December 17th, 2010 is the end of semester one at the University of Hull. HSAFC had a decision to make – carry on the occupation or suspend it and reoccupy at the start of the next semester. Carrying on would mean interrupting events happening over the weekend and they would risk being removed by university staff. They decided to end it and come back in the new year. This would mean people have the chance to refresh themselves and plan some more. The downside is that this period might take the enthusiasm out of some people and the people that do remain on campus won’t see any activity.
Photo taken by David Morris (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike)
The EGM
As I have mentioned in a previous post, HSAFC managed to get more than enough signatures on a petition which means they could force an EGM. This would mean that they’d be able to contest the decision of Union Council, who decided that the union should not support the occupation (purely because not enough people voted for the motion, so it didn’t get 50%).
So, what happened?
As I predicted, there weren’t enough people in attendance to make any vote legitimate. I have been told (from various sources) that there were between 80 and 100, but to be quorate, they needed 173. (a higher number than I was originally told). That number is equivalent to over half of the number of signatories on the petition. As is the case in many situation like this, there are differing degrees of involvement. Some simply show their support by signing their name. Others go to meetings and hand out leaflets. Some get involved with everything and even stay in the occupied room. It would be foolish to expect over half of the signatories to turn up based on that.
Anyway. there was a healthy debate, which was featured in a post on the Occupied Hull blog. Some of the questions were about the choice of room for the occupation. HSAFC made the following points:
- The uni uses staff house for commercial functions. We have disrupted these events.
- Somewhere students don’t usually use, so not to piss off would be supporters.
- Big room with tables, projector, carpet floor. Toilet facilities and a seperate area for sleeping that’s simple to secure.
The following is an extract from the Occupied Hull report:
“Some still unbelievably maintain that we don’t have the support of students. 300+ signatures of support in the space of an hour and the biggest General Meeting the union has seen in decades DESPITE many students handing in assessments and with many more students already having left for Christmas. We beg to differ!”
This is a fair point. They did get a lot of signatories. It’s an achievement that should be praised as they are being active and making the voice of students heard. Having the best attended general meeting in several years should also be applauded. However, Hull University Union is a democratic institution that has to follow procedures and rules so that they can be considered fair. It was well known that there would be a quoracy figure for a vote to happen. The student union executive cannot just make a decision like this themselves – especially after the Union Council vote. If not enough students are committed enough to make the meeting, then they have to follow the rules and not have a vote.
It’s worth considering the point about coursework though. It’s true that the EGM could be close to deadlines for some people, but this would have been known in advance, so why didn’t HSAFC do the petition and force the EGM in semester two?
Naturally, some were disappointed by the outcome of the EGM, but the occupation continued overnight as the demands of the occupation are directed towards the University. Their campaign can (and has) existed without student union support, but it was felt that it would be good to have it anyway, considering that other occupied universities have the support of their student unions.
The march
Photo taken by David Morris (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike)
At 12.30 on the 17th, there was a march on the campus to mark the end of this semester’s occupation (although it’s more like a ‘suspension’). A video of that march can be found here.
They took the long way round, but it’s less than five minutes and allows them to broadcast their messages to a larger audience. Not all of the passers-by seemd to tak a lot of notice of what was being said, but they will have seen the banners and a group of people committed to a cause.
End of semester statement
The full statement can be found here.
“The fight is not over until ALL the coalitions cuts are halted and reversed. We stand in solidarity with all students and workers in Hull and around the globe opposing attacks on their livelihoods. We’re inspired and eternally grateful to the hundreds of messages of solidarity we’ve received from anti-cuts groups in Hull to Iranian students. Hull Students Against Fees and Cuts will be reconvening to plan the next part of the fightback in the New Year. We urge people to join us!”
This doesn’t necessarily say they’ll re-occupy, but it is thought to be unlikely that the Vice-Chancellor will comply with all the demands – especially since the occupation has been suspended. This means they will re-occupy in the next semester. What this statement does say is that there’s a high likelihood of further regional/national action and this could go on for some time. I say ‘some time’ because it is very unlikely that a coalition government (or any government for that matter) would reverse any policies they’ve just managed to put in place after a long campaigning period.
Summary & Conclusion
The occupation has been peaceful and it has caught the attention of several students and staff. HSAFC has a gained a core group of people who are involved with all protest activities. They are democratic and have fostered a healthy amount of debate. Whether you agree with their demands or not, you can definitely say that they haven’t reduced themselves to level of the violent minority that we saw in London recently.
HSAFC’s version of protests is the one more likely to make some progress, although it has been minor so far and there are no immediate signs that the university is going to fully comply with the demands.
It’s a shame (for them) that they didn’t get the support of the student union, but that wasn’t because of the union’s executive officers. It was because there are different levels of committment, with a touch of apathy.
So, what do you think?