This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A students’ union has been forced to introduce fancy dress guidelines after a student society held a homelessness-themed party.

The trampolining society at Liverpool John Moores University was criticised after photographs of its annual “tramps’ night out” event were published in the student paper the Liverpool Tab.

The pictures showed the students wearing ripped clothes, with their faces painted to appear dirty. Some wore signs reading “Spare change? Meet me at the bar” and “give me your change and I’ll change your night”.

The society apologised in a statement. “We realise now that our annual choice of costume could cause offence and are sorry for any upset this may have caused – it was never our intention,” it said.

“We will of course be changing our annual fancy dress theme and once again apologise to anyone who may have found this inappropriate.”

The students’ union said it had begun an investigation and would introduce fancy dress guidelines. “We have recently been made aware of the annual tramps’ night out fancy dress social held by our trampolining society,” a spokesperson said.

“As a students’ union, we do not endorse fancy dress that could be deemed as offensive or discriminatory, and have reached out directly to the society involved, who realise that an error in judgment has been made with this choice of costume.

“They apologise for any offence caused and will be changing their annual social theme with immediate effect.

“We’ll be working closely with all our clubs and societies to make sure incidents like this do not happen again and will be making sure clear guidelines are in place for our students with regards to fancy dress.”