We asked the student protesters to vacate the Slate on Monday 5 December 2016 so that our conferences team could prepare the venue for a student Christmas event scheduled to take place on Tuesday lunchtime. As the protesters have not left the building, the event cannot be held at this time and Warwick Business School (WBS) - who had booked the space – have cancelled the event.

We have looked carefully at alternative venues we could offer, but there is no appropriate space available for this time due to other internal bookings, and needing to set up for examinations taking place the following morning. The Students' Union offered WBS space in their building, for which we are grateful, but unfortunately the logistical facilities here would not be suitable for the nature of the event planned. We are sorry not to be able to accommodate the event for our students, but are working with WBS to arrange an event in the new year.

As students and staff will be aware from local media coverage, the student protesters held a demonstration march yesterday evening, and have indicated that they intend to continue their occupation. We will continue to seek to engage with them in conjunction with the SU both to ensure the students' welfare and to bring a peaceful conclusion to their occupation.

We will continue to update staff and students as we can.

Best wishes,
Professor Pam Thomas
Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research)

Tuesday 6 December 2016