Sussex Not For Sale

I want to thank you guys for organizing Thursday's meeting. It was very informative and a great success. I'd just like to emphasis again, as I did in the meeting earlier, that we should endeavour to take the high road, for the moment anyway. This is no time to discuss occupations, etc. Rather, we should focus on crafting our message: that Sussex is unique AND IS WORTH SAVING!! I had a few ideas to this end. I received a scholarship from the American Friends of Sussex this year, an alumni group. I'm going to email them about what's going on, and see if they can apply some pressure to the executive. Also, I plan to contact editors at the Independent and the Guardian (where a friend of mine works) about getting a story published ASAP. The pitch for the story could be: what is neoliberal university reform doing to diversity in higher education? If this can happen to Sussex, it can happen anywhere, so there should be a general interest for both papers' readers. Also, I thought that we might use some of the executive's own 'business' speak to argue against the proposed changes. For instance, students aren't just 'consumers'--they are 'stakeholders'. Their involvement in institutions doesn't completely end when they graduate. Also, the changes proposed, even if they bring short term economic relief (which is unlikely, given the lack of thought on behalf of the executive), could result in a long term decline in the university's 'human capital'--that's academics, admin staff, and students. These are any university's primary assets and the proposed changes would like further impoverish the quality level in all these areas. In short, this isn't a viable 'business model'--it's tantamount to institutional suicide.

thanks a lot for the comment - I moved it to the forum, because that's the best place for proper debate. http://www.sussexnot4sale.org.uk/node/49