Video footage from Channel M just in: http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1328266039/bctid1517402038

Indymedia report and photos (including a nice one of our comrade Chris Strafford) here: https://publish.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/04/397250.html

Manchester University Politics Society article: http://www.manchesterpolitics.co.uk/reclaim-the-uni-demo/

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Just to let readers know that around 300 students at Manchester University occupied the Arthur Lewis building on their campus yesterday following a ‘Reclaim the Uni’ protest. The massively expensive Arthur Lewis building is surely a sign if every there was one of the spending priorities of Manchester University management. Amongst a number of course and staff cuts they have recently sought to get rid of radical academics Sheila Rowbotham and Terry Eagleton. This protest and occupation (which we hope to later carry a full report of by a participant) is just part of the ongoing ‘Reclaim the Uni’ campaign. We publish here the list of demands, known as ‘The February Document':

The February Document

This document has arisen from growing dissatisfaction with the Neo-liberal model that has been implemented at our university. It has been written by an autonomous collective as the basis for a mass action. It is hoped that this document will establish a common groundwork to connect the struggles of various different groups within the university and be a focus for future debate. This document should be viewed, however, as a stimulus and not a requirement for participation. Other groups are encouraged to share their ideas or organise their own actions as they see fit. We cannot speak for a network.

Our Demands

1: We oppose the move towards the business model at universities: knowledge is not a commodity, education should not be commercialised, businesses should not be calling the shots at out departments and the worth of a study should not be judged according to how much money it creates.

2: Universities exist as part of a community including students, lecturers, researchers, other staff and those outside of the institution itself and should not compete with other universities in the pursuit of the absurd concept of ‘excellence’. Universities are not brands vying for market shares.

3: We oppose the centralised, hierarchical and exclusionary model of management that accompanies the move towards a business style approach to university education. We oppose consultation exercises that do not alter this imbalance of power. Universities must be governed collectively and consensually. Democracy must not be sacrificed for the sake of ‘efficiency’.

4: We oppose the staff cuts, reductions in teaching hours, contact time and study resources that make the experience of university at Manchester so uninspiring for both staff and pupils.

5: We oppose a university that invests money in unethical enterprises, such as the £1.014 million currently invested in the arms trade.

6: We oppose our university’s persistent lobbying for an increase in top-up fee’s. It is likely that this will result in a two-tier higher education system in which top universities are placed further out of reach of students of poor economic background. Education is not the preserve of the privileged and students are not cash cows.

7: We want a decent wage and inclusion in decision making processes for all staff: cleaners, kitchen staff and administration assistants are a part of this university just as much as students and lecturers.

8: We acknowledge that the problems we face at Manchester University are inseparable from wider problems with Neo-liberal capitalism and the unrepresentative political system of present day Britain. We see our actions on campus as part of a wider struggle.

A variety of activities are being planned, culminating with a large action in ‘reclaim the university week’ which will be the third week after returning from Easter.

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News of the protest, before the occupation took place, made it into the Manchester Evening News here.