The first attempt of this protest took place on Thursday 22nd November and was quickly shut down by campus security despite students receiving Sir Anthony Gormley’s permission, at his talk on campus last week. A white gnome is to be placed on top of the statue which is intended to be a ‘ “symbolic gesture of reclaiming of campus spaces”.
The students involved noted they disagreed with the university’s lack of transparency about how much it costs to house the statue at Newcastle and what control students have over the statue, given that it is monitored by 24 hour security.
The flash protest caught the attention of Raff Marioni and Jack Green, Newcastle University’s President, and Welfare and Equality officer, with Raff commenting ‘ “ I think it’s quite an amusing idea.”’
It was deemed too much of a health and safety risk in the wet weather to have one member of the protest climbing a ladder to reach the top of the sculpture, therefore last week he was instructed on ladder safety so that the protest can be carried out.
It is due to take place at 1pm today, Monday 26th November outside the Student’s Union building.
The NUTV footage of the attempted protest last week: here