Why do private companies have a louder voice than us on campus?

Nowadays, Exeter’s reputation has sky-rocketed.

Our uni is achieving accolades like “Sunday Times University of the Year 2012/13”, and as a fourth year, this has come at a good time because entry standards when I arrived were attainable (ABB).

Now due to our fancy curved roof endorsed by none other than Her Majesty the Queen herself, it’s an A*AA affair. But all of this has come with a cost – our own student body is being massively overlooked.

Although the Students’ Guild is wonderful, its greatness extends beyond having Elk Salon for your hair emergencies and Pieminister – there are over 200 societies on offer.

Now here’s the issue. Social media is an invaluable tool for promoting these societies, but there’s a limit to who they can reach.

Sometimes there’s a need for physical advertising space so students from across the spectrum can see what’s going on.

Once upon a time, there were plenty of spots to put up posters and inform students about what’s going on, but now we’re limited to just a few cabinets dotted in corners of the Guild.

But, fear not if you need the number for a taxi or feel the need to try Amazon Prime. Just a quick glance around and you’ll see plenty of posters with all the relevant info.

In case you were wondering

Commercial interests in the university have soared, but they now buy all the advertising space that used to be ours. The vibrant campus that once was is no longer – what is left is a capitalist environment with no identity.

Is this the way things should be going? With the hike in fees people come to campus more; why take away all the colour and replace it with grey scale?

Something has to be done soon or we’ll all be walking round a culturally absent monochrome campus.

If you’re part of a society or club and would like to be able to promote on campus, or just want to see a bit of creativity instead of the corporate companies which now buy that privilege, please sign the petition linked below.

Let us choose what we want to see.

http://www.exeterguild.org/change/ideas/idea129-posterspace/