*Warning, this article contains sensitive material*
The University’s Snow Sports Society have been suspended by the Students’ Union after images of members on a night out wearing t-shirts decorated with crude messages and symbols recently surfaced.
Images taken by a Sugarhouse photographer show the t-shirts emblazoned with messages such as ‘Mandela touched kids’ ‘F*** gay rights’ and ‘I’ve got muscles because dad raped me.’
Swastikas had been drawn on other shirts inside hearts along with stars of David, as well as other messages which ridiculed victims of the 2012 Sandyhook school shooting, (which left 26 dead, 20 of whom being children between the ages of 6 and 7) and victims of sexual assault by claiming that Jimmy Saville was ‘misunderstood.’
The incident took place during the Sugarhouse’s first ‘Whoops Wednesday’ of term on 12th October, where members of the society were taking part in ‘LUSS Social #1: White Tee Social.’
Other members of the group wore shirts emblazoned with other distressing messages such as ‘Immigrants go home’, ‘I like 12 year olds’ and ‘Coat-hanger abortions.’
The University’s Feminist Society have said, ‘Not only is it unacceptable that these members and the society have not faced repercussions for their actions, it is also completely unacceptable that Lancaster University has failed to take action to make our university a safer place.’
Also condemning the actions was the BME network, who have said that they stand in ‘solidarity’ with other liberation groups on campus speaking out about the issue and have said, ‘this type of rhetoric only normalizes hate speech and cannot and will not be tolerated on a university campus, or anywhere else for that matter.’
The Students’ Union have since released a statement saying that the group are currently under investigation as their behaviour falls ‘far below the standards that are expected’ but that it is also important that all members receive a ‘fair hearing.’
They stated, ‘Regrettably, details of the investigation have entered the public domain before this meeting could take place, compromising the panel and jeopardising the fairness of the investigation. The union is currently considering how to move forward from this in a way that is fair to all concerned.’
The Lancaster University Snow Sports Society Facebook page is currently unavailable. SCAN reached out to the society for a statement who refused to comment.
