Campaign to Defeat Fees

The Campaign to Defeat Fees day of action was a success in Exeter University, despite happening in the middle of the Guild elections and therefore being surrounded by careerist hopefuls trying to secure students’ votes with hollow pledges of ‘fun’ and ‘banter’. It is also the preamble to our next meeting, Thursday 28.02.08, 7.30pm in Streatham Court Room E.

Five members of Socialist Students handed out hundreds of leaflets and fake degree scrolls, which showed the crippling cost of education today. We also did a ‘debt-o-metre’ where we invited students to record how much debt they would have build up by the time of graduation. By the end of day the ‘debt-o-metre’ was full, with some people’s debtSocialist were sold and a couple of people said they were interested in finding out more about socialism and the struggle for free education. It was clear that although the NUS have written off a fighting campaign against fees, students are still hugely angry towards New Labour and their bureaucratic cronies hidden away within the university ivory towers. Moreover, Exeter Socialist Students found that there is a significant layer of foreign students for who there is no cap on fees and have found themselves hugely indebted and are desperate to fight. It is amongst students like these, and those from working class backgrounds, that the Campaign to Defeat Fees will find support, while the NUS bureaucrats at Exeter and throughout the country believe the fight is lost and turn their backs.

spiralling above £30,000. Five copies of the

Pictures and report by Jim Thomson

and don’t forget the next meeting:

Free Education; RIP?
Where now for the anti-fees movement? Can we really win back free education?

Thursday 28.02.08, 7.30pm in Streatham Court Room E.

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Tags: Fees campaign