• At the University of Sussex, Brighton 106 students took militant action and occupied the top floor of an on-campus building on Feb 8th against the threat of compulsory staff redundancies and course cuts. The occupiers strategically chose the conference centre room so as not to disrupt fellow students but rather to disrupt a “key part of management’s strategy to run the university as a profitable business”.
  Despite only lasting one day, and with no overt demands being issued or met, the occupiers instead sought to highlight the ongoing financial crisis in education, and at Sussex especially, and galvanise support for the University and College Union (UCU) – the largest teachers and lecturers trade union, who were balloting for strike action the following week.
  They were also able to mobilised a 200 strong demonstration at the university who then joined the occupiers before leaving the building together. Students on campus have been active for a while as part of the Stop the Cuts campaign which was formed in response to plans by the university administration to cut back on spending by millions in the next few years. The university is planning to cut £3 million this academic year, and £5 million next year.

• Taking inspiration from the Sussex occupation, students and activists at Leeds University have established the Really Open University (ROU) in response to plans by the university administration to cut back on spending by millions in the next few years. The university is planning to cut £3 million this academic year, and £5 million next year, causing the loss of 700 jobs. In a record turnout of 65.8% of UCU members, 63.8% voted ‘Yes’ to strike action at the university.
  In the run up to the ballot, Leeds Student Union ran an anti-strike campaign in which they encouraged students to harass lecturers calling on them not to strike. The ROU and ‘Leeds University Against Cuts’ were created to resist the cuts and fight the Student Union’s stance.
  On March 2nd they will be hosting an event called ‘What is a Really Open University?’ to encourage people to come along and help take part in a participatory process of creating one. Meet 5.30pm at the Parkinson Steps, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds. They also produce a weekly newsletter, ‘The Sausage Factory’, which is available to download from the website.

Stop the Cuts (Sussex occupation): http://defendsussex.wordpress.com/
Really Open University: http://www.reallyopenuniversity.org/
Leeds University Against Cuts: http://leedsuniversityagainstcuts.wordpress.com/