The Glasgow Tab is facing backlash over a now-deleted meme comparing Scottish universities based on whether its students were “hot”, “ugly”, “smart”, or “dumb”.
The post, which ranked the University of Glasgow at the top of the “hot” and “smart” rankings, placed other Russel group universities in similar rankings.
Non-Russel group Scottish universities, such as the University of the Highlands and Islands, Edinburgh Napier University, and Robert Gordon University, were ranked much lower on intelligence.
The now-deleted post came five months after the Edinburgh Tab was accused of classism on it’s own social media.
Additionally, the University of Edinburgh warned it’s students “not to be snobs”, as students notice a culture of elitism at the university.
One commenter on the Glasgow Tab’s post said: “As a strath student this bs is exactly why no one likes the tab, thought Glasgow tab would have learned from Edinburghs dumping on other unis lmao”.
A former writer for the Glasgow Tab, who has since defected to the Glasgow Guardian, spoke to Brig.
They said: “[The post is] Basically suggesting if you don’t attend one [a Russel group university] you’re not just stupid, but you’re also ugly”.
They added: “The [Glasgow] Tab is having an issue basically with being too Glasgow uni focused.
“I don’t think calling students at Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow Caledonian, and University of West of Scotland ugly is really the way to go about this.
“With this post, no one seems to want to take responsibility. Fundamentally, the post was poor taste and should have never gone up, and the social editor should apologise”.
The Tab is a U.K. wide student-ran tabloid publication which operates in various university cities, including St. Andrew’s, Sheffield, and Bristol.
Each city has it’s own editorial team, writers, and social media.
Brig contacted the Glasgow Tab for comment but has received no response.
4th year Politics and Journalism student.
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