We are a group of people working in higher education who are increasingly alarmed by the government’s austerity programme and are increasingly determined to campaign against it.
The coalition has introduced the most far-reaching programme of cuts and austerity witnessed in the UK for some 90 years. We have seen pay cuts across the public sector, the marketisation of the NHS and swingeing cuts in welfare, public services and housing, including, most recently, the “bedroom tax” - all of which will hit the poorest section of the population the hardest.
In higher education, we have seen the trebling of tuition fees, the scrapping of public funds for the teaching of the arts, humanities and social sciences, and a general emphasis on reorienting universities to be places where “customers” learn only how to be “employable”. Latest figures show that applications for undergraduate places in 2013-14 are down by 5 per cent on 2011-12 (nearly 8 per cent for applications from England), and the mission group Million+ recently argued that the economic cost of higher tuition fees is actually 6.5 times greater than any potential savings to the Treasury.
In response to the disastrous austerity policies of the government, a number of unions, anti-cuts organisations and individuals have supported the call for a new body, the People’s Assembly against Austerity, that aspires to build a movement for social justice and to coordinate a strategy for resistance to the cuts. We urge you to join us in Westminster Central Hall on Saturday 22 June.
Des Freedman, Goldsmiths, University of London and co-editor, The Assault on Universities
Michael Bailey, University of Essex and co-editor, The Assault on Universities
John Holmwood, University of Nottingham and co- founder, Campaign for the Public University
Priya Gopal, Churchill College, Cambridge
Steven Rose, The Open University
Mike Wayne, Brunel University
Ken Jones, Goldsmiths, University of London
Jonathan Davies, De Montfort University
Annebelle Sreberny, Soas
Stuart Price, De Montfort University
David Pattie, University of Chester
William Outhwaite, Newcastle University
Rick Saull, Queen Mary, University of London
Angus Cameron, University of Leicester
Mehmet Dikerdem, Middlesex University
Muir Houston, University of Glasgow
David McCallam, University of Sheffield
Gideon Calder, University of Wales, Newport
Gary Anderson, Liverpool Hope University
Ruth Aylett, Heriot-Watt University
Sharon Achinstein, University of Oxford
Anew Sayer, Lancaster University
Simon Cross, Nottingham Trent University
Rapahel Salkie, University of Brighton
John Blewitt, Aston University
Enzo Rossi, University of Wales, Newport
Philip Moriarty, University of Nottingham
Diane Reay, University of Oxford
Paul Hoggett, University of the West of England
Michael Hrebeniak, Wolfson College, Cambridge
Ewen Speed, University of Essex
Laura Rebollo-Neira, Aston University
Barry Smart, University of Portsmouth
M.M. Lisboa, St John¹s College, Cambridge
Kevin McSorley, University of Portsmouth
Carole Jones, University of Edinburgh
Jeff Weistell, Oxford Brookes University
Geraldine Brown, Coventry University
Nicole Wolf, Goldsmiths, University of London
Alison Sealey, University of Birmingham
Jo Brewis, University of Leicester
Nadje Al-Ali, Soas
Shin Okajima, Soas
Pat Caplan, Goldsmiths, University of London
Martin Moloney, Soas
Gholam Khiabany, University of Sussex
Heather Savigny, Bournemouth University
Mark Georgeson, Aston University
Milly Williamson, Brunel University
Iain Frame, University of Kent
Donatella Alessanini, University of Kent
Martin Parker, University of Leicester
Rowland Curtis, Queen Mary, University of London
Brenda Johnston, Southampton University
Judith Suissa, Institute of Education
Carol Dennis, University of Hull
Michael Loughlin, Manchester Metropolitan University
Tracey Hill, Bath Spa University
Jeff Hearn, University of Huddersfield
Manjeet Ramgotra, Soas
Jame Aaron, University of South Wales
David Radlett, University of Kent
Jaeho Kang, Soas
Caitlin Scott, University of East Anglia
Chyrsi Papaiorannou, King¹s College London
Elizabeth Hull, Soas