At around 12:15 on Wednesday the 24th
of November, UCL students who had gathered in the main quad for a rally
as part of the ‘National Day of Action Against Education Cuts and Fees’
marched into the Jeremy Bentham Room in the UCL main building amidst
chants of “no ifs, no buts, no education cuts”. A vote on whether to
occupy was then immediately taken and passed by an overwhelming
majority.
At around 12:15 on Wednesday the 24th
of November, UCL students who had gathered in the main quad for a rally
as part of the ‘National Day of Action Against Education Cuts and Fees’
marched into the Jeremy Bentham Room in the UCL main building amidst
chants of “no ifs, no buts, no education cuts”. A vote on whether to
occupy was then immediately taken and passed by an overwhelming
majority.
A short press statement and the occupation’s demands were then quickly drafted and voted on. The demands are as follows:
We demand that UCL:
- Issue a statement condemning all cuts to higher education and the rise in tuition fees.
- Implement a complete open books policy with regards to existing budget constraints.
- Ensure no redundancies for teaching, research or support staff.
- Reverse its outsourcing policy by bringing staff back in-house
- Implement the full living wage package for all cleaning, catering and security staff with no cuts to hours and jobs.
- Ensure no victimisation or repercussions for anyone participating in the occupation.
- Allow free access in and out of the occupation.
Over the next two days the occupation was visited by several trade
unionists (particularly representatives from UCU) who gave solidarity
and support, stating that the occupation was “inspiring” and that the
students should form firm links with the wider Labour movement in order
to achieve victory. John McDonnell MP also came on the first evening to
give his support and the support of Jeremy Corbyn MP who couldn’t make
it.
The occupation also drew a lot of media attention with reporters and
camera crews regularly visiting over the first few days. Journalists
from the Financial Times even gave their support to the occupation as
well as taking an interview over the phone. Now that the initial buzz
has died down, the Guardian continues to be supportive and has published
the occupation’s press releases (as well as Aaron Porter’s very public
‘apology’).
On Friday morning, Rex Knight, the Vice-Provost of UCL came to
negotiate with the students. With the exception of the demands over free
access and victimisation, he dismissed all of the occupations demands,
using evasive techniques such as saying that UCL has already agreed to
pay the living wage (which while true has not seen any increase in
workers’ pay since). His arguments were therefore completely rejected by
the students who have since drafted a written response which can be
found at ucloccupation.wordpress.com.
From the very beginning of the occupation, our comrades insisted on
the importance of calling for the support of the UCL student union, and
putting pressure upon the NUS to support the currently national wave of
occupations and demonstrations. Initially, it was very difficult to put
this proposal into action. The running of the occupation was and
continues to be left to ad hoc ‘working groups’ which are unelected and
were at the beginning (but not so much now) dominated by the most
experienced and well-known ‘activists’ that were adverse to address
wider issues for fear of shaking things up too much. Nevertheless,
through the constant discussions going on between individuals inside the
occupation, it was possible to garner support for putting pressure on
the union, firstly through the calling of an Emergency General Meeting
of UCLU, and secondly through publishing an ‘open letter’ in the
Guardian calling for the support of the leadership of the NUS.
The required number of signatures for an EGM at UCL is 400. The
occupiers managed to collect 700 within a few hours on Monday and so the
meeting will take place next week. There are two motions to be
discussed and voted:
- That UCLU supports the occupation and its demands
- That UCLU will put pressure on the NUS nationally to
support the current wave of occupations and protests and to call more in
the future.
Meanwhile, over the weekend, one occupier had tweeted the threat of a
vote of no-confidence in Aaron Porter (NUS President) if he did not
give support to protesting students. Within less than 24 hours, on
Sunday morning, Aaron Porter was sat inside the occupied space at UCL
surrounded by a ring of students. At this meeting, he apologised for his
“dithering” over support for autonomous student action, and agreed to
advocate occupations as a legitimate form of protest against fees and
cuts, as well as pledging political, legal and financial aid for all
existing and future student occupations. This victory gave a tremendous
boost to the morale of the students and affirmed the perspective that
under pressure from below, the NUS could undergo a radical shift to left
(though this event alone does not represent such a shift).
Since then, an important topic of discussion has been how to escalate
the occupation in order to spread its message and win its demands.
Among the more ‘situationist’ proposals such as chalking slogans all
over the main quad was the idea that the occupation could both spread
and deepen its base through occupations taking place in individual UCL
departments. A delegation from the UCL occupation went to the SLADE Art
School about midway through the occupation and discussed the
possibility of an occupation. Several days later, presumably after being
able to more accurately gauge support, SLADE went into occupation. This
occupation, which although independent, is so close to the main UCL
building that it will undoubtedly strengthen the original occupation and
put pressure on the management more than any other more fleeting forms
of direct action. Over the last couple of days meetings have been taking
place in the department of Modern Languages (already the subject of
controversy after the merger of all of the formerly independent language
departments) over the subject of taking action against management,
possibly in the form of the occupation.
The occupation has managed to maintain its original number of around
200 quite well, but this is not enough. Frustrated at the perceived lack
of building support from the rest of the student body, certain
occupiers have attempted to use more direct means of ‘annoying’
management. Consequently, several people are now being threatened with
expulsion for acts of vandalism. While it is important to argue for more
constructive forms of action (like spreading occupations around
departments), it is also equally important now to call on the NUS to
fulfil its promise of aid to occupations by supporting these individuals
against these purely intimidatory measures.
Yesterday UCL management threatened students with legal action if
they do not end the occupation. If this threat is carried out the
occupation will become unlawful and occupiers will be forcibly removed.
Similar action was taken against the occupation at SOAS, but the
students there actually managed to avoid being evicted and remain in
occupation even now. While this would be a possibility for the UCL
occupation, it is much more important that students who have become
radicalised through the occupation go out into the rest of the
university and spread support for its message. It is also important that
these students go out to the trade unions and local work places to link
up their struggle with that of the workers, and visit schools in order
to pass on what they’ve learned to the already militant FE students.
This wave of occupations is only the beginning. The fight to save
education (as well as all of our public services) will not be won by
several hundred students but by a mass movement capable of overthrowing
this government of the rich. This current wave of occupations (and
particularly the UCL occupation) has provided an inspiring and
educational example of struggle for both students and workers alike. We
must now make use of that to prepare for the coming struggle by building
the strongest possible foundation for this mass movement.
2nd December 2010
