Glasgow University hasn’t been short
of dramatic events over 2011. This includes a march of over 3,000
students against course cuts, a major police operation attempting to
evict a student occupation which was successfully opposed by hundreds of
student protestors, and a tight election for the Student Representative
Council (SRC) presidency which saw the Left come within a couple of
hundred votes of winning. The situation has now developed to the point
where the victor of that election, Stuart Ritchie, has been forced to
resign only months into the first semester.
Glasgow University hasn’t been short
of dramatic events over 2011. This includes a march of over 3,000
students against course cuts, a major police operation attempting to
evict a student occupation which was successfully opposed by hundreds of
student protestors, and a tight election for the Student Representative
Council (SRC) presidency which saw the Left come within a couple of
hundred votes of winning. The situation has now developed to the point
where the victor of that election, Stuart Ritchie, has been forced to
resign only months into the first semester.
Despite being the clear right wing candidate at the election Ritchie
was forced to promise he would oppose fees and course cuts at the
University. The contradictions inherent in his presidency were shown
when as incumbent president he called for the “firebombing” of the
occupiers of the Hetherington Research Club when police were attempting
their botched eviction. This became even clearer when he urged students
to attend the Scottish Trade Union Congress protest march against
government cuts on October 1st yet did not himself attend.
His position became untenable after Glasgow Uni announced that it
planned to charge Rest of UK students what amounts to £26,000 over four
years for a degree following the Scottish Government’s decision to
permit Scottish universities to charge fees of up to £9,000 a year. This
had led to both Edinburgh and St Andrews deciding to charge Rest of UK
students annual fees of £9,000 – keep in mind arts degrees at Scottish
Universities are four years, not three – the most costly degree of any
of the universities in Britain. Despite outwardly condemning the fees,
it soon emerged Ritchie had been arguing for the “9K position” following
a Freedom of Information request from one of the student magazines at
Glasgow, QMunicate.( http://qmunicate.wordpress.com/2011/10/28/gusrc-president-didnt-fight-for-lower-ruk-fees/)
That is to say he argued for three years of £9,000 and a free fourth
year as opposed to £6,750 and a £1,000 rebate that the Senior Management
Group argued for. Our supposedly anti-fees president was therefore
supporting Rest of UK students paying £1,000 more than management!
As if to only make matters worse he attempted to justify this by
stating if management’s strategy was adopted “in a cost table we would
appear miles down the list.” That is to say in effect he not only was
for allowing but indeed actively promoting the very commercialisation
and commodification of our education he was elected to oppose!
The reaction to this revelation was swift. Amidst mounting student
pressure and anger the main anti-cuts organisation on campus, Glasgow
University Coalition of Resistance, moved very quickly and in just three
days were able to gather 576 signatures, well over the number needed to
force an Emergency General meeting of the SRC to consider a no
confidence motion in Ritchie. Adding to his problems was the fact that
he had spent the first week of his reign as president on holiday in San
Tropez and allegedly bought an Ipad with SRC funds. The truth of this
latter claim remains to be established but it was readily believed by
many students who understandably associated Ritchie with the cretinism
of the MPs expenses scandal and other career politicians.
The SRC had called an open meeting for Ritchie to answer these
allegations. It was due to take place on Wednesday November 2nd but
seemingly he couldn’t face the music of potentially hundreds of angry
students attending and calling for him to go. As a result the meeting
was cancelled and an SRC statement put out declaring Ritchie’s
resignation.
Ritchie will not be missed by students at Glasgow Uni, especially the
increasing number that want to take action to protect education from
the vicious assault that’s being mounted on it at all levels. It’s
important we note Ritchie was forced to leave over the issue of fees for
Rest of UK students. Scottish students know that the battle doesn’t end
with our brothers and sisters from down south but that in the long run
they will also attack our right to a free education. Ritchie was
punished for actively collaborating with management to give up the first
major line of this battle in Scotland. Robin Harper of the Scottish NUS
labelled him “a president who thinks he’s untouchable and entirely
unaccountable to his own students.”
But the battle does not end here. I’m in no doubt we join most
students at Glasgow in saying good riddance to bad rubbish. However it’s
vital that the politics Ritchie stood for go with him. It remains
unclear as to whether an election will take place to replace him as
president; it looks for now as if the SRC Executive Council will simply
continue without him with the vice president assuming his role. We
demand the SRC call an election to replace him as no member of the Exec
has a presidential mandate. The good work of student activists and the
results of the left around James Foley’s candidacy earlier this year
demonstrate the possibility of a victory in the upcoming elections. What
is needed from such an election is a concerted campaign by activists to
win students to a militant anti-cuts programme and to create a fighting
student union. As Marxists we understand that austerity can only be
defeated by the mass mobilisation of the youth and the working class to
overthrow capitalism and replace it with a socialist plan of production.
We continue to demand the SRC keep its promises to oppose fees and
cuts. The student union is the elected leadership of the student
movement and must appeal to and mobilise the student body to oppose cuts
and fees and support workers, particularly those at our own university
but also beyond, in struggle against such measures.
