Campaigning Socialist Students win support

Nottingham

SOCIALIST STUDENTS made a great impact on Nottingham Trent University's freshers' fair. In three hours, around 200 signatures were collected in support of our campaign against the government's planned cuts to education and raising of tuition fees.

The level of support for socialist ideas is clearly growing amongst young people.

With 150,000 students failing to win a place at university this year, the reality of government cuts has already begun to hit home for many 18 and 19 year-olds.

The only other political group represented was the Labour Party who appeared unable to engage with the vast majority of students. No wonder - when tuition fees were introduced by Labour and the Browne Review was started in the last months of the Labour government!

Despite being the only stall campaigning on behalf of students and workers, the students' union was keen to silence us for the crime of not going through the 'proper channels' for booking our stall. We were told we either had to pay £1,000 for the privilege of being there or leave!

They called security, who marched us past several stalls trying to sell insurance to students, stalls advertising nightclubs and the Pole Dancing Society stall.

We pointed out that when the government's cuts put their jobs at risk we will be the only society campaigning on their behalf. Having been ejected, we continued to campaign outside.

This came a week after covering the University of Nottingham freshers' fair, where we also received a lot of interest.

Jethro Waldron

Northampton

AT NORTHAMPTON university freshers' fair, Northampton Socialist Students had a very successful stall. Students talked of their fear of the cap on tuition fees being lifted and how this blatantly favoured the more established universities and more well-off students. Many were justifiability concerned about the gaping class divide this would create in our education system.

Most could also see through the smokescreen of ideas such as a 'graduate tax' to shift the huge debt placed on students from one place to another. They welcomed the idea of putting more pressure on the National Union of Students (NUS) to mobilise against this and fight for free education and a living wage for all students.

A number of people joined Socialist Students and many more signed our tuition fees petition and wanted information about meetings.

Jack Clarke

Keele

KEELE SOCIALIST Students had to wait for a stall to become available at the freshers fair on 27 September but it was well worth the wait! 17 students joined in just two hours. One said: "I'm really pleased to find you. I was beginning to think that there weren't any socialists at Keele!"

Staffordshire

FOURTEEN STUDENTS signed up to join Socialist Students at Staffordshire University. On seeing our stall, people said that Socialist Students was just what they were looking for. Many said they would come to the anti-cuts activity we organised on 29 September.

Good result for Socialist Students candidates in NUS elections

NUS conference Support for left and for action

Brighton Uni: Socialist Students five votes from victory

Student walkout: Socialist Students show what could have been

Fighting Con-Dem attacks on education

14 March - Socialist Students get a response

Students:

Strike at Sussex Downs College

Demo against cuts at Salford university

UCU joins 10 May strike - student solidarity needed

Success at Varndean College, Brighton

Socialist:

Bristol Central Socialist Party: Art and Politics

Bristol Central Socialist Party: The role of the monarchy in capitalist society

Southampton Socialist Party: Greece - how would a workers' government stabilise the economy?

Keele:

Victory against bosses at Keele

Northampton:

Campaign news in brief

Jarrow March for Jobs: Northampton demonstration

Jarrow March for Jobs: Northampton social

Nottingham:

Bilborough College Nottingham strike Action over five-term years

Notts teachers fight five-term year

Nottingham teachers strike against five-term year

University:

'Capitalism fails the poor' agree Oxford University students!

National student demonstration

Building the fightback and building solidarity at Occupy LSX

Tuition Fees:

Reject slave labour for young unemployed

Lib Dems - a party rooted in capitalism

Tuition Fees Crisis Deepens

Fees:

Fight Welsh universities' fees hike

Student protests force Lib Dems to cancel conference

Youth Fight for Jobs demonstration against education cuts