8/8/2019 Leeds Anticuts Bulletin 4

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Leeds University Anti-Cuts Bulletin

Issue 4 

Oct 2010  

Browne Review Threatens Fees of £10,000 a Year

Students MustFightback!

In the coming week we will find outwhat future Lord Browne has in storefor them. The multi-millionaire Baron of Madingley (the beneficiary of anOxbridge education himself) has for almost a year been heading an'independent' review into higher education funding and student finance.

Over that time students have been leftto worry about just how (not if) they willbe made to pay more for their right toan education.Earlier this year it appeared that therewere divisions amongst the coalitiongovernment over this issue. Certain LibDems such as Vince Cable favour agraduate tax being brought in (whichwould result in most students payingback significantly more than they areloaned) while most Tories prefer to

simply raise fees.

Double blowEarly reports are now suggesting thatBrowne will attempt to keep both sideshappy by including both an increase infees and elements of a graduate tax inhis recommendation!In fact details printed in the Observer suggest that the fees increase will besignificantly more than expected.

Rather than just raising the fees cap to£5,000, or £7,000, or even £10,000, ashad previously been hinted (any of which in themselves would represent a massiveincrease on the current cap of £3,290), thenewspaper reports that Browne will recommendallowing the elite universities to charge over £10,000. In exchange for this, some of that moneywould go towards a centralised fund to be used for bursaries for poorer students.This would be combined with an almost 75% cut inthe higher education teaching budget as well as

interest on student loans being increased tocommercial rates. The article points to studentsleaving university with over £80,000 debts in thissituation.

Two-tier educationClearly if these proposals are accepted, onlystudents from the most well off backgrounds couldeven think about applying to the elite universities.The already existing two-tier higher educationsystem would be hugely exacerbated very quickly.As university funding moves further away from thestate and further towards those students who canafford it, universities with a more working class

student population (already at the sharpest end of education cuts) will fall even more behind the eliteuniversities.If these reports are correct then the Browne review

Students have returned from their summer break to find out thatLeeds University Union (LUU) is planning on closing the onlystudent union run (and therefore not for profit) bookshop in thecountry after 36 years of existence on 10th December this year.Despite never making a loss inits entire existence, the StudentUnion’s Board of Trusteedecided to announce the closureduring the summer months

when no students were oncampus. This highlights how theattacks on the democraticstructures of students unions(and NUS nationally) has movedthese bodies away from theinterests of the students they are meant to represent.Despite this, LUU is now embarking on a consultation of students. This period should be used by campaigners todemonstrate the opposition to the closure, element of which hasalready been seen through the 533 strong online petition and655 strong facebook group organised by UCU.

Socialist Students has organised a petition through LUAC tofight against the closure of the book shop. We wish to maintaina quality book service run to meet the needs of students andnot for the whims of private sector profiteers.

Union Books Facing Closure

Threatened – Union Books

Dates for your Diary

Fri 15th Oct - Hand in the petition against closure of Union books,

meet outside Leeds University Union at 1pm.

Weds 23rd Oct—LUAC feeder march to rally against cuts, meet at

Parkinson steps at 4pm

Sat/Sun 6-7th Nov—Socialism 2010 in London (see us for tickets)

Weds10th Nov - NUS/UCU demo against education cuts in London

8/8/2019 Leeds Anticuts Bulletin 4

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Leeds University Anti-Cuts Bulletin

Issue 4 

Oct 2010  

We Call for 

•Stop all cuts and closures.

Oppose compulsoryredundancies and fight for

every job

•No to any increase in fees

or the introduction of so-

called ‘fast-track’ degrees,

fight for free education, a

living grant and writing off of student debt

•Oppose expensiveprivatisation schemes, for

education to be fully publiclyfunded at all levels

•Tax the super rich bankers

- stop their bonuses- fundeducation and other public

services properly

•Support staff taking strike

action, other staff and studentsto support staff pickets and

build towards a one daywalkout of staff and students

•Democratise LUU, reinstatedecision making AGM’s. Fora campaigning student

union prepared to fightagainst all cuts

•Build a mass campaigninvolving trade unions, workers

and students at Leeds Uni,

linking up with others at local

universities and colleges as

well as other campaigns

nationally 

Join Socialist Students

Socialist Students is a campaigningsocialist organisation based in over50 universities around the country. At Leeds Universitywe meet weekly on Fridays at 5pm in room 4.20 in the

Parkinson building to discuss a political topic and plan ourcampaigns for the following week. For more info contactIan on 07766585543, we can also be found on facebook as ‘Leeds Socialist Students’ 

Get involved with LeedsUniversity Against Cuts

LUAC is a grassroots, broadcampaign of students at LeedsUniversity fighting back against the University

and governments attacks on our education.Meetings are held weekly on Mondays at 5pmin Leeds University Union, membership is £2and can be found on facebook.

Get involved and help build a mass movement against fees and cuts

Join the Socialists and fight for a socialist education system

Continued from overleaf:

will represent huge attacks on education in general, but onworking class students in particular.

At a time when youth unemployment is at record levels, the rightto an education becomes more important than ever.The National Union of Students and the University and CollegeUnion have called a demonstration on 10 November under thetitle "Fund our future".This demo needs to be built for properly, not just in isolation, butas part of a national campaign uniting students and workers tofight against every cut and against all fees.

On 2 October, 30 tradeunionists and anti-cutsactivists gathered outsideLeeds Art Gallery tohighlight how the cuts of both the Con-Demcoalition government andlocal Labour councils (inLeeds and Kirklees inparticular) are affectingyoung people.The rally was jointly

organised by Youth Fight for Jobs (YFJ) and the PCS (civil servants' union) Yorkshire andHumber Young Members Network (YMN). Speakers included thelocal YMN coordinator Matt Meehan and Leeds MetropolitanUniversity Unison young members officer Holly Prosho.Iain Dalton from Yorkshire YFJ ended the rally by highlighting thatalthough small, it had brought together the young members'officers of six branches across three unions as well as other young trade unionists. This could be the springboard for supporting each other in the many upcoming struggles against thesavage cuts.Matt and Iain were interviewed on several radio stations in the

run-up to the rally and Look North covered the protest.

 Youth Rally Against Cuts in Leeds

Gathering to rally against cuts