Goldsmiths Students Open University Library to the public
Goldsmiths Occupation | 11.12.2010 10:25 | Education | Free Spaces | Public sector cuts
A group of Goldsmiths students and staff have re-opened the University Library to the public for discussions, idea-sharing and teach-ins. Statement by the group.
Goldsmiths Occupation
The day after the Coalition Government passed its policy on Tuition Fees, and at a crucial time for many students, the Goldsmiths Senior Management Team (SMT) took the decision to close the Library over the weekend. An email was sent communicating this decision to all students on Friday 10 December.
Before the Library closed at 5pm on Friday, a group of students made the decision to remain in the library, demanding that the SMT agree to open the Library with full lending services over the weekend.
The social area on the ground floor of the Library is currently open for the use of students and the public, although the doors to the rest of the building have been locked by staff acting under management orders. While we remain in the building, everyone is welcome to use the space available to study, to use the IT facilities, and to build pressure on the SMT to open the Library with full lending services over the weekend.
Management’s unnecessary decision to close the College Library until Monday for stock-checking and cleaning is an attempt to punish students for protesting against their policies. The Library Occupation of earlier this week kept the College Library open for twenty-four hours a day for students and the wider public; on the eve of the most mutilating changes ever imposed on UK Higher Education, the Library occupation attempted to demonstrate to SMT that it cannot continue to ignore the people it ought to be serving. Essential library services such as book returns and lending remained available, as did IT services and study space.
Management’s closure of the library on Friday evening for a projected period of sixty hours is intended to send a message to students: that if they protest, they will pay.
We realise that if students are to avoid being bludgeoned into submission, we must stay together. In order to resist divide and rule, a group of us have reoccupied the library during the period of its closure. We insist that Management cease to bullyingly withdraw services and impose penalties on its student body. We will not be split apart by these tactics.
Before the Library closed at 5pm on Friday, a group of students made the decision to remain in the library, demanding that the SMT agree to open the Library with full lending services over the weekend.
The social area on the ground floor of the Library is currently open for the use of students and the public, although the doors to the rest of the building have been locked by staff acting under management orders. While we remain in the building, everyone is welcome to use the space available to study, to use the IT facilities, and to build pressure on the SMT to open the Library with full lending services over the weekend.
Management’s unnecessary decision to close the College Library until Monday for stock-checking and cleaning is an attempt to punish students for protesting against their policies. The Library Occupation of earlier this week kept the College Library open for twenty-four hours a day for students and the wider public; on the eve of the most mutilating changes ever imposed on UK Higher Education, the Library occupation attempted to demonstrate to SMT that it cannot continue to ignore the people it ought to be serving. Essential library services such as book returns and lending remained available, as did IT services and study space.
Management’s closure of the library on Friday evening for a projected period of sixty hours is intended to send a message to students: that if they protest, they will pay.
We realise that if students are to avoid being bludgeoned into submission, we must stay together. In order to resist divide and rule, a group of us have reoccupied the library during the period of its closure. We insist that Management cease to bullyingly withdraw services and impose penalties on its student body. We will not be split apart by these tactics.
Goldsmiths Occupation
e-mail:
goldagainstcuts@gmail.com
Homepage:
http://www.goldsmithsinoccupation.wordpress.com