Statement on the Occupation of Senate Chambers. We are currently occupying the Senate Chambers at the University of Birmingham.
The Senate was, historically, the place in which the academic community came together to discuss and decide the direction of the University. Today, this has evolved into a box to be ticked, a bureaucratic procedure of approval which carries little weight, in which very little can be debated or contested, and in which the few academics and even fewer students are routinely ignored and powerless. We have chosen this site to occupy as it is symbolic of the way in which University management has steadily decreased the democratic power and representation of both students, staff and academics, and we feel this needs to change. Defend Education believe that staff and students should have more power in every level of university decision making.
Currently a small class of senior managers benefit disproportionately from the fees and work of staff and students. Occupation of the Senate Chamber. Defend Education protesters end sit-in at University of Birmingham. No arrests made as 40 students leave Aston Webb building following court injunction.
Student protesters have ended an eight-day sit-in at the University of Birmingham The Defend Education protest group had defied orders to leave the university’s Aston Webb building on Monday after a court injunction was made. Protesters said security, police and bailiffs entered the building at 7am on Thursday.