Backlash as students' union bans Sun newspaper over page three
A university students' union has come under fire for banning The Sun newspaper in an objection to page three.
Staffordshire University's union has boycotted the paper – but students are now launching a campaign calling for the ban to be overturned.
The union stopped stocking the newspaper in all its campus shops in support of the national No More Page 3 campaign.
But Daniel Curtis, 21, has put forward a counter motion to stop the boycott.
He said: "I'm not necessarily opposed to them banning it but it is the way they have gone about it that has annoyed me.
"The backlash from students shows they are unhappy with how the union has gone about banning The Sun. They seem to be convinced that The Sun is a family newspaper but as far as I am concerned no newspaper is completely family orientated because of the subject matters, be it murder or GBH."
Students have left comments on the Staffordshire University Facebook page.
Stephen Wilkinson said: "Ridiculous! Has our 'union' not got better things to concentrate on? Page 3 has been a part of the Sun for decades, why choose now to remove it? I don't see what's so wrong about it."
And Gary Farley posted: "I take it lads mags like Nuts have already been banned? What about the girly mags with half-naked men? Mary Whitehouse eat your heart out. What a pathetic waste of time." The union says the motion was brought up by the women's forum and because it received majority support on the Better Staffs forum panel, it did not have to go out to the student body.
Union vice president Mel Ramsay said: "This boycott has been voted for as students believe The Sun presents itself as a family friendly publication yet contains adult content. The forum believes this boycott should not be extended to adult magazines like FHM as it is clear what content they contain and all union shops already provide vanity covers for the more risqué publications.
"Therefore the decision was taken to boycott the publication and remove it from our shops like 36 other students' unions across the country. "
Students can visit www.staffsunion.com/betterstaffs or attend the next Better Staffs Forum on May 19.
