[lbo-talk] Sussex University Library Under Occupation

[Michael Hoover]

> SUSSEX UNIVERSITY LIBRARY IS UNDER OCCUPATION BY STUDENTS!
>
> Over 100 students are as I type holding Sussex University Library open all
> night in protest against the continued corporatisation and degradation of
> this Universities standards. Workshops, film showings, a naked space and
> old fashioned reading (!) are being held.
>
> The occupation is run by hourly open meetings.
>
> The 'Learn-in' started at 9:30, when the library was due to shut, and will
> go on through the night.
>
> More information and photos to follow.
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> The released manifesto reads as follows:
>
> We are here because the standards at Sussex University re falling.
> We believe that the recent cuts to the library epitomize the problems
> facing students at this university.
> We believe that we are entitled to a high level of education and that
> large seminars and few resources, either academic or material, are not going to
> achieve this.
> We regret that this action may inconvenience library staff and we stress
> that this action is in opposition to the library cutbacks and redundancies
> perpetrated by university senior management.
> We demand more transparency from the university and that it calls an
> emergency council meeting, open to all students, during term.
> We want to show the university the extent and level of discontent among
> students and we wish to show our complete support for the aims of the
> sortUSout campaign [the general campaign against the cuts at the Uni of
> Sussex], as well as the staff in all their industrial action.
>
> Contact for all,
> Books for all,
> Housing for all,
> Food for all,
> Free education for all.
>
> As Students we are turning our words into action;
> As students we demand the university to do the same.
>
> Education the world over is under attack through privatisation and
> corporatisation: prioritising profit over the right to free education.
> From Bogota to Paris, our struggle at Sussex University is global.
> --------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Sussex student