Students march across campus in final push before Commons vote

Warwick Students’ Union representatives led students in a march up to University House yesterday lunchtime in a final protest against the tuition fees legislation, which will be voted on in Parliament today.

A mass march was organised by the Students’ Union where Sabbatical Officers were joined by protest groups, students and members of Warwick Labour and Liberal Democrats in a show of solidarity against the coalition Government and their proposals. The event was attended by around a hundred people, with a minor police presence and media coverage from the BBC and ITV.

Upon reaching University House, student leaders stated that the cause of tuition fees wasn’t lost and that, come what may, the protest movement will continue.

Sean Ruston, the Education Officer urged the student populace to “hold it together” and promised “the fight will continue… joining up with similar protests in London tomorrow.” He went on to launch an attack on all those who have failed to oppose the policy: “In recent weeks
some Vice Chancellors have backed the proposals and others have failed to come out against
a rise in tuition fees… we’re disappointed that our Vice Chancellor is one them.”

Baris Yerli, President of Warwick Labour, called the tuition fees proposal an “aggressive,
ideological policy” which “costs more to implement than the original system”. He was also critical of the Liberal Democrat decision to back the policy, saying: “the Lib Dems have made one of the biggest u-turns in recent political history – What are the Tories u-
turning on?”

It was a difficult day for Joseph O’Leary, President of the Warwick Liberal Democrats. He
stands by his conviction that the party leadership are misrepresenting the views of the greater liberal community, calling for “whatever split is necessary” to ensure a rejection
of the bill and admitting that the party will face “a long decline” if they continue to stay in
coalition.

He said “As soon as [the Liberal Democrats] didn’t prioritise tuition fees they were heading
for a storm… They will lose the student vote over this.” He reserved particular anger for Nick Clegg, who earlier confirmed that Liberal Democrat members of the cabinet would unite
behind the rise in tuition fees.

David, a third year student, talked of his belief that “massive fee hikes would put
higher education out of reach of younger people.” This was supported by another protester
who declared to the crowd that the government was creating “two-tier education”.

Jim, a second year, participated because of his disgruntlement at the Liberal Democrats
willingness to discard their election pledges. “I liked the Liberal Democrats’ manifesto of political reform and the scrappage of tuition fees,” he said. “They’ve lost trust over this, and they will suffer if they don’t listen to their voters.”

A further anonymous participant wanted to stress that students were protesting “not to save their own courses but for other people who haven’t got a voice.”

Furthermore, Megan Fortune, Campaigns Forum Co-ordinator was quick to emphasise “this isn’t about one of the cuts – I hope students will fight against all of the cuts.”

The SU has promised that the protests won’t end there. They will be organising travel to London
to join the ULU demonstration today, widely believed to attract 50,000 protesters once more.

The SU said it was pleased with turnout for the day, with the protest causing small-scale traffic disruption by students marching along the roads on the main campus between 12pm and 1pm.

Sean Ruston insisted “The fight doesn’t stop tomorrow.”