BY JONATHAN SILBERMAN
LONDON - One hundred fifty students at the Camberwell
College of Art gathered outside the college March 16 in support
of a week-long sit-in. The students are demanding improved
education through more resources and space, and more direct
contact time with their tutors, explained one of the occupiers,
Donncha Mac Raghnaill.
The College staffing budget was recently cut by around L 120,000 ( L 1 = US$1.63). The students are also demanding that tuition fees be reassessed and that no one be excluded from the college due to financial hardship.
The Camberwell college is one of five that come under the umbrella of the London Institute. Mac Raghnaill, a final year student at another of the five, the London College of Printing, said that as part of the students' efforts to extend the fight, they have called a demonstration outside the London Institute headquarters.
"The occupation started when a student from nearby Goldsmith's College came and gave a talk. It caught our imagination. Spontaneously, we decided to take up the fight ourselves," Mac Raghnaill said.
"Students have discovered amazing creativity. For example, we've taken over the canteen and the food's never been so good or so cheap!"
The occupiers have continued classes with the support of the teaching staff and unions. They've organized guest speakers, a band, and a comedian to perform.
A shop steward from striking workers at University College Hospital came to talk. But the college administration responded by closing the library, threatening legal action, and employing 32 new security guards.
Messages of support can be e-mailed to: www.scuba.ndirect.co.uk