Over 500 Students and Staff Protest Suspension of Student
by
On 16 March, over five hundred Cambridge students and staff protested against the 2 1/2 year suspension of a student. The student was suspended by a private university court – the “Court of Discipline” – after reading a poem in November 2011 at a peaceful protest against David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Sciences.
Following the news of the student’s punishment, Cambridge University Student Union (CUSU) organised a protest in support of the student. At a general meeting held after the protest, a statement of “no confidence in the university Vice Chancellor, management and Court of Discipline” was endorsed after a vote by the hundreds of students and staff present. A petition against the judgement has already garnered over 6000 signatures, with over 2000 of them coming from students and academics at the university. The university also continues to receive hundreds of letters, emails and phone calls from its alumni who are pledging not to donate any further until the university repeals the decision.
Before the hearing, sixty students and twenty dons signed a ‘Spartacus’ letter, which insisted that the protest against Willetts was a collective act and that singling out one student for punishment was “arbitrary and wrong”.
Before the hearing, sixty students and twenty dons signed a ‘Spartacus’ letter, which insisted that the protest against Willetts was a collective act and that singling out one student for punishment was “arbitrary and wrong”.