Bristol Students occupy Senate House

Here is the statement from the occupiers:


Statement of Bristol University Occupation

We have occupied the University of Bristol Senate House today. We have
done this to protest against, and to open a space of dialogue and
critical thinking around, the government-proposed education cuts and
changes to the University fee structure. We have occupied this space in
a spirit of solidarity with other student occupations and in recognition
of the burning need for a new form of participatory democracy within our
University and universities in general.
 As has been widely reported, these proposals include:
• A 40% cut in the higher education budget overall, which includes an
80% cut to the teaching budget.
• An effective 100% funding cut to the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.
• The scrapping of the Educational Maintenance Allowance for students
who might otherwise struggle to support themselves through school.
• A near-tripling of university tuition fees of up to £9,000 and the
creation of a crippling debt that will deter a generation of students
based on financial, rather than educational, considerations.
This is not the beginning, rather the culmination, of a vibrant and
broad student movement. Today’s occupation follows a month of protest,
teach-ins and other activities carried out by Bristol students, often
with support of both academic and support staff. Last week, at an
Emergency General Meeting, following large-scale student pressure, the
University of Bristol Students’ Union finally recognised what its
students had long been advocating. Two motions, against fees and cuts,
were passed with an overwhelming majority. Our Students’ Union is now
mandated to take an active and public stance against the cuts and fees
and it will also be present at the national demonstration against these
cuts and fees happening in London on Thursday, 9th December 2010.
The motions express the sentiments of the student body overall that the
advent of the cuts and fee increases will function so as to transform
education from a public good into a private commodity; that this will
detrimentally impact on the capacity of the University as a space of
critical thought and that it will become a space that is increasingly
inaccessible to prospective students from lower income backgrounds.
Moreover, the motions passed support all forms of student action,
including all current and future occupations. It is thus with the
overwhelming majority of Bristol Students, that we oppose these cuts and
fee increases and feel that it is time to take action.
Despite the enormity of the government’s proposals, their significance
for the University and higher education more broadly and the evident
concern of students around these issues we feel that, we, as students,
have been left out of processes of consultation and decision-making on
the University’s stance on these policies and their impacts. We feel,
that there has been little resistance to, or indeed questioning of,
Government’s proposals from the University administration and we aim
through this occupation to foster such critique.
It is thus, in the name of a more democratic, participatory and
critically engaged university that we make the following demands:
Read more by clicking links.
Please send messages of support and solidarity to
bristoluniresistance.org.uk. If you would like to participate in or
contribute to a series of planned teach-ins and workshops, please come
along or email: aec.bris@gmail.com

Follow the occupation:
Blog: bristoluniresistance.org.uk,
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#!/pages/Bristol-against-education-cuts/166916926663073
Email: aec.bris@gmail.com
Or come and visit: University of Bristol Senate House, Tyndall Avenue,
Bristol BS8 1TH

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