An apology has been issued by St Andrews University to “anyone…who was genuinely offended” by students wearing sandwich boards with the slogan ‘F*** the Poor’.
Police issued two men with fixed penalty notices after the stunt in the town centre when it was bustling with shoppers last Saturday.
University spokesman Niall Scott stressed the students were mirroring a social experiment previously conducted by the Pilion Trust charity in London to raise awareness of poverty and social injustice.
He questioned their choice of timing, however, as the controversial message was seen by numerous families with young children.
In a letter to The Courier, Mr Scott said: “May I through your columns offer a sincere apology on behalf of the university to anyone in St Andrews who witnessed this and who was genuinely offended by it?”
But he added: “It is debatable which is more offensive the public display of a common swear word or the fact that more families than ever before in Fife and across Scotland are relying on food banks to survive.”
Mr Scott said the students had made it clear their protest was not a gratuitous profanity but an established tactic first tried by the Pilion Trust, which helps poor and vulnerable people.
Police were called to Market Street after complaints from shoppers about the students, while the stunt prompted fierce debate on social media.
Mr Scott said: “It is a moot point whether a Saturday afternoon in Market Street was the wisest choice of time and place to exercise the right to such provocative freedom of expression, particularly with children and young families present.”
When the Pilion Trust sent an actor wearing a sign with the same words on to the streets of London he was taken to task by passers-by.
When the man put on another sign reading “help the poor” and asked for donations people ignored him.
The trust said the experiment, which was secretly filmed, was to find out whether or not people really did care about those who are less fortunate.
Pilion Trust chief executive Savvas Panas praised the St Andrews students for taking action.
He said: “As times get tougher people need to be asking questions about what we are doing to help. What the St Andrews students did was not bad if it has created awareness and dialogue so that people are discussing charitable donations.
“Students around the world have tried the same experiment and the response has tended to be the same.”
Mr Panas said he was shocked by the difference in reaction to their actor, who was repeatedly threatened with arrest, when wearing the different signs.
He said: “Everyone was quite happy to talk about giving and being socially aware but when the time came people didn’t choose to follow through with that passion.”
A police spokesman previously told The Courier the St Andrews students were given tickets under antisocial behaviour legislation and the matter would be referred to the procurator fiscal if fines were not paid in time.