University students are debating whether to boycott The Sun newspaper, with some arguing it promotes "vicious opinions" and "denigrates women".
Students at the University of East Anglia (UEA) are at loggerheads over the presence of the tabloid and its controversial Page 3 in union shops.
SEE ALSO: Oxford College Boycotts Page Three
Elliot Folan, a union council member at UEA, told The Huffington Post UK he supported the motion as the campus "needs to be a safe space for everyone, whether that’s women, LGBT+ people, people from ethnic minorities or people with mental and physical disabilities".
"The Sun denigrates women every day with Page 3, and consistently promotes vicious opinions with headlines such as those that imply mentally disabled people are killers.
"People can read, write for or buy the Sun if they want, but our student union doesn’t need to give a prominent platform to a newspaper that goes against our values as a union. I'll be voting to stop selling The Sun and I sincerely hope it passes”.
But some, such as HuffPost UK blogger Victoria Finan, disagree:
Earlier this year, York University students campaigned to have The Sun removed from their union following a "particularly shocking" front page. The tabloid featured Oscar Pistorius' dead girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp - in a bikini - which students claimed "trivialised" her death.
The university's students would be following in the footsteps of students at Essex, Manchester and Oxford, who have already banned the paper from their unions.
Students at Manchester University discuss The Sun ban
Rachel Knott, the student union's women's officer at UEA, is responsible for proposing the motion. According to Knott, by stocking it on campus, the union "continues to publicly declare support for this ‘national institution’ that presents and elevates such a narrow and degrading view of women to society", student paper The Tab reports.
The motion will be considered by the union council on Thursday.