore it. Worked well for me so far.

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baileyuk says...
10:16am Mon 25 Feb 13

if the shop banned everything! that students disagree with, then there would be no shop,, simples!!!

they need to grow up! stop the silly campaigns and look at the much larger picture that affect the close community..

ban it from sale on campus!! you will just be throwing any profit towards the local community as folk will go elsewhere to buy the paper and other things that they may have bought at the same time..

absolute muppets!

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Pete the Brickie says...
10:24am Mon 25 Feb 13

AnotherPointofView wrote:
Good luck with your campaign.

There's been a successful campaign on Merseyside against this rag ever since 1989 when they printed dreadful lies about those who died in the Hillsborough tragedy.
To be honest you'd have thought The Sun would have learnt something from Hillsborough, then as with the death of Reeva Steenkamp now the rubbish they printed came from the police and was published in haste as fact.

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Capt. Dobie says...
11:23am Mon 25 Feb 13

Student UNION, Union suggests left-wing...Orwell's Animal Farm anybody?

Freedom of speech is allowed as long as it doesn't 'offend' anybody- offense is in the mind of the 'recipient' of that offence, so almost everything can be taken as being offensive should the person hearing it decide that it is.

Today's newspapers are tomorrows chip-wrappers (well, until printers ink was deemed to be dangerous...).

How about, today's newspapers are tomorrows recycling providing their is an adequate and accesible point for safely depositing unwanted paper items (excluding yellow pages, catalogues and glossy printed items). PS- closed Wednesdays...

Powerwatt got it right; stay clear, ignore it.

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xtc says...
12:58pm Mon 25 Feb 13

Would these be the same student union who said they d boycott first bus but still fill em up rather then use the free ones get a grip wasters!

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alfie says...
2:03pm Mon 25 Feb 13

I think they have a good point, and they are doing what students are supposed to do, question society and group together to make changes...you go guys sometimes the smallest of voices will be heard eventually if the passion is there.

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yorkborn66 says...
3:41pm Mon 25 Feb 13

The simplest protest is not buy the paper in the first place .

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Podlet says...
4:17pm Mon 25 Feb 13

Glad that there are enough students who can still read a newspaper. Hang on - Sun - well, if anyone needs help with the complicated pictures....

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LoveMyPuppy says...
4:25pm Mon 25 Feb 13

Surely if all/the majority of the students agree with this then no one would be buying the newspaper and the shop would have no choice but to stop stocking them because it would be a bad business decision to keep them?
Bloody students need to stop being so fickle and focus on their pointless sociology degrees!

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E=MC^2 says...
5:56pm Mon 25 Feb 13

All power to the students. The picture is offensive and unnecessary. If she’d been a typist would we expect to have seen her sitting at a typewriter typing??
The Suns intention is clearly to sell papers with the subtext of “cop an eyeful of this lads, it may be the lastime you get to see her with her kit nearly off."

What a rag.

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eeoodares says...
6:23pm Mon 25 Feb 13

You have to be careful of what you ask for. If the people of York were asked to enter a referendum on students drinking in York there may a lot less of you in the City!

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yorkshirelad says...
7:28pm Mon 25 Feb 13

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the issue, you can bet that the debate at the Students' Union will be a lot more articulate and considered than that on here...or, for that matter, in The Sun.

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bob the builder says...
11:34pm Mon 25 Feb 13

If no one buys it and other objected to items the shop would stop stocking them - capitalist market forces at work - not leftist student politiking. Rik Mayall's character in the Young One's springs to mind.

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akaroa says...
11:43pm Mon 25 Feb 13

Do students BUY newspapers,??? I was under the impression that they were incessently on mobiles, computors and other such methods of communication, newspapers being so old hat, too old fashioned for their superior intellect

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Magicman! says...
3:01am Tue 26 Feb 13

So our next generation of busybodies is alive and well.

"I'm not a sexist... but I want publications showing women in a way that pleases men to be banned" - so how is that not sexist exactly?

I also find it annoying when a very vocal minority of people take it upon themselves to speak for a large mass of people of whome they've likely had no contact with.

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alfie says...
2:05pm Tue 26 Feb 13

Whats with the hate for students? maybe people on here should be a bit nicer they will be the ones wiping your bottoms when your all past it.

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Podlet says...
2:41pm Tue 26 Feb 13

alfie wrote:
Whats with the hate for students? maybe people on here should be a bit nicer they will be the ones wiping your bottoms when your all past it.
Like tosh it will! They will be the pre-medical students looking to get "hands on" experience in a "caring environment" and underpaid workers from whichever foreign country the general press will be degrading by then.

Anyhow, if they're our intellectual elite, what are they doing reading the Sun?

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alfie says...
2:07pm Wed 27 Feb 13

Podlet wrote:
alfie wrote:
Whats with the hate for students? maybe people on here should be a bit nicer they will be the ones wiping your bottoms when your all past it.
Like tosh it will! They will be the pre-medical students looking to get "hands on" experience in a "caring environment" and underpaid workers from whichever foreign country the general press will be degrading by then.

Anyhow, if they're our intellectual elite, what are they doing reading the Sun?
Sorry to break it to you but not all people who work in care homes are from abroad, I suppose quite a lot are the pay is so low.

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