MMU occupy against cuts

Posted on November 22, 2010 by mmuoccupation

Following the anti-cuts protest in All Saints Park at 12pm on Monday 22nd November 2010, in which a group of 150 students demonstrated around MMU All Saints Campus around 50 of these students are engaged in the occupation of Lecture Theatre 7 in the MMU Geoffrey Manton building. We are in protest against the rise in tuition fees and the planned funding cuts by the Government. We urge the students of all three Greater Manchester Universities and like-minded individuals to join us in this protest. Furthermore, we implore all higher education institutions nationwide to pursue a similar course of action prior to the vote in the House of Commons on Wednesday 24th November 2010. We feel the Government has no mandate to push through their attack on higher education gaining a paltry 36% of the popular vote in the last general election. They are only able to pursue their agenda due to the support of the Liberal Democrats, who opposed an increase to tuition fees in their election manifesto. Therefore the motivation and rationale behind these decisions ought to be called into question. We stand in solidarity with all those sympathetic to our cause. Our demands are as follows…
• No repercussions to anyone involved in the protest and/or occupation.
• Statement from VC against the cuts on a national and MMU level.
• Scrap ‘EQAL.’
• Free access for all to building and facilities.
• Abolition of the ‘Late Campaign’ and demand an explanation of the rationale behind the campaign from those responsible for its implementation.
• Open all the financial accounts, documents and internal memoranda to scrutiny by individual students and the students’ union.
• No to any job cuts including voluntary redundancies, and departmental closure.
There is no indication as to how long this occupation will last, however we are determined to make sure that these demands are met.
Information about our occupation can be found online at http://www.mmuoccupation.wordpress.com
Any sympathetic organisations can send messages of support to mmuoccupation@hotmail.co.uk

About mmuoccupation

Following the anti-cuts protest in All Saints Park at 12pm on Monday 22nd November 2010, in which a group of 150 students marched around MMU All Saints Campus around 50 of these students are engaged in the occupation of a lecture theatre in the MMU Geoffrey Manton building. We are in protest against the rise in tuition fees and the planned funding cuts by the Government. We call upon all three Manchester Universities to join us in this protest, and for all Universities nationwide to follow our example before the vote on legislation on Wednesday 24th November 2010. We feel the Government has no mandate to push through their attack on higher education gaining as a paltry 36% of the popular vote. They are only able to pursue their agenda due to the support of the Liberal Democrat Party, who promised before the general election not to increase tuition fees. Our demands are as follows... • No repercussions to anyone involved in the protest and/or occupation • Statement from VC against the cuts on a national and MMU level • Scrap EQAL • Free access for all to building and facilities • Scrapping of late campaign and whoever initiated it to explain themselves • Open all the financial accounts, documents and internal memoranda to scrutiny by students’ and the students’ union. • No to any job cuts including voluntary redundancies, and departments There is no indication as to how long this occupation will last.
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