Staff and students strike accord

It shouldn’t surprise me that students can be selfish people, and yet, on Wednesday, I was amazed at how many students strolled right past the picket lines. Some of them even refused to acknowledge the staff members trying to hand them leaflets about the strike. I hate being handed literature too, but for god’s sake, these are your lecturers! These are the people who run the university every day – not Michael Farthing and his coven of mercenary business puppets – and yet, they’re treated as if they aren’t even human. Because they have the nerve to inconvenience a bunch of selfish, middle-class young people. Read more

Farthing gets it wrong on tuition fees

As the Badger reports this week, Vice-Chancellor Michael Farthing has argued that in order for universities to maintain high standards of education, the tuition fee cap- which currently stands at £3,240 a year- must increase to a staggering £7,500.  This announcement came as staff and students maintained picket lines at the entrance to campus, where staff are striking over the threat of compulsory redundancies.

The Independent newspaper refers to Farthing as “a leading university vice-chancellor” despite him presiding over swingeing cuts to departments and university services, sacking academics and support staff alike, and enthusiastically deploying riot police to subdue student protests. Similarly a huge turnout at USSU’s last EGM, the largest ever meeting held on campus, saw upwards of 850 students record an overwhelming verdict of no confidence in the vice-chancellor as he attempted to alter the very nature of the University of Sussex. So, not so much a leading figure as much as a widely discredited, out of touch, campus-wide hate figure, perhaps? Read more

Campus creperie fights closure by university

The Coffee Workshop creperie in Richmond building is fighting to remain open after being threatened with closure by the University of Sussex as part of the restructuring and centralisation of catering facilities on campus.

The café’s managers, Judy Bow and Arnold Rose, are challenging the non-renewal of their lease under section 26 of the Landlords and Tenants Act, which gives commercial tenants the right to renew their lease, providing they have not breached the terms of their contract. They are confident that they have a legal claim to stay on the premises, although they have not yet heard back from the university regarding their challenge.

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Vice-chancellor Michael Farthing suggests tuition fees increase to £7,500

The Vice Chancellor at the University of Sussex, Michael Farthing, warned last week that students will have to pay up to £7,500 annually to keep up standards in higher education. This was announced as lecturers carried out a one-day strike on Wednesday 5 May in response to the university’s decision to scrap 112 staff jobs in a bid to reduce spending by £5million.

The independent review of national student fees, known as the Browne Review, was launched on 15 March this year to investigate how student fees might change in the future. It includes consulting students on their priorities for changes to the higher education funding system and student finance.

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University of Sussex accused of “discriminating against disabled students” after breaching equality law

The University of Sussex has allegedly breached legal requirements after failing to consult disabled students before their “proposal for change” to student support services, sparking new conflict between the university and the University of Sussex Students’ Union (USSU).

The new policies include the closure of Unisex, which according to their spokesman, has “nearly 600 students coming through our doors each year”. The USSU claims this “breaching” of requirements is likely to impact negatively on the reported 20 percent of Sussex students who seek student support for disabilities.

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‘Stop The Cuts’ must stay on track

At the time of writing, an occupation of the Arts A2 lecture hall is underway. As of late, occupations have not been a rarity on campus thanks to the Stop The Cuts campaign. This latest one is different however, the students involved are not demanding a stop to the cuts first and foremost, they are demanding the salvation of the ‘Sussex Six’, a development that should be a cause of potential concern to the many supporters of the Stop The Cuts campaign. Read more

University approves scrapping over 100 jobs and cutting £5m next year

Hundreds of students and staff at Sussex are furious at the final decision by university management, made at the council meeting on Friday 26 March, to cut £5 million in the next academic year and to scrap over 100 jobs.

The announcement comes as most students are away from campus for the Easter holidays. According to one student who has recently been protesting against the cuts, this was potentially done in order to “control the opposition from students who have previously protested against management’s finance proposals”.

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University of Sussex Deputy VC Paul Layzell announces resignation

On Friday 19 March it was announced that Deputy Vice-Chancellor Paul Layzell is to leave his position at the University of Sussex after accepting his new role of principal at Royal Holloway, which he will begin mid-August. 

According to Vice-Chancellor Michael Farthing, Layzell was the “driving force” behind the creation of the strategic plan ‘Making the Future’. This led to the highly-contentious proposed cuts to spending, and staff redundancies, which angered many Sussex students and staff alike. Reaction to Layzell’s plans included the student occupation of Bramber House and Sussex House, both of which attracted attention from across the country. 

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Record-breaking number of students attend EGM to vote no confidence in Vice-Chancellor Michael Farthing

On Wednesday 18 March students at the University of Sussex passed with an overwhelming majority a motion of no confidence in the Vice Chancellor, Michael Farthing, and his executive group (VCEG).

The vote was passed at a University of Sussex Students’ Union (USSU) emergency general meeting (EGM), with a record breaking 850 attendees, the largest in the union’s history. Around 200 further students queued on the stairs leading to Mandela Hall, unable to enter, hoping for the opportunity to vote in what has been described as the largest mobilisation of students in the university’s history.

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Management back-tracks over student suspensions

Last Wednesday 10 March, six students formerly suspended from the University of Sussex had their penalisations modified so as to permit them to continue with their academic studies.

Around 600 students rallied outside Sussex House last Thursday 11 March to protest against management’s decision to suspend six students following the previous week’s occupation. Photo: Sam Waterman

The students, dubbed ‘The Sussex Six’, were initially suspended on Friday 5 March by Vice-Chancellor Michael Farthing. They each received a letter from the university stating they had been “positively identified” by the management as “leading participants” of the Stop the Cuts rally and occupation of Sussex House earlier that week. Read more

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