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Students hold another sit-in at Sussex University (From The Argus)
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Students hold another sit-in at Sussex University
4:04pm Wednesday 3rd March 2010
Students protesting at job cuts are staging another sit-in at Sussex University this afternoon.
The demonstrators have barricaded themselves inside the management offices at Sussex House in protest.
They are angry at plans to make 115 staff redundant, which will close the environmental science degree and impact on English, history and life science departments.
Non-teaching staff from the student advice service, security, crèche and catering staff are also affected.
The students have issued the following statement: “The management of our university has rejected all alternative plans proposed by the UCU, by the Student Advisors, by the parents who use the crèche, and by various academic departments.
“We feel that taking this action is our only option to protect our education from cuts.
“We oppose the authoritarian tactics employed by management, just as we oppose all cuts to public services.
Whether we be students, workers or unemployed, we should not be made to pay for a funding crisis created by an irresponsible, outmoded, and defunct economic system.”
Students held a similar protest for two days last month, when they occupied the Terrace Room at Bramber House from 4pm on Monday, February 8 to Tuesday, February 9.
Were you at the protest? Send your pictures to pictures@theargus.co.uk or text them to 80360, starting your message with SUPIC.
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Your Say YourArgus
Gaz the great, Brighton says...
4:25pm Wed 3 Mar 10
UglyAmerican, Hotlanta says...
4:38pm Wed 3 Mar 10
Get a grip. The UK has been devolving in to a nanny state for decades, eroding your individual liberties and taxing you in to oblivion, and you are concerned about some cuts at the local uni?
Priorities people, priorities.
Teabagger88, says...
4:41pm Wed 3 Mar 10
Gubbins, says...
5:14pm Wed 3 Mar 10
Fight Back, Hove says...
5:20pm Wed 3 Mar 10
mickeyfinn, Brighton says...
6:09pm Wed 3 Mar 10
dentalplan, says...
6:42pm Wed 3 Mar 10
Just in case, here's a few starters:
The University management last year created 12 new positions for heads of school at circa £100,000 p.a. Most of these positions were filled from outside Sussex. The point of this appears to be to gain more executive control over the schools (to wield the axe) - yet this was done under a banner of enfranchising the departments in decision making!
The University is presently spending tens of millions of pounds on campus development (including £700,000 this year on installing new signs). This is partially funded by grants, partially by loans.
The debt to which the aforementioned loans contribute cost the University over £5 (five) million (million) pounds in interest last year.
The VC's plan for the University appears to be to continue spending borrowed money on capital projects while eroding the prestige and function of the institution as a university.
I do not think his pet project (a school of Business and Management) is part of the core mission of the university in the same way that the departments under threat are.
Brighton Uni already operates a Business school in the same city and as a more applied institution is far better suited to such pursuits.
The current management's argument that each school (some of which were created last year!) should balance their budgets _individually_ is a nonsense. Budgets are important but the key issue is to balance the delivery of the university's academic mission: otherwise we might as well open a school of Tesco and McDonalds and close all the others for being less profitable!
But the overriding issue is that these plans have been presented by management with a paper consultation - there is very little time to organise a response. Management have been completely disingenuous about their attitude to staff and student participation in decision making.
allie_cabab, bradford says...
6:59pm Wed 3 Mar 10
I usually don't like the SWP but this is one case where i am 100% behind these protests. The Government has announced almost £1 billions pounds worth of cuts in higher eduction funding!!!
That is outrageous in a time where we should be investing in education to get out economy started again education is beign made to suffer and instead the government is giving all the money to multimillionaire bankers!
Even at Sussex the number of highly paid managers has increased and the Vice Chancellor got an 8% pay increase, he gets paid more than Gordon Brown and only works part time as VC!!!
We have to show these people this is not acceptable.
Nyberg, Ystad says...
7:29pm Wed 3 Mar 10
If you don't like the situation - leave. If it's ok - stay.
It's called market forces.
At the end of the day, successive governments turned university education into a business rather than a vocation, and as no one spoke out at the time, we now have to live with it being a business.
Tough. No sympathy here.
bibble, London (but visit Brighton regularly) says...
7:29pm Wed 3 Mar 10
.
Is it one where people who work for a living pay for people like students not to work?
thucydides, says...
7:31pm Wed 3 Mar 10
dentalplan, says...
8:20pm Wed 3 Mar 10
Nyberg wrote:Are you suggesting that students embarked on courses for which they have already paid and to which they have shaped their life plans should leave rather than speak up?
Am I the only person who doesn't give a flying one about the whys and wherefores?
If you don't like the situation - leave. If it's ok - stay.
It's called market forces.
At the end of the day, successive governments turned university education into a business rather than a vocation, and as no one spoke out at the time, we now have to live with it being a business.
Tough. No sympathy here.
Or, are you suggesting that staff with families and mortgages should quit with no compensation because they don't agree that they (or their colleagues) should be fired?
"If you don't like it then leave" is a childish and intellectually fatigued blueprint for complete failure. Every one of us has a social duty that should compel us to speak truth to power.
brightonlass, brighton says...
8:38pm Wed 3 Mar 10
I would also like to add that I am a member of staff at Sussex and I witnessed the unbelievably heavy handed tactics of the police at todays demonstration- it was appalling, disturbing and intimidating. There were 16 police vehicles with 8 of those being riot vans full of fully kitted out riot police and also 2 CCTV vans and police dogs with their handlers- it was truly shocking and quite frankly a fairly dark day in Sussex's history.
Shame on you Sussex management
Tabitha Rohrer, Brighton says...
12:37am Thu 4 Mar 10
I was standing not ten feet away and witnessed police shoving and striking students who were NOT being aggressive. The police escalated the situation with aggressive behaviour and the completely unnecessary presence of riot police and dogs. Regardless of what your opinion on the economics of universities are, only a rotten human being would think it's perfectly fine for police to brutalise students.
Gubbins, says...
6:43am Thu 4 Mar 10
scthetruth, Brighton says...
10:58am Thu 4 Mar 10
UglyAmerican wrote:We may have a nanny state but at least the average Briton's standard of living is now higher than the American.
"Authoritarian tactics"?!?
Get a grip. The UK has been devolving in to a nanny state for decades, eroding your individual liberties and taxing you in to oblivion, and you are concerned about some cuts at the local uni?
Priorities people, priorities.
The US is a fine destination for a holiday but unless you are well off or in a well paid job the place is not nice to live.
worthington, says...
1:04pm Thu 4 Mar 10
And your priorities are?
Fight Back Hove/Bibble London-
I’m a Sussex University student, I pay for my course, I also work. I don’t have the luxury or the inclination to deposit my money in a tax haven. Therefore, I pay tax to HM Revenue and Customs.
I think you’ll find that all the staff at Sussex are also tax payers. Many of the students enrolled at the university either pay their fees or are, in part, funded through the tax paid by their parents (Can you see where I’m going here?).
I assume that you are in paid employment yourself. And yes, a dwindling proportion of the money YOU pay in tax goes towards university funding.
It’s called civilisation.
UglyAmerican, Hotlanta says...
1:08pm Thu 4 Mar 10
scthetruth wrote:I come to Brighton at least twice a year. Your statement is patently false.
UglyAmerican wrote:We may have a nanny state but at least the average Briton's standard of living is now higher than the American.
"Authoritarian tactics"?!?
Get a grip. The UK has been devolving in to a nanny state for decades, eroding your individual liberties and taxing you in to oblivion, and you are concerned about some cuts at the local uni?
Priorities people, priorities.
The US is a fine destination for a holiday but unless you are well off or in a well paid job the place is not nice to live.
thumper1, says...
1:40pm Thu 4 Mar 10
heavenscentrose, says...
2:07pm Thu 4 Mar 10
thucydides wrote:That's outrageous! How can such a salary be justified when it appears to be only a part-time job.
Lets not forget that the Vice Chancellor's wages went up from £140k to £220k when the current incumbent Michael Farthing devoted himself to further public service........
BTW, you're not Boris J, are you?
heavenscentrose, says...
2:15pm Thu 4 Mar 10
thumper1 wrote:Can you let us know the link on YouTube, please>
Just viewed the videos of the police at the University on Youtube. Shocked and disturbed by what is shown.
Granny, Brighton says...
2:29pm Thu 4 Mar 10
thumper1, says...
3:14pm Thu 4 Mar 10
om/watch?v=hRgZVtySi
Qw
http://www.youtube.c
om/watch?v=7xIKzVMor
cg
There are two videos there... I got sent a link to them but they look like those of the London G20 summit. Hiddeous.
Norsemen, Hove says...
3:24pm Thu 4 Mar 10
thumper1, says...
3:26pm Thu 4 Mar 10
Norsemen wrote:How can anyone say the behaviour of the police in this video is fair? The police dragged protesters from their protest positions, threw them to the ground and sat on them?
I can't see anything wrong in the behaviour of the police in those videos to be fair.
Rachael90210, Brighton says...
4:11pm Thu 4 Mar 10
Tabitha Rohrer wrote:Tabitha, I hope when you say, "Hi Rachel" you are not referring to me, because for some strange reason I feel like you think that I (Rachael Bates) am Teabagger88. I'd just like to point out that I'm not. This is me.
Teabagger88: Hi Rachel!
I was standing not ten feet away and witnessed police shoving and striking students who were NOT being aggressive. The police escalated the situation with aggressive behaviour and the completely unnecessary presence of riot police and dogs. Regardless of what your opinion on the economics of universities are, only a rotten human being would think it's perfectly fine for police to brutalise students.
I may have completely gotten the wrong end of the stick here, so if I have, apologies.
Norsemen, Hove says...
4:14pm Thu 4 Mar 10
In The Argus report it says that arrests were made after violence towards a security guard and the police so maybe we are witnessing a very valid arrest following this.
Please remember that the police are highly trained and they are not dragging protesters, throwing them and then sitting on them. They are aprehending people who are breaking a law in the safest and quickest way for themselves and the people they are arresting.
Please keep some perspective!
heavenscentrose, says...
4:17pm Thu 4 Mar 10
Norsemen wrote:Much as I don't agree with views of the students making this protest, they do have a right to protest peacefully and the police appear to have acted above their remit when manhandling a person who appears to be protesting peacefully.
I can't see anything wrong in the behaviour of the police in those videos to be fair.
I therefore cannot understand you being unable to see anything wrong in the behaviour of the police in those videos, unless you feel that gratuitous violence towards peaceful (albeit noisy) protesters is acceptable.
thumper1, says...
4:21pm Thu 4 Mar 10
Norsemen, Hove says...
4:46pm Thu 4 Mar 10
I think that the behaviour of those videos almost definitely was an appropriate response to the behaviour of the people apprehended.
I'm quite confident that the majority of the people in that video were protesting peacefully and lawfully - just not the chap that was apprehended.
heavenscentrose, says...
4:57pm Thu 4 Mar 10
Norsemen wrote:Thanks for your reply.
Hi Heaventscentrose, I think that the behaviour of those videos almost definitely was an appropriate response to the behaviour of the people apprehended. I'm quite confident that the majority of the people in that video were protesting peacefully and lawfully - just not the chap that was apprehended.
Admittedly the videos are grainy and don't show the full incident. So let's hope the police did do the right thing. After all, it's not in their interests to get things wrong.
als40, Brighton says...
5:08pm Thu 4 Mar 10
Norsemen wrote:I'm afraid that the police didn't have a valid reason. When they were forcing us back up the hill the police shouted at us to move back up the hill. With around two hundred people in the crowd behind me it was quite impossible to move back. This failure to move back seems to the "valid reason" that the police needed to start lashing out at us with batons. I was hit a number of times with a truncheon and thrown to the floor. I also observed one of the policemen, who seemed to take great relish in his acts of violence, concealing the ID tags on his epaulettes. The "Assault" on the security guard is nonsense, because one of the other security guards told the police in front of dozens of witnesses that the man in question simply fell over. There was no provocation for the police's brutal actions, taken in the defence of job cuts, poverty and injustice.
I'm sure that there was a valid reason - after all, they didn't mind doing it in front of a load of people filming them so they must have been confident that their judgement was sound.
In The Argus report it says that arrests were made after violence towards a security guard and the police so maybe we are witnessing a very valid arrest following this.
Please remember that the police are highly trained and they are not dragging protesters, throwing them and then sitting on them. They are aprehending people who are breaking a law in the safest and quickest way for themselves and the people they are arresting.
Please keep some perspective!
viviana, shoreham by sea says...
6:29pm Thu 4 Mar 10
birthofanorange, Hove says...
8:08pm Thu 4 Mar 10
tonybee, Brighton says...
5:13am Fri 5 Mar 10
viviana, shoreham by sea says...
8:03am Fri 5 Mar 10
Poor you!
Although I sympathize with your plight, I would imagine such behaviour is not exclusive to University students.
The students you describe are of the sort who does not particularly care about protesting (too busy having "fun"). The students protesting yesterday are trying to protect the future of higher education: let's not pretend that "soft subjects" are involved either: we are talking about savage cuts to Informatics and the sciences here, whilst, at the same time the Vice Chancellor is paid 240,000 pounds a year.
Students, like the rest of us, have the right to demonstrate peacefully without being thrown to the floor by the Police.
Leilastar, Brighton says...
6:16pm Fri 5 Mar 10
viviana wrote:Thank you Viviana, it is nice to know we have members of the community supporting our cause, as we support the people fighting against the cuts in the wider community.
Dear Tonybee,
Poor you!
Although I sympathize with your plight, I would imagine such behaviour is not exclusive to University students.
The students you describe are of the sort who does not particularly care about protesting (too busy having "fun"). The students protesting yesterday are trying to protect the future of higher education: let's not pretend that "soft subjects" are involved either: we are talking about savage cuts to Informatics and the sciences here, whilst, at the same time the Vice Chancellor is paid 240,000 pounds a year.
Students, like the rest of us, have the right to demonstrate peacefully without being thrown to the floor by the Police.
icansee, brighton says...
1:10pm Sun 7 Mar 10
who can disagree with the reason behind this protest?
and with the usual way over the top policing
icansee, brighton says...
1:10pm Sun 7 Mar 10
who can disagree with the reason behind this protest?
and with the usual way over the top policing
MarcoPolo, Brighton says...
12:02am Mon 8 Mar 10
viviana, shoreham by sea says...
8:48am Mon 8 Mar 10
maybe you are not aware of the fact the the courses under threat at Sussex are mainly in faculties such as Informatics (of course this country does not need IT experts!) and the sciences (again....who needs chemist, biologist and experts in physics!). Meanwhile the top management at Sussex, responsible for the financial mess, pay themselves profusely and they employ a PR firm (also very well paid) to try and bamboozle people like you.
icansee, brighton says...
9:35pm Mon 8 Mar 10
the reason for the cuts in the first place
the banks are ok and another 115 jobs gone!
DEMO: A banner unfurled at Sussex House today
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cheezburger, brighton says...
4:13pm Wed 3 Mar 10
Whats the unemployed got to do with it, who arent paying anything anyway.
Defunct economic system? Whats that got to do with Sussex Uni? Sounds to me like they have a hidden agenda and not really just upset about Sussex Uni job cuts. Id like to know who is behind it really, no doubt some upper middle class socialist worker type.