The Chancellor’s Autumn Statement has served as a reminder of the wider politics of austerity and its beneficiaries in the form of tax cuts and those at its detriment experiencing wage freezes and cuts in services and benefits. It was also a reminder of how the reforms to higher education and the introduction of full fees is part of the same political programme. This point was not lost on the students who protested on Wed 3rd December. The sensitivity of universities to such protest is in inverse proportion to their willingness to debate the changing idea of the university. Increasingly, universities have sought to criminalise protest on campus while employing marketing techniques to protect their brand. The actions of police on the University of Warwick campus on Wednesday 3 December are symptomatic and cannot be allowed to pass without comment. A letter from current Warwick faculty and students is posted below. (If you wish to add your name, please do so using the comment boxes below.)
Dear Registrar,
We are writing to express our serious concern at the incidents which occurred on Wednesday 3rd December in Senate House when 25 Warwick University students, staging a sit-in to protest against university tuition fees, were subject to what appears to be excessive police action.
As you are aware, a video, which was subsequently posted on YouTube, showed footage of students being grabbed and pushed and having their hair pulled, followed by CS spray being used at very close range. Also in the footage, a taser gun can be seen and heard, and there have been subsequent reports that it may have been discharged against one student. Three students were arrested.
According to reporting in the Coventry Telegraph, the police were called by university officials to attend the protest after a claim that a protester had attacked a member of staff. There is nothing in the video or other reporting to suggest that there was an imminent threat at the time of the police action, and their behaviour appears disproportionate and unacceptable. ACPO guidelines, for example, state that CS spray ‘should not be used at a distance of less than one metre unless the nature of the risk to the officer is such that this cannot be avoided’ – it is not at all clear from the video footage and reporting that there was such a risk. The students state that they had been sitting in a circle discussing free education and the university community and that they had not been informed that the police had been called and nor did the police, on arrival, tell them why they were there.
We call on the university to publically affirm its commitment to democratic values and the rights of students and staff to protest peacefully against policies and practices with which there is disagreement. The university is our common space and we protest in the strongest terms against the violations that were allowed to take place here today.
Sincerely,
Prof Gurminder K Bhambra, Sociology
Dr Hannah Jones, Sociology
Prof Emma Mason, English and Comparative Literary Studies
Dr Goldie Osuri, Sociology
Dr John Narayan, Sociology
Dr Khursheed Wadia, Centre for Lifelong Learning
Dr Solange Mouthaan, Law School
Dr Jonathan Skinner, English and Comparative Literary Studies
Dr Claire Blencowe, Sociology
Dr Aditya Sarkar, History
Dr Maria do Mar Pereira, Sociology
Dr Cath Lambert, Sociology
Dr Michael Niblett, Centre for Caribbean Studies
Dr Chris Campbell, Centre for Caribbean Studies
Ruth Pearce, PhD candidate, Sociology
Dr Daniel Orrells, Classics
Dr Milija Gluhovic, Theatre Studies
Dr Mark Storey, English and Comparative Literary Studies
Dr Stephen Ross, English and Comparative Literary Studies
Dr Helen Wheatley, Film and Television Studies
Dr Jose Arroyo, Film and Television Studies
Juanita Elias, PaIS
Dr Nick Lawrence, English and Comparative Literary Studies
Lauren Tooker, PhD candidate, PaIS
Dr Lena Rethel, PaIS
Dr Jimmy Donaghey, WBS
Dr Zakia Shiraz, PaIS
Lisa Tilley PhD Candidate, PaIS
Dr Maurice Stierl, PaIS
Prof Shaun Breslin, PaIS
Prof Shirin Rai, PaIS
María Eugenia Giraudo PhD Candidate, PaIS
Ali Saqer PhD Candidate, PaIS
Coraline Goron PhD Candidate, PaIS
Bahadir Celiktemur PhD Candidate, PaIS
Tobias Pforr, PaIS
Dr Lynne Pettinger, Sociology
Sean McDaniel PhD Candidate, PaIS
Jack Copley PhD Candidate, PaIS
Matt Kranke PhD Candidate, PaIS
Dr Marijn Nieuwenhuis, PaIS
Dr Charlotte Heath-Kelly, IAS
Roberta Mulas PhD Candidate, PaIS
Davinia Hoggarth PhD Candidate, PaIS
Dženeta Karabegović PhD Candidate, PaIS
Nikita Shah PhD Candidate, PaIS
Tim Street PhD Candidate, PaIS
Ana Ines Salvi PhD Candidate, CAL
Dr Renske Doorenspleet, PaIS
Rachel Lewis PhD candidate, CAL
Dr David M. Webber, PaIS
Antonio Ribeiro Leite PhD Candidate, PaIS
Aya Nassar PhD Candidate, PaIS
Lorenzo Feltrin PhD Candidate, PaIS
David Yarrow PhD Candidate, PaIS
Dr Ronny Scholz, CAL
Martin Lammertsma, Assistant Registrar, Deputy Registrar Office
Thomas Greenaway, CAL
Dr Chris Clarke, PaIS
Dr Erzsebet Strausz, PaIS
Dr Richard Smith, CAL
Elisa Lopez Lucia PhD Candidate, PaIS
Javier Moreno Zacarés PhD Candidate, PaIS
Dr Julia Welland, PaIS
Dr Nathaniel Tkacz, CIM
Sam Hind PhD Candidate, CIM,
Ragnar Weilandt PhD Candidate PaIS
Te-Anne Robles, PaIS
Craig Gent, CIM
Robin Janssens
Alex Taylor
Anna Rivers
Carolin Debray
Billy Barrett
Grace Holme
Sophia Yacoub
Patrick Whelan
Ellice Stevens
Sean Okundaye
Edmond Phua
Alasdair Pidsley
Kirsty Lohman, PhD candidate, Sociology
Prof Thomas Docherty, English and Comparative Literature
Dr Rashmi Varma, English and Comparative Literature
Prof Daniel Katz, English and Comparative Literature
Prof Neil Lazarus, English and Comparative Literature
Sam Burgum, PhD Candidate, Sociology
Dr Philip Kaisary, Law School
Jane Thakoordin, CLL
Prof Jackie Hodgson, Law School
Dr Sarah Hodges, History
Dr George Campbell Gosling, History
Dr Sam Adelman, Law
Lynn Wright, Academic Support Librarian
Prof Dennis Leech, Economics
Dr Charles Walton, History
Dr Celine Tan, Law
Prof Lorraine Talbot, Law
Paul Trimmer, Law
Anastasia Tataryn, Law
Prof Rebecca Earle, History
Dr Adam Slavny, Law
Dora Kostakopoulou, Law
Iyad Abou-Rabii , WMS
Jennifer Lander, Law
Katy Harsant, PhD candidate, Sociology
Dr Ben Richardson, PaIS
Dr Eileen John, Philosophy
Dr Illan rua Wall, Law
Benita Parry, Emeritus Professor
Dr Laura Schwartz, History
Dr. Myka Tucker-Abramson, English and Comparative Literary Studies
Carl Mallet, PhD candidate, Sociology
Dr Howard Chiang, History
It’s interesting that you don’t express any anger about the student attack on a member of staff which led to the police action. The police looked to me to handle themselves with restraint.
Ralph. Please remove your comment, it risks making you look stupid and ignorant. The ‘attack’ is an alleged attack. There is plenty of evidence of police brutality, but I have seen nothing to substantiate the claim that a student attacked a member of staff. The issue here is proportionality. Did the police help calm the situation, or have they inflamed the situation. That such an event can take place at a seat of enlightenment and higher education is tragic and the Vice-Chancellor should consider his position.
Ralph, it would appear you are watching a different video to everyone else or have a rather different definition of the word ‘restraint’ to that found in the dictionary. Disgraceful scenes. Excellent letter.
Jenny Lander, PhD candidate, Law
Dr Richard Wallace, Film and Television Studies