“Under no circumstances are you to use chalk as a means of promoting/advertising your events,” the University has warned York societies after increasing numbers of events were promoted in chalk on walls and pathways around campus and surrounding areas.
Greeted with hostility, this ban on a valued form of advertising for societies has dealt a blow to the way they try to encourage attendance to the various plays and concerts.
William Descrettes, who helps run the Happily Ever After Society, a Society which depends on ticket sales, says that with societies “struggling to stay alive each year,” it’s “ridiculous to remove this completely harmless and cheap method of advertising.”
“The University regulations are getting ridiculous” agrees Emily Thommes, chair of Pantsoc, “A poster goes up, it gets torn down again in seconds, how the university expects societies to advertise their shows is unfathomable to me. The university may say they support societies, but in practice this is clearly not the case.”
Estates have threatened to charge anyone caught writing in chalk, as well as the society involved, for the costs incurred in cleaning it up.
However, as Descrettes points out, “surely it’s obvious that chalk isn’t a product that will tar the surface of the university.” A member of one of the university’s music societies agreed, saying “the cost of cleaning up a washable surface cannot be much. And regardless, chalk disappears over time from rain and footfall, it’s hardly the vandalism the University is trying to make it out to be.
YUSU President Tim Ngwena took a slightly more forgiving stance on the issue. “Although it’s effective, it is difficult, timely and costly to clean and I can understand why the University have made the decision they have.”
He went on to say that, “this highlights the increasing tension and battle for publicity space on campus which both YUSU and the University are working to resolve, with the addition of more notice boards and more dedicated publicity opportunties through avenues such as the web, mobile phones and other digital media.”