Today the camp received a letter from University delivered by the Security guards.
This letter names 7 individuals who had their IDs checked on one particular morning, Wednesday. The management clearly do not understand the non-hierarchical mode of organisation employed in the camp, as they asked for the letter to be delivered to the "leader", who does not exist. Also they clearly underestimate the strength of our protest by only naming those seven individuals, presumably as they assume that they are the only people at the camp. In fact there are several times more campers than this and our numbers are increasing every day.
The letter claims that disciplinary proceedures "may" be undertaken against students involved in the camp, as we are supposedly breaching the campus ordinances. However the claim that the camp breaks ordinances is very weakly supported by the actual text of the campus regulations. The only way the text can be interpreted to mean that we are actually breaching regulations is if it could be demonstrated that the camp is disrupting students, education, or that we are damaging the "good name" of the university. To these implicit claims we respond that not only are we are not disrupting revision for exams (which are the only form of "education" occuring on campus at this point in the year), we are actually assisting it by using the space in the camp to hold revision sessions. Also, rather than damaging the university's reputation, we are aiding it, by trying to preserve, among other things, the linguistics department, which is world reknowned, and also by carrying on Sussex's proud tradition of student activism.
If anyone is damaging the reputation of this univeristy, it is the current university management by eliminating some of the most respected departments our university has and by clamping down on their own students' freedom to protest.
We urge all who are appalled by this intimidatory action by the university management to come and help us defy their order to dismantle the camp by 5pm on Friday. Come along, bring your tent and any other camping equipment you have and let us show management how strong the opposition to their neoliberal restructuting agenda is.