Campaigns – Resist Cuts

Higher education is facing unprecedented cuts. This year alone, over 100 universities, including Goldsmiths, will face a drop in their government grant with warnings of more cuts to come. Government has promised a £915m cut to the sector over the next three years which amounts to £190 less in resources per student than in 2009. Thousands of students were denied places last year, and many more will be denied places in the future as more and more applicants turn to a university education as a response to the recession.

These cuts have taken place alongside the ongoing marketisation of education, so that university potentially becomes even less of a place to learn and ask questions and more about serving narrowly-defined industry needs. The growth of knowledge and learning is being detached from human need and being linked to the needs of private business.

The most effective response to government cuts is to RESIST. Staff at Leeds University beat off management’s attempts to sack lecturers and shut down courses by threatening to go on strike. There have been huge votes for action at Kings College and Sussex where students occupied university buildings to demonstrate their opposition to cuts. Six students were suspended when police were called to break up their occupation but these suspensions were withdrawn after a fantastic campaign culminating in a 800-strong student union meeting.

We want to make clear our opposition to cuts that will undermine the quality of education, staff conditions and the student experience, and to fees that will make education less accessible. Why should we pay for a crisis that we are not responsible for? When bankers get billions in bailouts, the least we can expect is a quality education.

Goldsmiths Campaign against Cuts is a joint initiative of the Students’ Union and the lecturers’ UCU union, who want to work together to oppose the vision of education on the cheap and defend well-funded, accessible university education. If Goldsmiths can afford branding campaigns and six- figure senior management salaries, then they can afford decent funding for staff and students. It’s time to tell the new Warden and the Con-Dem government - Keep Your Hands Off My Future.

Join us on Facebook: Goldsmiths Campaign Against Cuts campaignagainstcuts@gmail.com