Warwick SU could fine clubs and societies £100s for missed or cancelled circles

Warwick Students’ Union (SU) is poised to fine clubs and societies potentially hundreds of pounds if they cancel or miss circling time slots, in a decision that has sparked outrage from students.

The self-described “punitive” measures were announced on Facebook by Lindsey Kettle, Food and Beverage Manager for the SU, on the “Society Execs” public group.

Citing an increase this year in societies cancelling or failing to show up to circles booked with the SU, Kettle revealed a range of measures implemented with apparent immediate effect.

New fines for societies

Most notably, Exec members were initially given just 48 hours after circling slots were published to cancel their allocated weeks without charge. After this deadline, any cancellation would then incur a penalty of two pounds per the number of people booked, rising to four pounds if the cancellation occurred within a week of the circle.

A subsequent email sent out by SU Vice President for Societies, Joe Stanley, pushed back the initial deadline, naming April 6th as the date beyond which cancellation fines would apply.

The changes mean that if a society cancels a circle of just 25 people at short notice, they could be slapped with a fine of £100. The charges further apply if a circle turns up, but doesn’t have more than 25% of its booked attendance.

Kettle concluded the announcement by noting: “We hope you can appreciate that this punitive measure has only been put in place to ensure we can avoid disappointment by satisfying as many circling requests as possible.”

Backlash

The measures, however, have been met with outrage from student societies, who were left scrambling to meet the initial 48 hour deadline to confirm their allocated circling weeks.

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Replying to the announcement, Krish Singh, President of the Warwick Debating Society, was one of those to voice his “pretty substantial concerns”, suggesting that the measure “disproportionately targets smaller, non-sports societies”.

Singh noted the challenges posed when planning circles, including uncertainty over turnout, social media engagement, and demands from degrees. He argued: “It feels like a pretty grave injustice to then put a large amount of pressure on university students to meet these targets for fear of literally bankrupting their society.”

The demand for circling spaces on campus in Term 3 has become more severe following the surprise closure of Fusion Sports Bar, which is now listed as “temporarily closed” on the Warwick Food Group website.

A spokesperson for the group told The Boar, however, that the venue was now closed “indefinitely”, blaming rising operating costs.

Clarification

In an email sent out on March 28th, after the initial 48-hour deadline had expired, Societies VP Joe Stanley sought to clarify the details of the new SU policy. Significantly, he announced an extension of the no-fee cancellation period to April 6th, 10 days longer than originally planned.

Responding to student concerns at the size of the new fines, he sought to reassure that the SU “will not make any society bankrupt”. He suggested that fines would be looked at “on a case by case basis to ensure fairness”, and that the detailed penalty sums were only a “rough guide” to potential sanctions.

He also appeared to clarify that sanctions would not be imposed on student groups as long as the SU could find another society to fill the lost circling allocation, but that they would be fined if not.

The Societies VP rounded off the email by apologising for the “sub-par” communication of the new rules, and for any stress that had been caused to SU members.

Students react

The saga has left students furious at the Students’ Union. Noah Parsons, Social Secretary for the History Society, said that the SU “has massively damaged trust with societies, especially those who circle on campus”.

Describing the fines as “extortionate”, he continued: “It grievously harms smaller, fledgling societies who do not have the finances to weather the storm by these fines. There are often many circumstances where circles have to be cancelled on short notice, such as illness. Societies should not be punished for this.”

He finished by speculating that there could be an “exodus” of societies off-campus as a result of the new measures.

Daniel Mislatii, a former Social Sec for Spanish Studies Society, agreed that: “I don’t think the solution is financial fines which take money from SU bank accounts which we can barely use for anything in the first place.”

He further criticised the poor timing of the announcement: “Forcing societies to sort out their Term 3 allocations when the new execs are still finding their feet is silly.”

He added: “I know for a fact from a society I’m exec on that we just picked allocations for pretty much every week in Term 3 without much thought, just to ensure that we had something.”

“But this wasn’t done by the new exec, so when (and it is inevitable) they properly figure out which circles work and how many they actually want to do, there will be cancellations.”

Warwick Students’ Union was approached for comment.