KU’s Vice-Chancellor has threatened to kick out the students behind a Facebook page mocking overweight library users.
Ollie Gillman
The admins behind ‘Spotted: Penrhyn Library’ could be excluded from Kingston University if they do not take down the page, the Vice-Chancellor has warned.
The page allows Kingston students to “let that person you’ve been giving the eyes to all day know how you really feel”, according to its description.
The admins have until Friday to take down the page before the University begins action against them, said Vice President Student Life Lucy Williams.
Immature and cowardly
Julius Weinberg and Ms Williams issued a joint statement on Wednesday morning, saying the page “could quite easily result in the perpetrators’ expulsion”.
Mr Weinberg added: “Is your degree really worth throwing away over an immature and quite frankly cowardly page?”
The site was reported to the University chief on Tuesday after a backlash from students and the Students’ Union.
Fat guy
One comment on the page which joined the social networking site only on Monday reads: “To the fat guy eating 6 packs of digestives – you fat buggar (sic).”
Another comment says: “To the hot asian, cream jumper, studying economics on the second floor. It’s safe to say the national debt is not the only things that is rising.”
In her blog for the Students’ Union, Ms Williams wrote that there was a “massive difference between chuckling to yourself about a bad jumper and publicly humiliating someone on a page that has potentially hundreds of followers.
“We work very hard at this university to make sure everyone feels comfortable and included,” she added, asking students to “think about how your behaviour might affect others. It’s not rocket science.”
Another ‘Spotted’ page joined Facebook on Sunday, and already has over 250 ‘likes’.
Both pages’ admins are yet to respond to River requests for comment, however one post by the ‘Spotted: Penrhyn Library’ page on Wednesday evening read “Spotted: union killjoys that can’t handle a bit of fun”.