Report: Brunel Socialist Students

Over the last year Brunel University in West London has been the centre of an active, fighting campaign waged both by students and lecturers. Last September the management of Brunel University declared that it would make up to 60 staff redundant under the guise of the University’s new ‘research led’ initiative. The fifty teaching lecturers are to be replaced with eighty ‘Research focused staff’ in preparation for what is called the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). The Research Assessment Exercise provides the university with an opportunity to be given part of an annual pot of government cash distributed to Universities who do lots of research work. Previous Research Assessment Exercises have involved the distribution of billions of pounds. The result of these cuts means that those lecturers who primarily teach, providing vital face-to-face services for students, are losing their jobs. This will undoubtedly have negative consequences for students.

Unfortunately, the Student Union at Brunel has completely failed to mobilise opposition to the attacks. On the University Senate where the plans were first discussed, the one dissenting voice from the student reps came from a Socialist Student member. It soon became clear that an active and fighting campaign was needed to inform students and defend our education. Supplied with the information necessary the Socialist Students society at Brunel started its campaign. Over the last academic year members of the society have been conducting regular stalls – publicising the issue and collecting hundreds of names in opposition to the plans. The campaign was able to build upon the sentiment of opposition from both lecturers and students. While on the campus distributing leaflets and selling papers both teachers and lecturers have approached us to express their opposition to the plans.

The Socialist Students Society continues to condemn cuts in the number of lecturers. At the time of writing at least two lecturers have been issued with compulsory redundancy notices and more are expected to follow. Unfortunately these attacks aren’t limited to Brunel; attacks on educational services are going on across the country. We can see this agenda reflected in the threat of redundancies from London Metropolitan University to Glasgow University. These attacks are also reflected in the introduction of variable top up fees, a policy that will actively discourage poorer students from pursuing higher education.

It is vital that students and lecturers unite to oppose the neo-liberal corporate agenda that threatens our education. Socialist Students fight for an immediate end to the lecturer sackings and for a fully funded education system at all levels. If capitalism can’t provide this, it’s clear that we can’t afford a capitalist system.

To contact Socialist Students at the Brunel University, e-mail michaelpolitics@yahoo.co.uk .

This year has been the most successful year ever for the Exeter Socialist Students. Not only have we increased our membership to over 40 people (from 15 last year), but the society undertook campaigns, held numerous meeting and got involved in the election campaign. Our most successful meetings included our welcome meeting in Freshers’ Week last year, with Zena, the national co-ordinator of Socialist Students, a "Stop the sell off of our education" debate with NUS president Kat Fletcher and a film showing of Goodbye Lenin.

Our events and activities ranged from important struggles, like campaigning against department closures and educational cuts, to the more fun, like the raffling of ‘Socialist Vodka’. All in all, this year had been a great success.

Socialist Students is in a good position to actively fight the university bureaucrats who are implementing neo-liberal cuts into our university. This year we are planning to do more. As usual we will continue to spread the ideas of socialism through our meetings and literature, but we are keen to do even more campaigning.

In Exeter we understand that Socialist Students is not just a discussion group, but national organisation which can make a difference, nationally and locally. With such a good quality membership and a core group of supporters, I can see Socialist Students making a real impact on campus this coming year.

Swansea Socialist Students held regular meetings, stalls and campaigns in the past year. In the first term our activities ranged from going to see the film Motorcycle Diaries and then discussing Ché Guevara, to building for the National Union of Students demonstration against top-up fees in Cardiff.

In the second half of the year we concentrated on the local campaigns that our members thought were important. The main area of student accommodation is over half an hour walk from the university, forcing the majority of students to get an overpriced bus pass each term. If you lose it, you have to pay the full price again. We demanded a reduction in the price of the pass, leading to free bus travel for all students, as well as a free replacement of a pass which gets lost. We also campaigned for a better late night and holiday service, when the buses are either infrequent or non-existent, which means that students who work in the evenings either have to waste an hour’s wages on a taxi or face a long walk home through unlit areas.

We also campaigned against library charges. As well as having high fines for overdue books, photocopying and printing costs 5 pence per sheet. When your average essay is about 10 pages long and two copies have to be handed in each time, the costs certainly mount up! We gained support for both these campaigns on stalls with petitions and in Student Union meetings and we plan to continue next year to actually gain our demands.

In the final term we campaigned in the General Election in support of the local Socialist Party candidate, the only person demanding an end to the inequality of the capitalist system. We also joined with International Socialist Resistance in building for the protests against the G8 using the slogan ‘to make poverty history you have to make capitalism history’. One of our members also spent the whole week at the socialist youth camp at the G8 taking part in political discussions, protests and spreading the ideas of socialism.

To contact Socialist Students at Swansea e-mail sheilacaf@yahoo.co.uk .

Bristol Socialist Students has been campaigning amongst students on a number of issues. Foremost amongst these has been our continued campaign for the abolition of fees and for free education, something the Students' Union has abandoned as an active campaign. We have also supported the Socialist Party's general election campaign in Bristol, which centred around opposition to local health cuts and the closure of a casualty ward.

Socialist Students at Northumbria University have had an active and vibrant student group for almost four years now. We have been to the fore in all campaigns on campus, and a key factor in pushing our local student union into action. For instance, our work against tuition fees forced the local NUS to call a day of action. This year, Northumbria University lecturers and support staff were forced to take strike action over the threat of forced redundancies. The out of touch and unrepresentative local NUS executive failed to support our striking lecturers, but Socialist Students members attended picket lines and a local demonstration and showed full support for workers at the university. As well as our campaign work, Northumbria Socialist Students hold regular meetings and political discussions, as well as the odd drink every now and then!

In Manchester, Socialist Students mobilised the local Students’ Union to call a demo against fees, which we were the main force building for. We also set up a group ‘Summat for the Summit’ to build for the anti-G8 protests in Edinburgh and call to ‘Make Capitalism History’.

Socialist Students at Sheffield University have campaigned for the Student Union to boycott Coca-Cola in solidarity with the Columbian trade union SINALTRAINAL (Colombian food and drinks workers’ union). This campaign has attracted many students to meetings on issues including globalisation and trade union rights. International students have also got involved, including Elisandra from Spain, Felicitas from Germany, Ahmed from Sudan, and Zeno from Taiwan.

Around the 2005 General Election, Sheffield Hallam University Socialist Students had a good response when campaigning against racism and against the Nazi BNP.

Last year at Richard Huish College, Socialist Students had two representatives on the Students’ Union, and two representatives at both NUS conferences. We organised a campaign against low pay through the students’ union and a major anti-racism event in college. Contingents went with us to Weston Super Mare to campaign against the BNP, and on the NUS anti-fees demo. Successful meetings were held on Ché Guevara, Low Pay and many other issues.

At London Metropolitan University (LMU), Socialist Students was involved in supporting a strike by lecturers’ union NATFHE. The action took place over 400 threatened sackings of staff who refused to accept a new contract when LMU was formed from the merger of the University of North London and London Guildhall University.

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