This appears to be a Roman Catholic instituiton. So presumably the Roman Catholic church can close it if it wants to. It's a bad thing for religious bodies to own and run educational establishments --- look at Northern Ireland. Education should be mixed, and preferably secular.

someone to run a college if they don't want to? How would the protesters like it if someone forced them to run a college against their will? The newsagent at the end of my road shut recently. It never occured to me to sue the owner with a view to forcing him to keep running it so I could nip out for a packet of fags whenever I wanted to.

Plater College, of which I am a former student, is accessible to people of all religious beliefs and none. It has proved to be of enormous benefit to the thousands of students who have passed through its gates. The real reason the college is facing closure is because the ex-principle offered jobs and/or exam success for sex and the Catholic Church could ill afford another scandal. The grounds of the college are conservatively estimated to be worth c.£8 Million which will go a long way in reducing the church's liabilities due to other abuse scandals especially those in Coventry perpetrated by the beast Father Clonan whose victims are suing for millions of pounds in damages. Neat trick eh, close an institution to cover up one sex scandal while raising money to pay of the victims of another; one might even say it's miraculous if one was a Catholic!!

Plater Colege, of which I was a student, has more to answer for than mere closure. The reasons are manifold. I am representing a Chinese student, one of many foreign students, who have been mis-led by the College into enrolling on Undergraduate Bridging Programmes and having paid for a year-long residential course, were provided with an altered course withoutout their prior knowledge, or consent, to that of International Foundation course. This was hardly surprising because Plater College were not validated by The Open University to offer ANY degree course's only certificates of Higher Education. The College took in excess of £10.600 from the student I am concerned with and gave her in return a poorly constructed photocopy of what they purported was a recognized qualification. In actuality this 'qualification' was not recognized by any of the Universities this student applied to as Plater had claimed it would be. £10.600 for a useless scrap of paper.!

To add insult to injury Plater accepted this girl knowing full well that she could not, in any case, successfully apply to any University as they had promised
simply because on entering Plater she was 16 years old and 17 on completion of her course. This, co-incidetally is below the Colleges mandate of age requirement of 20 years old and over. This girl was not the only student to ber hoodwinked by false promises.

The question of the Catholic churches involvement with Plater College is, at best, tenous. The Catholic church do not fund Plater and never have. The property and land it stands on was funded by individual and public subscription. The title refering to the College as being Catholic is purely arbitary and was adopted in reverence to the founder Father Plater in 1923, I believe, at a separate site in Oxford.. Ialso believe this paved the way for the College being registered as a Charity. Other than that The College owes no allegiance to the Catholic church although the Trustees are prominent Catholic clergymen who are now trying to sell off the College assets and take possession of the money generated.

The College is under investigation by variously The Oxford Trading Standards, The Police, The Department of Immigration, The DFES et al. One of the firm of College Solicitors is under investigation, for mis-conduct, by The Law Society .

The suing of the College Trustee's and Governing body is justified as is my effort on behalf of the Chinese student. Grave in-justice's has been allowed to flourish in the name of a noble educational institution bythe un-scrupulous, and self-serving, Plater College heirachy.

In retrospect, I find the various comments vis-a-vis Plater College Oxford on this website

to be very, very, interesting! In addition, I wonder if the Governors, Trustees and others

who share a similar interest in the reputable institution are taking notes?