Students meets with the management the 13th of May...just to be issued a court order the very next day.

On the 13th of May, the University management accepted to meet the students for talks. The student representatives who attended, had been given assurances during the meeting that their voices and concern in regards to course closures, and job cuts would be heard.
However, the meeting appeared to have taken place only as an attempt to stop the students from occupying parts of the University as the management issued a court order to end the occupation of the building already the next day.

In an official note, the students reactions were as follows:

"At 4pm today (14th of May 2009) management issued us with a court order to end the occupation of the building. Since we are trying as hard as possible to work with the management cooperatively and constructively (something that they have not been doing with us), we had to vacate the premises. Paul Lister told us face-to-face yesterday that they would begin court proceedings on Saturday if we were not out then, so clearly he was lying to us.

This is by no means a defeat- if anything it adds more fuel to our fire, and just goes to show even more that our management are incompetent, lying, untrustworthy bullies who are not fit to be entrusted with the future of our university.

This action has ignited rage in the university's members of staff and in the unions (UCU and UNISON), not to mention the students. As far as we are concerned, we knew that it was only a matter of time before we were issued a court order, but what surprised us is the fact that we were lied to about when it would occur. It has done nothing but strengthen our campaign.

The campaign is continuing valiantly and with great strength. We met today at the Houses of Parliament with George Galloway (City Campus MP) and Jeremy Corbyn (North Campus MP) who told us that they have no confidence whatsoever in the university management and that they supported our campaign 100%, promising us that they will take an active role in campaigning with us, and are currently pushing to help London Met in Parliament and with other MP's."

Waiting for some proper response from Management and Head of Department.

Day 2 continued

Day 2 Student Occupation continued.

Student Occupation, Commercial Road, London Met. Day 2, the 12th of May 2009

Demonstration the 12th of May to support Student Occupation at Commercial Road today. COMMERCIAL RD, CITY CAMPUS 5.30 – 6PM TUESDAY 12th MAY

From UCU and UNISON's Save London Met campaign committee:

Students in the Sir John Cass Department of Art, Media and Design have occupied rooms in Commercial Rd in protest at the proposed cuts to staff. We understand that they are demanding that Management drop the proposals to make staff redundant and that managers come to explain to students what is happening.

It is encouraging to find such levels of support among our students and to see them so active in defence of education. We sympathise with their frustration and with the sense that management will not listen to any arguments, however well reasoned or constructive.

Rumour has it that, unlike all the other universities occupied earlier this year, London Metropolitan will not allow this to run its course and that management is taking the students to court to regain possession of the coffee bar. No classes are being disrupted as far as we know.

We are therefore calling for a brief demonstration outside Commercial Road at 5.30 today. Please come and show students that solidarity works both ways!

See here for location details:
http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/about/commercial-road.cfm

COMMERCIAL RD, CITY CAMPUS 5.30 – 6PM TUESDAY 12th MAY

Student occupation at London Met

This from the Students who are occupying:

To Whom It May Concern:

As of 17:00 on Monday 11th May 2009, a large group of students from London Metropolitan University’s John Cass department of Art, Media & Design began occupation of part of the Commercial Road building located at 41 Commercial Road, London E1 1LA in protest to university management’s plans for imminent and unprecedented staff redundancies. These redundancies are the result of a drastic funding cut by HEFCE of £15m per year, as well as a ‘clawback’ of a further £36.5m, which have been imposed due to inaccurate submission of attendance figures. Under the rules, students are identified as non-completions if they do not take the final assessment of each module.

The rally, Tower Building, Holloway Road, 7th of May

From the day of strike action 7th of May 2009, the picket lines.

A Day of Strike Action Thursday the 7th of May 2009

Lecturers will be on strike on Thursday after a substantial majority voted for action to save the University. Since this has always been a joint campaign, we aim to avoid hitting exams but call on all students to join us in collecting petition signatures outside the main entrances of most university buildings in the emorning and at our rally 1-2pm in Holloway Rd.

All students who would like to participate in an event to demonstrate their opposition to the cuts should get in touch. Time is really running out - management intend to make everyone who is dismissed leave before July 31st. Now is definitely the time to stand up and be counted before it is too late!

The cuts will mean:

- up to quarter of the staff dismissed
- nurseries closed
- libraries short-staffed and, in the longer term, closed
- several courses closed and many others severely hit
- outsourcing of IT and Media support
- module choice restricted
- less contact time with staff