The protest camp set up on the lawn of the Senate House early Friday morning has now ended. The camp was set up to occupy the lawn after Thursday’s protests against the Vice-Chancellor’s veto on an amendment initiated by CUSU to a Grace to be considered by Regent House, the highest governing body of the University.

The amendment required the University Council to provide a detailed report on the need to charge £9000 in tuition to new students and to pledge that the current level of bursary spending won’t be reduced.

The amendment was proposed by around 140 academics who are members of Regent House. While the amendment only required 25 signatories to be considered, the Vice-Chancellor used the discretionary powers accorded to him in the Statutes and Ordinances to veto the amendment on the grounds that it was ‘incompatible with the main purpose of the Grace’.

This lead to mass protest on Thursday led by CUSU, involving around 800 students. Over seven hundred students signed letters to the Vice-Chancellor expressing their disapproval of the Vice-Chancellor’s decision to veto the amendment. CUSU is also contesting the Vice-Chancellor’s decision within the University. Afterwards some 40 to 50 protesters set up camps and occupied the lawn for whole day. They have now left.

The protesting students were campaigning for academics to vote ‘non placet’ (Latin for ‘does not please’) on the Grace regarding tuition fees and bursary spending. Several academics have signed an open letter expressing their disapproval of the Vice-Chancellor’s decision and calling upon members of Regent House to vote non placet on the Grace (see:http://www.varsity.co.uk/news/3461).

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