University of Sheffield ‘begins legal process’ against students in occupation over ‘free and fair education’

The University of Sheffield has begun legal action against a group of students who have been occupying a lecture theatre for a week as they continue to protest against “the current assault on higher education.”

After meeting with members of management to discuss their demands, on 3 March, the demonstrators of The Free University of Sheffield movement received an email which confirmed that a legal process has started to gain possession of the space. It added: “We would much prefer it if the occupation could be brought to a swift conclusion.”

Having received a possession order, the occupiers confirmed they will be appearing in court on Tuesday, after which there will be several more days of legal processes until bailiffs are able to arrive. The Free University of Sheffield said it did not wish to comment any further on this.

In an email to the Independent, a university spokesperson confirmed the institution had taken out a possession order, and reiterated the institution’s original statement on the matter.

The spokesperson said: “As a university, we fully support freedom of speech and the right of students to express their views peacefully and within the law. The university recognises the commitment of the occupiers to peaceful protest, however, cannot condone occupation of a building that could cause disruption to our staff and students.”

The past week has seen the demonstrators take part in general meetings and higher education discussions. The students also conducted a rally and a banner drop in the students’ union, played host to a poetry night, stand-up comedy, and saw activist and folk singer-songwriter, Grace Petrie, stop by to give a free gig.

The students announced their intent to occupy the Richard Roberts Auditorium on 29 February and, in a statement, had said: “In recent years, we’ve seen the complete separation of the public from our ‘public’ education system. In this era of marketisation, we’re seeing students treated as consumers - to be passive recipients of information for the sake of employability - rather than producers of knowledge.

“Students have been cowed by fears about debt and failure in an increasingly competitive job market, purging the reciprocal engagement between academic and student which should underpin learning in the university. Academics’ autonomy to encourage an environment of exchange is being limited by measures including the Teaching Excellence Framework, punishing non-conformance to nebulous standards of ‘student experience’.”

Therefore, the demonstrators said they wanted to peacefully “reclaim the university,” all the while fighting for “an education that is free and fair.” The group added: “If management seek to destroy this occupation, let all bear witness to the fact they have nothing to do with the genuine provision of education, and are, instead, its plunderers. We make our stand against the neoliberal degradation of the university.”

Over the course of the week, The Free University of Sheffield described how it released four key demands to management via email, insisting on regular open forums between the vice-chancellor and the student body, for the university to “actively resist” the implementation of the reforms of the higher education green paper, for management to “publicly pledge non-compliance” with the Government’s “racist and Islamophobic” PREVENT strategy, and also to end “unfair casualised teaching contracts” at the university.

A university spokesperson, again, reiterated the institution’s original statement on the occupation, and said: “The university understands the increasing marketisation of higher education is rightly an issue very close to the hearts of many of its staff and students and, along with universities across the country, we have outlined these concerns in detail as part of our response to the Government green paper on higher education.”

The Free University of Sheffield students said they have also been occupying the auditorium in “freezing” conditions. They said: “We’ve been asking management about the heat and they responded it’s not been turned on because we haven’t ‘booked’ the space, so the building is technically unoccupied.

“We thought they had the air conditioning on because we have been feeling cold air blowing at us but, according to them, it’s an air circulation system for the pipes - still circulating air and making it colder, though.”

The students said it was “hypocritical” that management is “content to let us freeze” despite making “excessive security provisions” for the students’ safety.

The university has confirmed heating is off across all areas used for teaching when they have not been booked - in line with the institution timetable - which reduces costs to money and carbon.

The university has also said there is no air conditioning in the building but, instead, there is mechanical air movement from the air handling plant which always remains on to ensure the frost coils do not freeze. The air is warmed slightly - and not chilled - as there is no facility for this. It would also damage the air handling plant, said the university.

In an update on Monday, the demonstrators said they have invited management to take part in a series of workshops - concerning the group’s earlier demands - set to take place throughout this week, but have yet to receive a response.