Angry Sussex students hit back at higher education funding cuts

Staff at the University of Sussex cheered as they watched students stage a sit-in protest in a conference centre at Bramber House on the 8th Feb.

As part of the campaign ‘Stop The Cuts’, over a hundred students stayed overnight without access to bathroom facilities, in response to the hundreds of job cuts and course closures that have been announced since October last year. It was the third sit-in held this academic year.

On the second day of the sit-in, another 200 students arrived at Bramber House, to the delight of those already occupying the conference centre. They had marched from the Library Square as part of a demonstration organised by Claire Laker Mansfield, a Socialist Students (SS) activist.

Mansfield felt strongly that “we need to show management the support that exists for those inside who are taking a stand for our education and jobs”.

Despite threats of eviction by the management, more students rushed in to join the occupation until police were called and campus security blocked the side exits.

Activists from the campaigning group Youth Fight For Jobs (YFFJ) were also present at both the occupation and the march. Both YFFJ and SS are calling for student unions and trade unions all over the country to organise staff and student strikes as part of the anti-cuts campaign.

The protests have already won the support of Peter Cecil, the University of Sussex’s representative in the University and College Union (UCU). As well as welcoming the student action, Cecil has cautioned that although “industrial action is a last resort”, the university should be aware that “UCU members here at Sussex have made it quite clear that they want to ballot for action if management pushes ahead with its deeply flawed strategy”.

Sophie Wrack, an SS activist, was adamant that they could “make management listen” and warned that “they will face occupations and demonstrations every day until they stop the cuts”.