Record of negotiations

On Wednesday 21st January we issued a press statement outlining our demands. The next day we received a two-page sympathetic but very vague and non-committal response from the vice-chancellor's office. We responded the next morning (Friday) with a short, courteous, and equally vague letter. The university did not feel that they needed to respond to this, so we spent the weekend doing some more research, and on Sunday 25th sent a second response to the V-C's office, with some concrete proposals based on what they had said they were willing/able to do. On Monday 26th we received a draft agreement from the V-C's office agreeing to most of our demands and with a revised proposed statement. We felt that the concessions made in this response were excellent and many felt it to be a victory. However, although the document had been received along with strong verbal assurances from the university management that the proposals would be carried out in the spirit of the occupation's principles, some felt the wording to be too vague. At the general meeting that evening we considered the document in depth and made a few minor clarifications in order to ensure that this would be the case. On Tuesday morning, the university rejected our proposals and issued us with an ultimatum to vacate the lecture theatre by 9am otherwise negotiations would end. We were surprised by the severity of this response as the university had acknowledged our amendments to be minor. We did not vacate, and held an emergency meeting at 11am with 50 people in attendence. We sent a brief letter informing the university that a decision would be made at the general meeting that evening. Discussions continued throughout the day. At the general meeting that evening we discussed the response in depth and decided unanimously to accept the agreement without our final clarifications along with the verbal assurances of the V-C. The occupation was ended at 9:30pm on Tuesday 27th and a press release issued.

Campaigning workshops today!

There is still space on the these two workshops taking place this afternoon. They are both being run by Seeds For Change; a non-profit co-op providing training and resources to activists.

The following sessions will run concurrently from 2-5pm, Falmer House

Introduction to Campaign Planning - An effective campaign plan is vital if you want campaign success. A campaign plan is like a map that helps you get from where you are now to where you want to be - the goal of your campaign. In this workshop we'll practice using a series of campaign planning tools that will help you create a winning campaign.

Creative Campaigning - What draws a crowd and makes them stop? How can you communicate your campaign message? How can you get media attention for your campaign? We'll explore these questions and more in this workshop.

Email societies@ussu.sussex.ac.uk to book a space. You can also find the Facebook Event page here.

Exhibition and Talks taking place today

Today's Exhibition and Talks will be running as planned. This follows news that campus is open today, trains from London to Brighton and Falmer are running every half-hour, and the Tube service is mostly operational. Please check travel details before you depart, and consider allowing extra time for your journey.

Facebook event:
Facebook PALESTINE: Exhibition and Talks

The Street Theatre event will also continue as planned - meet in Mandela Hall at 10am. This is a great opportunity to raise awareness about forthcoming events after what has been a long weekend. All students and staff are welcome to take part.

The planned group meeting will also take place as scheduled at 6pm, meet in Falmer Common Room.

If you have any concerns or questions regarding today's events, please contact Josh at joshua.c.j@gmail.com.

National occupations update

Congratulations to King's College London who yesterday announced victory after two weeks of occupation and protest:

"The college has agreed to a series of measures to directly address the current crisis in Gaza, including the provision of scholarships for those directly affected by the crisis, and the donation of educational resources to institutions in Palestine", said Mido Khan on behalf of the student protesters. "In addition, the college has acknowledged the scale of discontent that the award to Peres has generated among the student population, particularly considering the award in the context of what has happened recently in Gaza."

Less welcome news from the Nottingham university occupation who yesterday were forcibly removed by security guards without prior warning. The protest had been peaceful and had explicitly stated its intentions of non-disruption to other students from the outset (although the university took the decision to disrupt lectures). Following this illegal eviction, many students were kept outside in the snow without jackets and prevented from retrieving their possessions still left in the hall. The media were denied access to campus. The actions of the university in collaboration with the local police are disgraceful, unnecessary and dangerous. There have been reports of injuries to students, personal items being confiscated, intimidatory recording of names and ID numbers, police and security refusing to take statements from students assaulted during removal and failing to help the process of identifying those members of security responsible for assault and injury. Please call and email the university to register your outrage at this disgusting behaviour.

Dark news also from Sheffield Hallam who have now been told that, following their eviction on 29th January after serious intimidation and threats of arrest, those involved are to be suspended from the university, which means that they will be unable to take part in exams and lectures. This is in breach of earlier assurances from university officials that there would be no repercussions for protestors if they agreed to leave the occupation peacefully (which they did). University security was subsequently sent to break up the arranged post-occupation organisational meeting. That students should suffer severe intimidation and academic penalty, effectively jeopardising their futures, for peaceful political protest of this sort is unacceptable and an extremely worrying precedent. Please complain to Sheffield Hallam University by ringing them on 0114 225 5555 or email Philip Jones the Vice-Chancellor at enquiries@shu.ac.uk.

Finally Queen Mary are still going strong and have achieved their first success, with the university agreeing to add the 'Palestinian Territories' to the Scholarship list. The occupation continues to press for all expenses paid scholarships for students specifically from the Gazan University for the coming Academic year 2009 - 2010 and 10 extra general scholarships to be created for future years so as not to disadvantage students from other parts of the world.

We urge all other universities who are still considering occupation to get on it now!

Street Theatre Postponed!

Due to an excess of weather, today’s Street Theatre event will take place later in the week.

If the buses and trains are running tomorrow, we’ll do it then - same time, 10am Falmer Common Room. It will be followed by a sledging session.

Have fun today!

Some final messages of support...

"Congratulations to everyone involved in the occupation for the pathbreaking way in which you have conceived, organised, sustained, publicised and achieved such positive results from this campaign. I am proud to be part of a University that has such students." - Andrew Chitty, Department of Philosophy

"Good to see a positive end to it - great going, guys, let's hope this does give rise to a new movement of student activism! It's certainly an exciting time to be working at Sussex."

- Jon Mason

"Congratulations on having made an important statement and obliged an institution to face a cultural prejudice. Would that our media were free enough to report your and other student-body actions and achievements to those who have little or no clarity about the long suffering of Palestinian peoples." - Louis Loizou




"Respect is due for all your hard work. Please do not let the struggle die. We must turn Sussex into a non-militarist campus by protesting the international security agenda. This movement has proved that only united and organised students have the chance of making this a reality!" - Alana Lentin, Sociology Department

"I just wanted to say that I'm really happy to see that there is a new breed of fine activists at Sussex doing interesting, creative, engaging and innovative campaigns and events to support the Palestinian people.

I was Comms a while back and a staunch Palestine supporter during my whole time at Sussex. It really is great to see what you guys have been up to and in using blogs, facebook and gmail to communicate your activities I feel like I've been with you.


A huge congratulations for all that you have done and, I'm sure, will continue to do."

- Alexandra Molano

"You speak for the millions of young people throughout the world who are sick and tired of war and injustice, who simply desire a world in which the young grow up not knowing what it is like to kill and maim.You are an inspiration to us all and we wish you every success and call upon all those who want a more peaceful world to support your action." UCU NEC members (p/c)

Nottingham under siege

Nottingham have just had all of their power cut off except the lights and been asked to leave on pain of disciplinary action by the Director of Student Operations and Support. The students have been warned that ‘no dialogue will take place whilst this room is occupied’. Please send statements of support to occupationnottingham@googlemail.com and complaints to vice-chancellor David Greenaway and director of student operations and support Stephen Dudderidge.