Press Release: ‘Great York Sit-In’ calls for University action against cuts

Students have occupied a building at the University of York in protest at the government’s plan to increase tuition fees.

Involving over forty students, the ‘Great York Sit-In’ began on Wednesday afternoon. Protesters will remain at the University’s Physics Centre indefinitely until a series of demands are met by the management. These include:

• That the University of York issues a written statement in strong opposition to the conclusions and substance of the Browne Report on Higher Education.

• That the University of York issues a written statement expressing opposition to the cuts to higher education budgets proposed by the government and the proposed raising of the cap on tuition fees.

• That the University of York releases a written statement in support of the Education Maintenance Allowance.

Third year politics student Chris Venables said, “The future of a fair and accessible higher education is at stake. We are calling on our university to publicly oppose any increases in tuition fees, and we’ll stay here indefinitely until our demands are met.”

Students involved in the occupation come from a wide range of backgrounds, with participants from many political parties. Many are new to activism, having had no previous involvement with campaigns of this sort. The occupation is a open space, with all students and supporters welcome to come and go throughout the day.

Spin Pitman, a first year Chemistry student “We don’t agree on everything, but we’re all united by a desire to defend fair access to education for future generations”.

The sit-in is the latest in a series of actions taken by students at the York in opposition to the proposed changes to higher education funding . Over 400 students from the university attended a the national demonstration in London on 10th November and around 200 attended a march in York City Centre on Tuesday evening.

The protesters at York join a growing list of occupations across the country, with similar action being taken in twenty institutions, including UCL, Newcastle and Edinburgh.

2nd December 2010

For more information contact, notoeducationcutsatyork@gmail.com