50th Anniversary Issue The Rabbit

ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL History repeats itself LGBT: An evolution Blast from the past Sex survey 50TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL ISSUE UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER

THERABBITNEWSPAPER.COM

50 years of rebellion, protest and riveting journalism Photo by Doug Atfield

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Pages 10 -11 Pages 16-17 Pages 19-21

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Editorial Saga Eriksson Editor-in-Chief

Andrew Smith Emily Townsen Senior editor, desing Senior editor, online

Ed Gove Senior editor, content

A coming of age Sometimes 50 years seems like a lifetime, with 1964 nothing but a date in a history book, but by university standards it’s the blink of an eye.

As it celebrates its Golden Jubilee, Essex is still exceedingly young. Nearby Cambridge has been teaching since 1209, with Oxford even older still, and only five years separate us from the Open University. There are still lecturers here who have been here since the start.

When I first heard teachers and family friends talk about their time at Essex as a child, it seemed like our University had stood forever, but the archives we plundered for this issue hold nothing

but modern history. Despite a few references to historical landmarks like the Berlin Wall, we found little difference between past newspapers half a century apart. The same debates have always captured our students’ attention, we have always loved a protest, and our student paper predecessors could be working here today. There is no Latin to be found.

The year 1964 was a mixed bag of gifts, bringing us Nicholas Cage, Michelle Obama, and Nigel Farage, whilst Mary Poppins filled cinemas and The Beatles ruled the charts, but most of them have kept their relevance. Essex was designed to be revolutionary, with modernity in the future in mind, and that fresh, youthful spirit carries on to this day. After this landmark birthday,

however, it and its plate-glass siblings can no longer be considered young.

Gone are the days of a “top 50 under 50” ranking: we are now lumped in with the rest, still small and researchfocused but now competing with the full host of much larger and more established rivals.

As we leave our time at Essex and this paper behind, there is a parallel to be drawn. We, too, are coming of age, leaving the tide pool of academia for the wider world of work and everything that comes with it. Having enjoyed the wonderfully friendly spirit of this small campus, we need to join our university in first celebrating this landmark and all that we have achieved, but then beginning work on our next chapter with renewed spirit and vigour.

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Essex: a brief history "The University of Essex was born during a rare moment of national hope and enthusiasm in the early 1960s, when everything seemed possible and new departures seemed essential."

- Professor Hugh Brogan Fiolla Korenica Deputy News Editor

Alice Vardy Science Editor

When Essex first opened, there were only three schools of study: Physical Sciences, Social Sciences, and Comparative Studies.

Much has changed since then, but one common theme is the politically active nature of our students: Essex has been well known for its protests on issues from the increase in rent to the Vietnam war.

There were almost 100 arrests on campus in 1974, and this rebellious streak has continued throughout our history.

1964 The University opens with 122 students as an intake, compared the 11,000 students now. Construction of Rayleigh begins.

1965

Receives royal charter.

1970

Nightline is opened.

1975

The first SU Bar is opened.

1977

WWII bomb found on campus.

1985

Queen Elizabeth visits the University on its 21st birthday.

1990

Desmond Tutu visits the University.

1990

‘Essex University is against all forms of political oppression’ is scrawled on to the Berlin Wall by students David Phillips and Michael Lawrence.

1994

The first Summer Ball is held.

1996

Nelson Mandela visits Colchester Campus.

1966

2000 Benazir Bhutto visits the University, delivers a lecture about democracy and the role of women in modern society.

1966 The Campus Shop is opened.

2003 Essex students protest against top-up tuition fees of £3000, which Professor Ivor Crewe supported.

Rayleigh is completed, and the construction of the other towers begins. The towers were the tallest brick buildings in the UK.

1967 ation.

LTB is opened. First graduates/gradu-

1968 A protest at Essex against the visit of Enoch Powell (an infamous MP who criticised the rise of immigration) receives national publicity.

1969

Reaches University Challenge finals, lose to Sussex.

2004

The Queen visits again, this time for our 40th anniversary.

2009 Students protest against events in Gaza, succeed in getting the university to issue a statement condemning the actions and to send money to Gaza.

2012

The death of Sir Albert Sloman.

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History repeats itself Philippa Dobson Comment Editor

Alice Vardy Science Editor

While sifting through old copies of the Essex student newspaper it became apparent that nothing every changes.

An article complaining about sexist, raunchy magazines is eerily similar to the recent arguments about banning The Sun on campus.

Many of the complaints that we have have been brought to the SU over the past 50 years are very similar.

Although we are celebrating out 50th anniversary, Essex students have not got many new topics to complain about. Although our discus-

Students always worry about the rising cost of accommodation and tuition fees. Discussions about drink and ticket prices, and about campus entertainment are still rumbling on today.

On-campus accommodation has always been a popular topic and the issues surrounding it remain unchanged. For example, there are recurring accommodation crises due to waiting lists. And the complaints about the noise, quality and prices of Towers are always present.

According to one article, residents of Rayleigh Tower have always been troublemakers, notorious for throwing things out of the windows!

On the subject of bad behaviour, alcohol, drugs and sexual partners have always been a popular topic throughout Essex’s past.

This has caused students to complain about the early closing time of the SU Bar, and may have something to do with crime rates across campus.

Unfortunately, men attacking women on or near campus has also been a recurring feature in the newspaper. However, in spite of this, Essex students remain outspoken in their support of women’s rights and of LGBT rights.

sion topics may have remained similar throughout the years, the flow of conversation never stagnates.

Our strong opinions have changed the University of Essex for the better and continue to shape it into an excellent institution.

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As tuition fees rose, we rose against them Amy Bater TV Editor Most of us at university now pay the £9000 tuition fees, and can remember or understand the student protests following the government’s decision to increase fees in 2011.

As part of the 50th anniversary celebrations, I have taken a look back at some of the past copies of The Rabbit to see if this kind of outrage was sparked when the fees have previously been altered or increased.

In 2001, writer Dan Entwistle wrote a number of articles criticising and blaming the government for piling debt on graduates.

In November 2001 Dan wrote “the problem of student debt remains a millstone around the neck of gradu-

ates who must bide their time in temp work or continue to train, while at the same time managing their finances.”

This made national news, appearing in The Guardian as Crewe was in favour of an increase in fees.

Another interesting article comes from March 2003. Ed Baine advertised an SU-organised demonstration against increased fees. They asked students to go on strike and walk out of their lectures in protest.

That same year 200 Essex students joined 3000 others in a demonstration in London. They were met with the government stating that they “would not listen to students”, claims the paper.

This was, states Baine, to be one of the biggest student protest periods in British history. Students were to meet on Square 3 to protest together.

The SU organised a ‘funeral’ to mark the death of free education and further protests were made outside the Vice Chancellor office (who was none other than the shiny Tin Can man himself, Ivor Crewe).

Finally, in 2011, following the devastating announcement that tuition fees would once again be raised, Essex students remained positive, hoping that they would not stay at that price, hoping they would be lowered and demanding that their rights to be heard.

The fight at our university to have justice for students is loud and clear in our history regarding fees.

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First Nightline in the country Ben Gregson Contributor Nightline is the name given to a confidential and anonymous listening, emotional support, information, and supplies service run by students for students at universities all around the world.

The very first Nightline service was set up here at Essex University in 1970,

by Professor Geoffrey Hosking, a former director of the local Samaritans branch, and the University chaplain Reverend Malcolm France, along with a couple of student volunteers. Before Nightline was set up the university had one of the highest rates of suicide in the country.

The first ever Nightline duty took on May 7th 1970 took place in a disused hut on the edge of the University grounds. Geoffrey Hosking remembers the first duty and described it as “Two little rooms that could be used as bedrooms, and a room for an office.”

Despite a shift lasting from 10pm to 8am, there was, he recalls wryly,

no inside loo, “so we had to improvise”. From these humble beginnings, Nightline on campus now has an entire flat in Keynes tower, manned every night of term with over 100 student volunteers giving their time and devotion to the service.

difficulties, and the number of student suicides drastically decreased.

Nationally, the Nightline service is in over 40 universities, with around 2000 volunteers in the UK. Nightline was founded on the understanding that some students would be reluctant to approach outsiders for help and would find it easier to speak to another student.

It also provides a ‘drop-in’ service, where callers can talk to a Nightline volunteer in person. There is also an e-listening service, where you can contact Nightline by email, as an additional means of support.

Nightline understands that university is a time of many changes and challenges and being able to talk to a peer, someone who understands what you’re going through can empathise, and that can make a difference.

The overall aims of Nightline are to ensure every student is able to talk about their feelings in a safe environment, fewer students have their education compromised by emotional

The service moved to Keynes to be more ‘available’...

Nightline offers a telephone listening service to provide support and information to services the caller may need to help solve their issue.

In addition to the various listening services Nightline can supply condoms, pregnancy tests, personal attack alarms and women’s sanitary products. You can even use the ‘bed for a night’ service where students can come to Nightline to sleep, or hire a campbed if you have a friend visiting you.

Nightline is open from 10pm to 8 am, every night of term so if you’re feeling stressed from exams I’d highly recommend popping in for some tea, toast and a chat.

...but it wasn’t just open to students!

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Feeling ‘hung-up’? Nightline has supported 45 years of Essex students

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Where did our music go?

Alex Driscoll Music Editor It’s no secret to Essex students that the campus has a rich musical history.

I thought I knew the whole story with a list of maybe seven groundbreaking bands provided by the University of Essex Wikipedia page, but when I began digging below the surface, I was stunned by just how lucky we’ve been over the years.

Despite the fact that we’re now a pretty dreary place for anyone who isn’t able to dance to house music (provided by DJs whose names are often just regular words spelt with a ‘z’ instead of an ‘s’, turning up to press play on their Macbook), you probably have walked the same paths as Bob Marley, Morrissey and Phil Collins every day you spent on campus without even realising it.

The earliest major act my research revealed were Pink Floyd. The now defunct band, who released the most preordered album of all time only last year (“The Endless River”, which topped the charts in 21 countries worldwide) played here four times over the years, most recently in February 1971, just months after releasing their first UK #1 album, “Atom Heart Mother”.

A pretty controversial ticket scam occurred on campus for their show; possibly due to the maximum of two per person because of high demand, fake tickets began circulating for their show which was part of the Valentine’s weekend. You could certainly be my valentine with a pair of Pink Floyd tickets. Make sure you bought them from the Uni itself, though.

Amongst the other commercially successful bands to have played here, we have AC/DC. A particularly special case, their show in October 1978 was recorded by BBC for a TV show named “Rock Goes To College”, and our university newspaper (at the time, named The Wyvern) reported on the BBC’s recommendation for the students attending to plug their ears with cotton wool to prevent hearing damage.

It was also reported that, in true Essex fashion, students did not refrain from swearing at the cameras.

It’s quite possible that Essex has not been rocked quite as hard since Australia’s finest, and the BBC show can still be found on YouTube today.

We’ve also played host to R.E.M, The Who and Genesis, who’ve sold an estimated 315 million records between them. But what of the less commercial, yet just as influential acts?

Siouxsie and the Banshees played here hot on the heels of their top-10 debut single ‘Hong Kong Garden’, are quoted in The Wyvern as “one of the few bands to survive the ‘punk boom’”.

Along with CAN, King Crimson and Iggy Pop, it wouldn’t be a lie to say that the 1970s saw Essex as a hotbed of musical influence. All of a sudden, this year’s new Punk Society seems much more at home.

Another interesting, beloved figure in popular music to perform here is the late Kirsty MacColl, who passed away in a tragic speedboat accident in 2000.

You may not know her name, but you sure as hell know her voice; she

is the lead female vocal on the modern favourite Christmas tune “Fairytale of New York” by The Pogues.

Despite only having one top 20 album with 1991’s “Electric Landlady”, MacColl has a cult following, who come together at her birthday in Soho Square from all over the world to pay tribute at her commemorative bench.

Blur, whose frontman Damon Albarn was educated at local Colchester College and is also responsible for critically acclaimed “virtual band” Gorillaz, have performed here twice during the early 1990s.

Although they weren’t quite there yet at the time, the band went on to release six UK #1 albums (the latest of which topped the chart earlier this month, “The Magic Whip”), and notably beat Oasis during the 1995 “Battle of Britpop”, where their single ‘Country House’ famously outsold ‘Roll With It’ to reach the #1 slot.

More recently, Jamelia has graced our midst while her highest-charting hit single “Thank You” was still in the charts. Florence + The Machine also provided a well-received show (according to The Rabbit team of 2009) as part of a new club night named Essex L!ve hosted in Sub Zero.

Contrary to what was reported by the current Ents manager during the November 2014 Ents forum, the band had won the Critic’s Choice Brit Award that shot them to fame just a week and a half prior to the show, which was then described as a “total success”.

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It really is a wonder that Essex L!ve isn’t around today – I’d absolutely haunt it.

Surely, with a band who were selling out shows across the country already, as one of seven acts to perform that night at a measly £10 a ticket, money could not have been lost! In all honesty, that one night has a line-up much more impressive than Summer Ball has.

I’m not alone when it comes to of University of Essex’s live sic glory days. The Students’ ion have frankly wasted an tapped goldmine of live music

envy muUnunfans.

Might it help the situation a little if I mentioned that UEA have left us in the dust? They may have the Derby Day crown, but that doesn’t mean we should let them win at everything. Come on Essex, sort it out.

The Wombats 6/6/09 The King Blues 5/5/09 Florence + The Machine 28/2/09 Babyshambles 24/1/06 The Long Blondes 15/10/05 Maximo Park 28/4/05 Jamelia 5/6/04 Pulp 6/10/94 Blur 15/10/93 Radiohead 14/11/92 Kirsty MacColl 20/06/92 Alison Moyet 16/11/91 Lush 25/10/91 Blur 27/4/91 Lush 2/6/89 Robert Plant 30/1/88 R.E.M 24/11/84 The Smiths 18/2/84 Pretenders 23/2/80 Def Leppard 6/2/80 Iggy Pop 5/5/79

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Pretenders 10/3/79 The Kinks 29/1/79 Siouxsie and the Banshees 11/11/78 AC/DC 28/10/78 Elvis Costello 3/11/77 Thin Lizzy 6/3/76 The Wailers 8/5/73 The Kinks 3/3/73 King Crimson 24/11/72 Genesis 17/11/72 CAN 11/5/72 Genesis 8/5/72 Slade 19/2/72 Genesis 23/10/71 T.Rex 14/2/71 Pink Floyd 12/2/71 Genesis 28/2/70 The Who 10/2/68 Pink Floyd 28/1/67 Pink Floyd 11+12/3/66

Generations of creatives

Liam Xavier Contributor

Over its fifty year existence, the University of Essex has been praised for many things; its internationality, the quality of its research as well as its Students’ Union.

One thing, however, that seems to be overlooked is its emphasis on creativity and ingenuity. University can be a landmark of change - educationally and personally - and sometimes it’s not that easy.

Through its events, staff, research and students it promotes a large amount of creativity, making university a more mentally stimulating experience.

Its creativity is not just apparent specifically to its creative courses such as those in the LiFTS department, nor is it limited to its creative alumni and laureates such as Nick Broomfield, Blake Har-

rison, David Yates, Derek Walcott etc.

Its creativity ranges much more generally; the very design itself reflects this. The design, as you may or may not know by now, means that everything is connected; Albert Sloman hoped that this would create a creative and social mixing of departments.

So from the very start back in 1964 the 122 students that arrived were already being encouraged to be creative, and interact with things, ideas and people beyond their own department.

Whilst it is true that other universities have creative societies and organisation such as we do (The Rabbit of course, TAS, SX:TV, Red Radio, The Film Society, The Origami Society etc.) there seems to be something ultimately bigger here.

Everyone here is so determined to

do something new, make something original; from what I’ve noticed about certain other universities is they focus too hard on being ‘the best’ by copying standards of perfection from elsewhere.

Whereas here it seems that while we do strive to be the best, we go about it by directly opposing certain standards, and by creating new ones in order to make the best overall experience.

It was one of the main things that set Essex apart from other unis for me and believe me I understand this is starting to sound like a cheesy advert, but it’s important.

With degrees more common than ever, graduating with a brain full of facts, ambition and an unbreakable creativity is going to be worth more than graduating with just a brain full of facts and nothing to do with it.

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LGBT Essex: an evolution Fiolla Korenica Deputy News Editor ‘GAY IS GOOD’ - read the headline splashed across the front page of then-student magazine the Wyvern. For forty years, the University of Essex has worn a multi-coloured badge of honour – one it wears with utmost pride.

A pioneer in its field, our university’s innate LGBT activism is one consistently met with national acclaim. In 2014, Stonewall ranked us in the top 50% of UK universities for equality.

Forty years prior, Essex became the first university in the country to found and support the Gay Liberation Front, hosting a conference attended by 300 national delegates in its infancy.

By the mid-seventies, an alliance of resilience had formed. An interlinking of socialist, feminist and LGBT campaigners pushed for change at an international level, hosting a ‘Gay Week’ in 1975 and an LGBT week in 1991. Just six years ago, the entire Students’ Union painted itself red to raise money for those living with AIDs.

At the University of Essex, LGBT rights are not just of political concern – an acute awareness of them informs the university’s intellectual and artistic environment.

The now 40-year-old Gay Sweatshop company produced ‘Mister X’ at the Lakeside Theatre in 1975, hoping to “counteract the prevailing perception in mainstream theatre” of homosexual life, presenting audiences with a “more realistic image” of the oppression of sexuality.

Eight years later, moviemakers held a gay film festival in our signature squares. As Essex entered its twenties, the Students’ Union gave the growing LGBT movement the keys to its corridor, and an exclusively LGBT hotline, now called Outhouse East, was set up.

Such success, however, was sometimes met with controversy. Discrimination emerged in the form of sexual harassment and physical assault.

At Gay Blue Jeans Day in the early eighties, participants were seriously injured. A visiting DJ in the late seven-

ties snarled at LGBT tenants in Eddington Tower, branding them “fairies”.

But as the LGBT society gathered resistance against such brutality, its ever-changing executive suffered conflicting aims and objectives.

By the late eighties, the group had switched names 4 times, from the GLF in 1976 to the Gay Society, to Gay and Lesbian Society in 1983, and to LGB society in 1989.

In 1993 the name became LGB and supporters to allow for allies to join or for those who did not wish to be out to still be able to tell others they were coming to society events.

The name changed again in 2004, becoming LGBT society to be more inclusive of the trans* community.

The last major change was in 2007 when it was renamed the LGBT and Friends, as it is now known.

After the millennium, the LGBT society entered a fresh century with triumph and commendation. In 2004, it was recognised as the Best Society, and in 2005, popular Saturday ‘Filthy Gorgeous’ would take its place in the Union calendar.

In the next few years, the first ever LGBT awareness month was held, where 700 signatures were collected to protest the ban on homosexual blood-giving.

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Gender neutral toilets, those located next to the SU bar, were installed in 2012 for those who do not identify in the gender binary.

More recently, the Albert Sloman flew the flag of gay liberation in celebration of the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia.

In October, students stood up to “radical, transphobic” feminist Julie Bindel under the slogan “Transphobia kills women”.

Organised by current LGBT* Officer Adam Coll, popular Thursday night’s

Ignite was born in late 2014. The University of Essex’s legacy is widely distinguished as one of revolution. But it is also one of evolution. For over fifty years this university has celebrated the rights of LGBT individuals and is not happy to stop there.

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Students’ Union and the university are working together to raise the profile of LGBT activism on campus, contact the current LGBT* officer, Adam Coll (jacoll@essex.ac.uk), or this year’s VP Welfare and Community, Cherina Darrell (vpwelfare@essex.ac.uk).

This is set to be the most successful year on record for LGBT activism nationwide. If work nears completion in the next few months, Essex could seal its reputation as a forerunner of the LGBT cause by installing gender-neutral toilets in every venue, including Sub Zero.

For more information about how the

Last chance to see Something Fierce Fiolla Korenica Deputy News Editor The campus exhibition has attracted more than 8,700 visitors, but this could be your last chance to join them.

‘Something Fierce - University of Essex: Vision and Reality’ will be open for one last time, during the Graduation period from Tuesday the 14th to Saturday the 18th of July.

The exhibition is curated by Professor Jules Lubbock, a part-time academic in the Art History department, whose study focuses on Architecture and Urbanism and on Italian Renaissance Art, and by Jessica Kenny, Arts and Gallery Director at the University of Essex.

When asked about the experience of

creating such an exhibition, Jessica responded: ‘We’ve loved finding out more about the University’s history – the ideas behind the founding of the University, as well as what happened when the students turned up.

‘There is something incredible about the energy students brought to campus over 50 years and how they have been able to shape this place to their own ends.’

‘Being able to portray an exhibition within one of the most unique buildings at the University was an ‘added bonus’, states Jessica: ‘As an original piece of campus ar-

chitecture it goes a long way in telling the University’s story for us – and it’s been great for me to step out of Art Exchange and have a bigger playground for expanding our ideas about Essex.’

The downstairs area of the Hexagon, focusing on the construction of the University’s site, was curated by Jules.

The upstairs area of the Hexagon was curated by Jessica, focusing on students’ experiences during the University’s beginnings.

Opening times on the last week will be from Tuesday to Friday from 11am to 5pm, and 12-4pm on the Saturday. It is located in The Hexagon, off Square 4. Further information is located on the University’s website.

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From Wyvern to Vulture to Rabbit Alice Vardy Science Editor

Andrew Smith Design Editor

Essex has a proud history of student journalism.

When the first students arrived here in 1964, we became the first university ever to open a newspaper in its first year, and we have produced a variety of publications throughout our fifty years.

The Communications Office continue to send out an ‘Essex Weekly’ e-newsletter every Tuesday, which is the current incarnation of these official papers.

That original ‘Wyvern’ ran until 1972, when the student and official news began to separate. Down the official route, campus news was covered in the ‘Nexus’ from 1973-5, then the ‘Wivenhoe’ until 1989, before returning to the ‘Wyvern’ name until 2012.

We at The Rabbit are descendants of the student news tradition, following in the footsteps of K3 from 1974-8, Vulture until 1992, and Parklife from 1995 to 2001, which is when our own paper was born.

Looking onward to the next halfcentury, the future seems bright.

With new offices opening next year and an award-winning website in hand, the paper continues to grow thanks to the hard work of our staff.

As we hand the paper on to the next generation, we are proud to have been part of this history. Happy fifty years, and here’s to fifty more!

Ode to the small ad Alice Vardy Science Editor In preparation for this edition of The Rabbit, the editorial staff decided to sift through old copies of our university’s newspapers.

There was a lot to read, from the very first Wyvern in the 1960s, to the rebellious K3, to the short (but not sweet) In Briefs all the way up to our own archives.

It seems appropriate that my last task for the Rabbit is riffling through the print of our predecessors. I realised that these blue boxes are where all our hard work is headed, but not in a sullen way.

Instead, I am mostly hopeful that someone will laugh about the bad jokes I wrote in my section.

The most enjoyable part of reading all of the K3, besides the libel, was reading the small ads; which have gone the way of White Rhinos and Walkmans. But they live on through Facebook Groups, for the sake of help, humour and possibly a large gong.

Continued on the next page, here are the best of K3’s small ads:

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From the sinister to the outright bizarre: our favourite small ads:

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Poor Mr Patel James Potter Contributor The events to mark the Universities’ 50th anniversary celebrations have been something like a daily history lesson.

The banners, posters and plaques, the events and the incredible exhibition have given us an education in Essex. As a result we are all acutely aware of the idea of red, radical Essex.

The Essex that fought against chemical weapons, apartheid and the poll tax. But for all of our crusades there is one that has been deemed too brutal, too bloody or perhaps too boring to be featured within this year’s celebration.

The campaign against a certain Mr Patel.

Mr Patel was not a warmonger, nor a University Bureaucrat, he was something perhaps even worse for 1960s Essex: a bold capitalist. In the 60s collective ownership and services for the common good were all the rage, as one article from the time argues:

business as usual just like his stores in Colchester and Clacton. This was certainly not to be the case.

news articles reminding students of the virtues of the people’s shop and their duty to help destroy capitalism.

Whilst the boycott fizzled out after a few months as attention went to the running of the people’s coffee bar (something that included a 4 hour meeting over whether they should have a jukebox) the issue was far from over, in 1967, the students started their own store.

However snippets alone were not going to change things, more aggressive tactics were needed and this Cold War was about to warm up. Students were reminded of Mr Patel’s somewhat lax approach to refreshing his stock. One article states:

It was staffed by student volunteers and offered ‘prices well below those charged by commercial retailers’ to quote an article of the time. With this the stage was set. Forget Vietnam or Guatemala, the battle between left and right was about to take place in Wivenhoe Park.

Evidence of this battle is scattered around student publications of the day. We see small snippets between

‘Patel’s Calendar seems to be different to everyone else’s. Quite a few students have noticed that some of the food for sale in Patel’s is out of date’ Indeed students were encouraged to bring any examples of such transgressions to a specially formulated consumers committee who would take forward such complaints.

The consumers committee was tireless in its pursuit of complaints against Mr

‘If there is profit to be made, and there certainly will be, why should it go to private enterprise?’ Our first victory against capitalism, the seizure of the coffee bar (now Happy Days) from private hands was marked with the headline ‘No capitalism for campus, the extension of free enterprise has been halted’.

As a result in 1966, a short while after he set up shop, he was met with a boycott from students, something he found rather confusing. He didn’t understand student politics, for him this was to be

The quiet beginnings: May 1971, June 1971, February 1972

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“After Cheesegate came Sausagegate, a step up in the effort of the consumers committee to wage war on Patel with the long arm of the law.”

Patel, one complaint, over the labelling of cheese brought an investigation by the Colchester Weights and Measurers Inspector, who in a letter to the committee stated. ‘‘Your Original complaint … has been investigated and the proprietor informed of the requirements of the Weights and Measures act in relation to the sale of cheese. The proprietor was not aware of his obligations as to the marking of certain pre-packed cheeses and has now undertook to comply with the statutory requirements.”

After Cheesegate came Sausagegate, a step up in the effort of the consumers committee to wage war on Patel with the long arm of the law.

Whilst the exact details of the case are unclear, Mr Patel and his shop seem to have escaped any significant punishment. This led students to less conventional tactics.

‘The Paranoia of Mr Patel is becoming more and more apparent. His recent actions include emptying the stamp machine every night.. Rumours have it that Mr Patel fears the Peoples Revenge’

February and March 1972

While I couldn’t possibly comment on what malice the authors of the above piece are hinting at, I would note however that tower windows used to open far wider than they do today.

In the end, the eventual fate of Mr Patel has been lost to history. The last mention of his name within the archives is a ‘fond’ farewell from the editor of the paper when he graduates.

I guess from the Spar logo in the campus shop, it looks like the capitalists won that ideological conflict after all.

But I feel there is something else that can be learned from this conflict.

Next time you feel like changing something, you could indeed write a long post or thought provoking comment on the freshers group, or you could write a few bitchy articles, start a committee, take a person to trading standards, then take them to court, steal their products overnight and then throw things at them from Bertrand Russell tower.

Just something to think about.

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The man who began it all Shaun Quilter Deputy News Editor Any student who attends the University of Essex in Colchester will know that our impressive library is named ‘The Albert Sloman Library’.

However, one question that may have popped into your mind at least once whilst playing on the library lifts, is: Who is Albert Sloman?

Albert Edward Sloman was born at Launceston, Cornwall, on February 14 1921, and went from Launceston College to Wadham College, Oxford in 1939, where he read Modern Languages.

In the Second World War he was a night fighter pilot, yet once home, he returned to Oxford for a PhD in 1945 but then took up an instructorship in Spanish at the University of California, Berkeley (1946-47).

According to the University of Essex website:

‘In May 1960 the University Grants Committee announced its decision to establish a new university in the county of Essex and in June 1962 it appointed from a long list of names Albert Sloman as the first Vice Chancellor.’

‘It was a bold choice – he was only 41, with limited experience of academic leadership – but an imaginative one.’

Albert became the UK’s youngest ever vice-chancellor in 1962, remaining at Essex until retirement in 1987. Influenced by his experiences in the United States, he intended to create a new style of British university. For instance, ‘He broke with what he regarded as the stultifying structures of the redbrick universities of the time and adopted the outlook and practices of the leading American universities, such as Berkeley, which he greatly admired.’

As seen on At The Heart of The Higher Education Debate, ‘The original Colchester campus was deliberately planned to foster an atmosphere of relaxed informality, which in Sir Albert’s words would “provide an experience of living as well as an opportunity for learning”.

Sir Ivor Crewe recalled ‘Sir Albert as someone “unswervingly liberal in his principles” who, “took the long view and patiently repaired the university’s reputation by promoting research excellence, expanding graduate numbers and attracting students from overseas”.’

To this day according to Sir Ivor Crewe, “Essex bears the distinctive imprint of Albert Sloman’s clear-sighted vision of a university with a rigorous academic mission for modern times.”

Sir Albert died on 28 July 2012, aged 91.

50TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL ISSUE

Sex survey: 2002 to 2015 Andrew Smith Design Editor

Ed Gove Content Editor

In 2002, The Rabbit asked Essex students about their sexual identities and behaviour, publishing the anonymous results.

2015, Male

Thirteen years later, we’ve run the survey again. More than 500 of you replied, and it’s immediately clear that a lot has changed between generations.

Here are the facts: Sexual partners In the original survey, male students were much more promiscuous than their female counterparts. Only half of men graduated with three or fewer notches on the bedpost, compared to three-quarters of women.

Today, that imbalance has largely evened out, although men still report higher numbers on average. Interestingly, the average number of partners has dropped overall: although fewer women are found at the lower end of the scale, in general we have begun to cut back on our number of conquests.

Unprotected sex Despite their greater tendency to sleep around, 2002 students put safety first.

Only 7% of men and 10% of women replied that they ‘mostly’ had sex without contraception, one quarter and one half the rate of their respective successors.

Whilst slightly more female students say that they ‘never’ have unprotected sex, in general the trend has been away from safety. According to our results, most Essex students fail to use protection at least sometimes.

How many people have you slept with at university?

2002 0-3 4-9 10-15 16+

Male 50% 34% 9% 8%

Female 75% 13% 6% 6% 2015, Female

2015 0-3 4-9 10-15 16+

Male 60% 28% 7% 5%

Female 66% 25% 5% 4%

Other 50% 0% 0% 50%

How often do you have unprotected sex?

2002 Mostly Sometimes Never

Male 7% 39% 54%

Female 10% 45% 44%

2015 Mostly Sometimes Never

Male 28% 33% 39%

Female 20% 33% 46%

2015

100%

Other 100% 0% 0%

Male

Female

Other

19 5

4 20

More sex Sexual identity

Which of the following would you consider yourself to be?

We’ve added an ‘Other’ option to recognise alternative gender identities, missing in 2002, and the 2015 results are also more diverse when it comes to sexuality.

2015, Male

The percentage of each gender identifying as heterosexual has decreased as other sexual identities become more prominent, although the update sees a smaller proportion of lesbians.

Gender trends have held firm. More men than women identify as straight, whilst female students are markedly more likely to identify as bisexual or pansexual.

2002 Heterosexual Homosexual Bisexual

Male 93% 6% 1%

Female 80% 7% 13%

Frequency Last time around, 25% of men and 19% of women claimed to be having sex every single day. In today’s austerity Britain, we’ve cut back to 18% and 17% respectively.

Whilst gender distribution is almost identical at the two extremes, women are much more likely to be doing it weekly, whilst men are more likely to choose ‘hardly ever’.

Perhaps relatedly, male students were much more likely to say they masturbated on a regular basis. Though they agreed with each option in roughly equal numbers, men were less than half as likely as women to keep their answers in single figures, and almost four times as likely to confess they masturbate ‘too much’.

According to the 2002 edition, 53% of women had engaged in cybersex, which has slightly increased as more technologies and apps have become available.

2015, Female

2015 Heterosexual Homosexual Bisexual Asexual Other

Male 81.3% 8.9% 8% 0.4% 0.4%

Female 78.2% 4.1% 14.3% 0.7% 2.4%

Other 50% 50% 0% 0% 0%

2015 Every day Every week Every month Hardly ever Never

Male 18% 26% 20% 23% 10%

Female 17% 38% 19% 15% 11%

Other 50% 50% 0% 0% 0%

How often do you have sex?

2002 Every day Every week Every month Hardly ever Never

Male 25% 17% 26% 28% 4%

Female 19% 29% 23% 23% 6%

How many times a month do you masturbate?

2002 0-10 11-20 21-30 Too much!

Male 41% 16% 19% 24%

Female 64% 25% 2% 10%

2015 0-10 11-20 21-30 Too much!

Do you ever practice cybersex/sexting?

2015 No Yes

Male 47% 52%

Female Other 42% 100% 57% 0%

Male 28% 22% 27% 23%

Female 66% 19% 9% 6%

Other 0% 0% 50% 50%

50TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL ISSUE

21 5

Location Some of the most surprising answers came when we asked where on campus people preferred to have sex; almost half of the 2002 respondents admitted to favouring locales beyond the safety of their flat.

That proportion has reduced this time around, to 35.6% of men and 29.4% of women, but this year’s cohort are much less picky and much more creative (‘Anywhere’ and ‘Other’ options) than their predecessors.

Where is your favourite place on campus to have sex?

2002 In room Towers lift By the lakes LTB Behind library Anywhere Other

Male 51% 2% 21% 8% 9% 6% 3%

Female 58% 0% 20% 7% 9% 0% 6%

2015 In room Towers lift By the lakes LTB Behind library Anywhere Other

Male 64.4% 2.2% 1.3% 1.3% 0.9% 16% 13.7%

Female 70.6% 2% 3.4% 0.3% 0.7% 8.5% 14.3%

Other 50% 0% 0% 0% 0% 50% 0%

Infidelity Whilst a majority of those surveyed have stayed faithful to their partners, more than a quarter of men and a third of women have cheated at least once.

Female students are more likely to play away from home in general, but when it comes to repeating the offence they have nothing on their male counterparts, who are twice as likely to be serial cheaters.

Female

Male

Your stories Finally, we asked you to tell us your best, funniest, or most interesting sex story from your time at Essex. On the next two pages we’ve compiled some of the best replies from both surveys, in the form of Facebook statuses.

Can you guess which are from 2002, and which are from 2015?

Have you ever cheated on a partner?

2015 Never Once A few times A lot

Male 71% 15% 9% 4%

Female 65% 22% 10% 2%

Other 100% 0% 0% 0%

Continued

Do the quiz on the next page to find which saucy stories originate from which year.

(All answers are at the bottom)

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50TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL ISSUE

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424

Did you know? 21 Essex facts Alice Vardy Science Editor

1. In 1980 a pint of beer cost 87p on campus.

15. There was a restaurant on square

3 which then moved to the Hexagon despite the lack of space until the Students’ Union Bar was built in 1975.

2. The Human Rights Centre was previously the physics department.

3.

The Telegraph in 1970 described the university as a hot bed of “sexual licence, daily pot-smoking parties, and neglect of studies” with a “wave of student vandalism and drugtaking”.

Haven’t times changed?

4. The University got its nickname “Red Essex” from the unrest of the students in 1968. Notable protests include a protest against Enoch Powell, a politician famous for his “Rivers of Blood” speech, and against a scientist from Porton Down, a “biological research facility” where they were developing Anthrax and Botulinum Toxin.

5. In 1975 the university was the smallest in England with only 1849 students that year.

with only 135 graduates.

16. In 1987 a hurricane hit the university and blew over 394 trees on campus. The New Vice Chancellor, Professor Martin Harris, commented, “For a year or so after the storm I would walk around campus collecting fallen bits of tree which Barbara and I used as firewood. I should think we saved the University a fair amount of money in heating bills!”

9. The first lectures took place in Nis- 17. sen huts, which to quote student Peter Avis “were not without incident for I remember, on one occasion, a physics lecturer disappearing between the two sections of the staging whilst trying to swat a wasp!”

One of the students suspended from the university following the protests of 1968 was David Triesman who is now Baron Triesman and sits in the House of Lords as a spokesperson on Foreign Affairs. (He was reinstated as a student less than a week later).

10. Kenneth Capon, the University’s 18.

Architect, initially planned 26 towers

The Enlightenment has been a subject at the university since before though he really only wanted eight and 1977. ended up with only 6.

11. The Founder of Mathematics at the

University, Professor John Dowden, commented on his first teaching experience at the university: “you could not lean against the paintwork as some of the decorating had only been finished in the last day or two!”

12. Dr Arias, an Essex graduate, became President of Costa Rica and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987.

6. The University of Essex is the first university to have a newspaper in its very first year. The first Wyvern was published in November of 1964, only a few months after the university opened.

7. Thin Lizzy played at the university in 1976, tickets cost £1.

8. 1967 was the first graduation year

Following the protests of 1968 19. The Queen Mother and Sir Winthe students of the university received ston Churchill were some of the first supportive telegrams from the likes benefactors of the university. of Jean Paul Sartre, Bertrand Russell, Alex Comfort, John Maynard Smith 20. When they were built the towers were the tallest brick buildings in the and Joseph Needham. country.

14. Neil Alphonso chaired the committee of the first ever summer ball in 21. Professor Ron Johnson the Vice1994. He claimed that “In the end it Chancellor in the early 1990s comwas a roaring success, and it is great to mented on these years: “What is my see it carry on today when, at the time, single memory of the campus during those years? The rabbits.” most other uni balls were dying.”

13.