Sussex UCU votes for strike action

Last Wednesday 3 March, the University and College Union (UCU) at Sussex voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action in their fight to save jobs and services at the university.

Turnout totalled a record 80.9 per cent, the highest the union has ever received in a ballot.

The union said the unprecedented turnout was indicative of the strength of feeling among UCU members over the savage funding cuts and damaging job losses proposed.

Over three-quarters of staff who voted supported strike action, and more than 82 per cent agreed to action short of a strike.

Sussex UCU said it still hoped the dispute could be “resolved without any disruption.”

Paul Cecil, president of Sussex UCU, said: “UCU members have today delivered a clear mandate for industrial action at the University of Sussex. We thank our members for participating in such large numbers and reiterate our belief that a negotiated settlement is still possible if the university steps back from implementing its job-cut plans, votes to delay the decision, and considers our alternatives.”

University of Sussex Students’ Union (USSU) president, Tom Wills, offered a statement of support, declaring, “We are right behind Sussex staff and the principled stand they are taking in defence of their jobs and our education.”

“We will hold the university management responsible for the devastation that will be wrought on our education if they succeed in pushing through with their cuts proposals.

“Strike action by staff is the key to winning this battle and we will do everything we can to support it.”

A Sussex spokesman said the proposals were being consulted on and that no decisions would be made until the university’s council meets on 12 March.

He added: “We have been notified of the result of the ballot by UCU members. We have already made clear and repeat our position that ballots for industrial action are not the way in which the process will be influenced.”

UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, conceded that industrial action is always a last resort but insisted that the proposed job losses will “impact massively across the University of Sussex and result in a far worse experience for students.”

Britain’s “rudest place names”

When locals in West Yorkshire won their battle to reinstate the place name ‘Tickle Cock Bridge’ last week, The Times readily welcomed the news by compiling a list of Britain’s top 30 rudest place names.

‘Cocks’ in Cornwall won the coveted title, closely followed by Worcestershire’s ‘Minge Lane’ and ‘Bell End’, which came second and third respectively.

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Universities “should cater for over-50s”

A recent Universities UK report has suggested that British universities must offer more courses suitable for people aged 50 and above.

The study, ‘Active Ageing and Universities’, proposes that as the baby boom generation fast approaches the age of retirement, there should be greater incentives offered to those in their twilight years to regain access to higher education.

The report supported its findings with the illuminating statistic that by 2026 around 20% of the British population will be over 65, while the number of part-time students over the age of 40 has increased by nearly 60% in the last decade.

Indeed, the most recent UCAS figures reveal a 63.4% increase in the number of mature student applicants for undergraduate courses.

The report stresses the importance of universities widening their participation agendas to incorporate all ages, and explains that such a move would be widely beneficial to higher education and British society as a whole.

Chief executive of Universities UK, Nicola Dandridge, insisted the notion that people stopped making a useful contribution to society once they reached the age of 60 or 65 was outdated.

“We are facing a situation where older people are living longer and healthier lives and have, as a consequence, a huge amount to contribute. Universities have a significant part to play in harnessing that contribution,” she said.

“Of course, proposals to support older people into universities must be considered in light of the current funding climate facing the sector. On the other hand, to ignore the potential contribution older people can make to our society and economy is short-sighted, and universities have a central role to play in supporting and reinforcing their contribution.”

In 2000, World War II refugee Bernard Herzberg became the oldest ever university graduate in the UK, when he completed a German Literature BA at the University of London at 90 years of age. He went on to complete an MA in 2005, refuting the belief that OAPs are too old to pursue academic study.

However, some of the views expressed on online forums seem less sympathetic towards the report. In light of the record number of applicants for university places this year, one person argued, “It is morally objectionable to allow graduates to take a second undergraduate degree when so many people are waiting for their first chance.”

Another bluntly stated: “I am not sure how much society will benefit from supporting a mature student who might drop dead right after graduation anyway.”

‘Terrorists’ on Campus?

Counter-terrorism officers have recently identified a number of universities to remain under close scrutiny, the Government has admitted.

Special Branch officers are being deployed in institutions deemed ‘at risk of being targeted by extremists’, amid growing fears that students are in danger of being groomed by fanatics.

Higher Education Minister David Lammy said that the threat posed to universities had been exaggerated, yet it remains an “extremely serious issue”.

Mr Lammy recently said on a BBC Radio 4 broadcast:

“We have identified universities for whom the risk is greater and they have to work closely with Special Branch, and so I think it is a partnership between leadership at universities and police”

He added, “We do not recognise a caricature of a significant risk across Britain.

But we do recognise that threat levels have been raised and that this is an extremely serious issue and that there are particular institutions – and those institutions are aware of this because we have brought it to their attention –  where the risk is greater and those institutions are working very closely with the police and are working closely with Special Branch and those institutions [police and Special Branch] and present on campus”.

Mr Lammy refused to name the institutions in question.

The University of Sussex has a global reputation for radical thinking and famously had a MI6 operative working on campus in the 60’s to investigate whether students had links to communist Russia.

In addition to this the university has been told that it must ‘keep tabs’ on international students in order to prevent illegal immigration.

However, when The Badger asked a university spokesperson whether ‘high risk’ operatives were being placed at the University of Sussex, it was confirmed that “we are not one of the universities which the Government has identified as being at greater risk [and therefore needing to work closely with Special Branch].

We are of course actively working with the local Prevent Partnership in Brighton and Hove which is designed to challenge violent extremism and support mainstream voices”.

The move comes just weeks after former University College London student, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, sparked a major terror investigation following an alleged failed attempt to detonate explosives on a flight from Amsterdam to the United States on Christmas day.

Mr Abdulmutallab was president of the university’s Islamic Society for three years before graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering in June 2009.

The Higher Education Minister declined to comment on whether university Islamic societies should be more closely monitored.

He said: “Universities are autonomous. They work closely with the police and intelligence services, and I’m not going to comment further than that.”

Despite Mr Abdulmatallab being the sixth member of a UK student Islamic Society to be arrested for suspected terrorism offences, Quasim Rafiq, of the Federation of Student Islamic Societies (Fosis) denied any link between student groups and terror plots.

“There is no evidence or no substantial evidence to suggest there is a radicalisation of extremism taking place on campus, as people have suggested”, he said.

University academics have been divided on how to deal with the issue.

Whilst Prof Anthony Glees, who wrote a 2005 report warning that ‘campuses have become a safe haven for extremists and many universities were in denial’, said that “universities should not be used as venues for extremist propaganda [and] should be about rational debate and balance”, Prof Malcolm Grant, provost of UCL, said universities had a responsibility to work closely with security services “but not as policemen”.

“Now let’s be real about this. The influences on young minds are many and various”, he added.

BNP have ‘no confidence’ union president

Government announces university funding cuts

The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) has recently announced that £449 million is to be cut from university budgets across the country in the next academic year.
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Academics and MPs denounce cuts at Sussex

Britain’s higher education system is recognised across the globe as a gold standard, second only to the US. Eighteen of our universities rank in the world’s top 100. Comprising just 1% of the global population, Britain produces 7.9% of the world’s academic research publications.

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Mandelson’s measures will cause “University meltdown”

Business secretary Lord Mandelson has declared that the government is to cut university funding in England by a total of £398m for 2010/11. The reduced allocations will witness £84m taken from the funding budget for buildings and equipment, and £51m for teaching.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned that even deeper cuts of 12.3% over 2011/12 are needed for ministers to achieve their target of halving national debt by 2013. This would mean an extra £1.6bn of cuts to the science and universities budget.

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Everything’s gonna be all white…

A general election on the horizon, wars, famine and swine flu sweeping the globe, and the continuation of Sussex’s ever-steady tumble towards financial oblivion…So what’s everybody talking about? Snow. Well, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

In all fairness, it’s not difficult to see why even the gentlest sprinkling of snowflakes (let alone the nation’s recent obliteration by blizzard) instantly becomes the indisputable champion of conversation topics. Snow is the rarity of all rarities for the British public, the stuff of Hollywood Christmas fodder (in which, be it A Christmas Carol or Bridget Jones’ Diary, English yuletide scenes are unanimously – and ironically – knee deep in picture perfect flurries), an utter transformation of the cityscapes and countryside we know so well, a force reducing young and old alike to snowball-wielding 5 year-olds and, best of all, the God-given Hoover Dam of watertight excuses to pull a sickie.

Considering the usual seasonal offering – intervals of watery sleet and the occasional bout of ‘real’ snow which, almost before the premature cries of ‘it’s settling!’, is lining curbs and gutters as slush, that ever-appealing staple of the British winter – it’s hardly surprising that a proper blizzard gets us all a bit overexcited.

But it isn’t all fun and games. Local shops providing groceries to those unable to go further afield and television broadcasters experiencing huge ratings boosts are benefitting, but they are very much in the minority. Though we haven’t had a winter this chilly since 1962, recent years have shown the national infrastructure fundamentally incapable of dealing with a cold snap – and this one has, unsurprisingly, been no exception. With a major surge in gas usage threatening a potential shortage, an end to grit supplies constantly imminent, a predicted 40,000 excess cold-related deaths this winter and chaos on the roads and rails after every snowfall, the country has proved, yet again, that past white-outs have taught us very little when it comes to being prepared.

Indeed, it seems Brighton has dealt with this winter’s adverse weather with even less capability and competence than most. After the first heavy snowfall in mid-December, the Brighton & Hove city council found themselves under fire following their decision to focus gritting efforts on Lewes Road, omitting pretty much everywhere else. This is perhaps unfair, as we are reliably informed such a decision was owing to a shortage of gritters – nevertheless, they paid the price with the numbers admitted to the local A&E department rocketing five-fold, not to mention their share in the estimated £14.5bn cost to the economy due to snowed-in workers and disruptions to transport.

But is Britain really so incredibly hopeless when it comes to dealing with snowfall? Yes, responses could be a little faster. Yes, reserves could be a little better. Yes, resources could be a little more plentiful. The truth, however, is that the British public, for all the pride we take in our stiff upper lips, really do love a bit of drama – and the snow, with its unpredictability and sheer domination, is just that. Even Midwest and Northeastern America had a spot of bother dealing with their familiar snow storms this winter, with road and rail alike suffering in a manner not radically dissimilar to ours and, when you take a good look, our responses were almost on a par.

Secretly, for all the hassle it provides, all the plans it changes, all the power shortages and chaos it bestows, we love the sense of camaraderie that suddenly emerges when we’re all schlepping through blizzards to get home, or trapped indoors watching tomorrow’s weather report with bated breath. Snow is one of the few remaining occurrences which unites us – in our eternal grumbling if nothing else – and, if only for a little while, breaks the tedium of our everyday. If nothing else, it really does look rather pretty.

Protest held in London for British student in Greek jail

A protest was held in London at the Greek embassy for a British student accused of manslaughter. The student at Bournemouth Uni­versity, Andrew Symeou, is accused of killing Jonathan Hiles of Cardiff by punching him in a nightclub at the Isle of Zante in 2007. Symeou is being held at Korydallos prison in Athens, a prison Amnesty Interna­tional say is one of Europe’s worst.

The protest was led by his sister Sophie Symeou, who said: “The case against my brother is riddled with contradictions and inconsistencies suggestive of manipulation and in places fabrication of evidence by police officers. Andrew has been held in a Greek prison without a trial for nearly six months and has been refused bail twice. My brother has suffered for too long and this cannot continue – we are protesting outside the Greek Embassy to say enough is enough.”

About 100 people turned up for the protest, chanting “enough is enough,” and “justice for Andrew.” The group called for an end to his detention, a trial date to be set and an inquiry into allegations of police misconduct.

Symeou was arrested at his home in London in June 2008 over the death of 18-year-old Hiles in a Zakynthos nightclub in July 2007. Hiles was punched and then hit his head after falling off a dance stage. He died in the hospital two days later.

Symeou has denied killing him, stating that he was not even at the club at that time and his legal team has raised doubts about the way the Zakynthos police handled the in­vestigation, as key witnesses claim they were coerced into identifying Symeou as the main suspect. Syme­ou was transferred to Greece in July 2009.

Human rights group Amnesty International and the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture have repeatedly expressed concern about Korydallos prison.

Amnesty said inmates faced de­grading treatment including poor hygiene in cells and a lack of fresh air, exercise facilities or prompt medical treatment.

A British member of the Euro­pean Parliament (MEP) said yester­day that she would contact Prime Minister George Papandreou di­rectly about the ongoing detention of Symeou, in Korydallos Prison. Sarah Ludford, an MEP for the Lib­eral Democrats, said that Symeou, entering his sixth month of pre-trial custody in Greece, is wrongly being denied bail and that concerns about the handling of his case have not been investigated properly.

“Andrew Symeou’s unjust treat­ment must come to an end,” said Ludford, who is the Liberal Demo­crats’ European Justice and Human rights spokeswoman. “Greek au­thorities have denied him bail and kept him in prison for the last six months purely because he is a for­eigner. This discriminatory treat­ment offends against European human rights and undermines the principles of measures like the Eu­ropean arrest warrant.”

Ludford, who also took part in the protest, demanded Symeou’s immediate release on bail pending trial and also a serious investigation into police conduct.

“Defendants must be confident that they will be treated decently and given a fair trial throughout the EU,” Ludford said.

Fair trials international who have showed concern for Symeou’s case, state that police conduct of the sit­uation, mistaken identity, conflict­ing evidence and violent intimida­tion of witnesses have resulted in the unfair extradition of Andrew Symeou.

Fair Trials International Chief Executive Jago Russell said: “An­drew has already been held for months in a Greek jail without any opportunity to clear his name.

“We are urging Greece to bring this family’s unjustified ordeal to an end, to release Andrew on bail and to investigate the serious alle­gations of police misconduct.”