By Tom Wills
The Badger
29th January 2007
Students are set to defy threats of legal action for peacefully protesting by staging another demonstration in Library Square this Friday.
The Deputy Vice-Chancellor has sent letters to fifty students suspected of taking part in a demonstration in the Library last November warning that the University is considering taking legal action against them. The protestors say the action was peaceful and posed no threat to staff.
Many students who were not involved in the protest last year are outraged at the response by the University, which they say is heavy-handed and a threat to intellectual freedom on campus. A member of the LGBT society said, “This is considerably concerning from a number of perspectives, the most important being that it may hinder our ability to air political views as a society in the future.”
Dan Glass, USSU President, said the issue of free speech was particularly relevant in light of the ongoing selection process for the new Vice-Chancellor. “University council has refused to allow a student on the selection committee for the new VC. This is yet another example of management shutting out the voices of students. The demonstration this Friday will show the University that we are not prepared to let our right to free speech be trampled on and demand that students are given genuine influence in the selection of the new Vice-Chancellor. USSU defends its members all the way.”
The protest organisers are holding an open meeting in Falmer Common Room at 5pm today for anybody who would like to help publicise this Friday’s demonstration.
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Background information for the campaign to defend 80 students, who occupied the University of Sussex library in a peaceful protest in November 2006, against the threat of legal action by the university
