60+ students occupy uni building in protest

[777]

Cut off the mains water supply and offer them bottles of Eden Springs .

[Garnet]

I think the protesters would probably like it to escalate.

That's just a narrow-minded view of the stereotypical politically active student who revels in troublemaking. That is not at all what this is about. The occupation is a relatively small inconvenience to the University and more symbolic, no trouble can really be said to have been caused. This is something the University has acknowledged.

I take back what i said I don't like to stereotype people, i think i was just in a bad mood yesterday.

[Guest]

The irony of "Guest" fighting nobly for a cause yet not having the courage of his/her convictions to use his/her own name.

Is it just one person? Those who show solidarity are free to comment. People are standing as one, under one name.

One outcome of this is that my water brand of choice from now on is Eden Springs.

Feel free. But be under no illusion that your brand of choice deprives the citizens of Palestine in favour of Israeli. Simple as that.

[Guest]

Cut off the mains water supply and offer them bottles of Eden Springs .

Original. NO ONE HAS SAID THAT YET YOUR ARE SOOOO FUNNY OH MY GOD WHAT A WIT

[Bizarre Atheist]

Sinners, on your best behaviour now, we have guests!

[Lukey2]

The irony of "Guest" fighting nobly for a cause yet not having the courage of his/her convictions to use his/her own name.

One outcome of this is that my water brand of choice from now on is Eden Springs.

Of course you are obviously a moron, but I might inquire as to whether it says 777 on your birth certificate? If you want to talk about cowardice, talk about using the sinner to launch baseless attacks against a group of students who you will never have the balls to confront in person.

I am sure you have a lifetime of dumb biases against student who think, but Eden Spring DOES extract water from the Golan Heights. As your grasp of complicated ideas is obviously quite weak, I might as well mention that extracting natural resources from areas under military occupation is a crime under international law. You might dislike the students in LCH, but that particular demand has a solid legal basis.

[pambo]

The person posting as guest seems mentally deficient.

[irish200]

Get off your high horse 'Guest'.

[munchingfoo]

Shouldn't the University just call the police to remove them?

Why? They're not breaking the law, the university agreed to the students being there.

If that is the case then it is not an occupation...

If on the other hand the University agreed after the occupation, then they could have instead phoned the police.

I see, with your inate ability to reason and argue, why you are at this University. ¬_¬

Win

[Coppy]

I make no comment about the rights and wrongs of Eden Springs but the Golan Heights are Syrian not Palestinian. The majority of the non-Israeli residents are Druze.

I'd also like to know where the University is supposed to find £100,000 a year for these racist scholarships? If it was required to capitalise these scholarships (which might be required by law) then it needs to set aside at least £2 million. Any contributions from the protesters?

[Blueswater]

At the end of the day, the university is providing a service that we pay for with our tuition fees. Like any other service you consider buying, if you don't like the ethical side of the service provider then don't buy from them. Its very simple.
Indeed the university is currently oversubscribed and it could itself a favour by losing a few students. I think those holed up in LHC are the perfect candidates.

I have no problem with people protesting against wars and suffering, and if these students want to travel to the Israeli embassy and occupy something there then more power to them. But taking the fight to the University seems lazy and naive. The University is providing you with human capital, that is its role. Its aims are to attract the best students, get as high up in the league tables as possible and lets face it, to make a wad of cash on the side. Its contracts and investments will be made to maximise the rate of return and benefit the university's finances to the highest degree. The more money they make this way the more they can spend on improving our experience here or alternatively the less we have to pay (although the latter seems unlikely!). This side of the university is none of our business. The demands of these students which pertain to the financial dealings of the university can only have one result which is to have a negative financial effect on all of us.

The University is an educational establishment, it is not its role or its right to align itself with any political opinion. Lives have been lost on both sides in Gaza, remember that Israel found it necessary to take military action to stop its people being killed by rockets. Now I'm not saying whether I support that or not, I'm just pointing out that for the university to 'choose a side' in this situation would be ridiculous and totally contrary to its mandate.

I'm sorry, but the bottom line is that if you feel so strongly that you cannot support the university's political/financial affairs then the only legitimate course of action is to stop giving the university your money and leave. Clearly, none of the protesting students actually feel that strongly about these issues so have naively decided to throw their toys out of the pram and be a nuisance. If the university sees that its demand falls (students leave, less students want to come) because of its non-educational affairs then it would have cause to change them. Otherwise, it has no incentive to do so whatsoever. This is the reality. The University is not some club that you are a member of, its a business of which you are a consumer. I'm sure that many of the protesting students would not purchase coffee at Starbucks for ethical reasons, this is a sensible use of your power as a consumer and the only effective way to protest at a business. This example is exactly the same as the University. The only difference is that by choosing to no longer be a student (consumer) here, the protestors would incur a cost (time & money required to move to a different uni, etc). So the question is, do their ethical concerns over Gaza outweigh this cost? I'm betting not.

[Fawksie]

To the rather prolific Guest: would you please consider registering?

Thanks...

[Mike]

HERE here, Blueswater. Excellent post!

[Dave the Explosive Newt]

I agree wholeheartedly with Blueswater's post in that this protest is unlikely to achieve any of the changes they have demanded, however I would disagree that there's no point whatsoever. If even a handful of students passing by the quad learn a bit more about the Israel/Gaza conflict or are forced to re-examine their beliefs on the situation, then you can be confident a difference has been made, however indirectly.

In all seriousness though, if you want to influence the ways in which the university conducts its business while you are here, the Students Association offers several excellent committees which you can involve yourself in. It's what they do, to quote the campaign.

Well it worked in Edinburgh,

http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Stude ... 4986682.jp

It didn't in Cambridge. When a seminar room in the law faculty was occupied, the university banned anyone from taking food into the building (complete with guards to search bags at the door) and the protest ended in a couple of days, with little tangible result (other than inconveniencing other students who had needed that room for educational purposes).

[pambo]

I find it amusing while browsing through the photos that one of these "protesters" was in one of my lectures this morning. St Andrews "activists" :- proudly standing up for things we believe in (as long as its not inconvenient). What a joke.

[Haunted]

So they found The Sinner it seems.
Well jolly good to them.

I will add my $0.02 and say that while I may disagree with some of their demands and the effectiveness of their methods, they have achieved the raising of awareness which is never a bad thing. The University should not (nor, I suspect, would even consider) responding with hostility since that would only polarise the situation even more. Also, I think our new Principal is trying to establish herself and a diplomatic solution will look good. Also, unlike exnihilo, I seriously doubt that such "protests" put us on the road to a police state campus.

[Jono]

I'm actually really dissapointed with this whole situation. They presented a petition of 700 signatures to the university within two days. As I said to one of the petitioners yesterday morning, getting 700 students (10% of the population here) to do ANYTHING other than drink and fuck is a pretty amazing achivement. Rather Far more effective would be to expand the petition further, lobby the university and make use of the proper channels. Consider the success of petitions for green energy and ethical investment! There's no reason why something similar couldn't have been done here.

[munchingfoo]

You want want to reread your post and make some corrections Jono!

[Jono]

Wank!

[Power Metal Dom]