The November 2014 paper issue of the WesternEye (UWESU’s newspaper) features an article by Ben Gerdziunas entitled “UWE fails to act after repression of student protest”. Since the student newspaper hasn’t yet made a digital copy of it available, we republish it here.
——
UWE fails to act after repression of student protest
No development on calls for an independent enquiry a year after the crackdown against student protest outside the Exhibition and Conference Centre
A CAMPAIGN titled #reviewUWE was set up in April 2014 by student activists calling for an independent enquiry into the events of the protest against the Defence Procurement Research Technology Exportability (DPRTE) event. This came as a response to alleged interference of police and its Forward Monitoring Team, injuries, an arrest and widespread intimidations during and after the protests.
The protest took place outside the building, echoing opposition against the Defence Procurement Research Technology Exportability (DPRTE) event in November 2013 and the subsequent call for an independent enquiry into the crackdown by UWE.
Keith Hicks, UWE’s Head of Marketing and Communications, stated in October 2014 that “the activists’ call for an independent enquiry last November was not supported at the time.”
Two open letters were sent by the campaigning group Better Together: one to UWE’s Vice-Chancellor Steve West on 12 March 2014, 7 months before Hick’s statement, and another to the Board of Governors on 8 April 2014. The Clerk of UWE’s Board of Governors confirmed on 14 April 2014 that the second one was “provided in full to the members of the Board of Governors.” To date, it has been the only acknowledgement by UWE’s management and/ or UWESU of the #reviewUWE movement- despite the backing of the UWE branch of the University and College Union (UCU).
Hicks stated on a video release to Bristol Life, published on 8 Apr 2014: “We are happy to hear from any students who feel they have been mistreated. If the Students’ Union raised this issue, we would do something about it.” UWESU met up with two student activists a day after the protest in November, but no strong immediate action was taken by UWESU.
UWESU stated this month, “We asked the activists for their accounts of what happened after the protest that we could put a case to the university but no one got back to us”
UWESU’s involvement was at it’s strongest before the protest. “We met with the students before the protest and we did raise (the issue) with John Rushforth before it happened to inform him that we supported the right to protest.”
Hicks states: “The University believes that a culture of free and open discussion is essential in our role as an academic institution”
The university’s decision in October 2014 to host a talk by the CEO of QinetiQ – describing itself as “experts in defence, aerospace and security” after a lack of action following last years’ events has resulted in further protests by students, activist groups and the public.
One student activist, who preferred to remain anonymous, stated in reference to the #reviewUWE campaign: “UWE is ready to suppress and endanger student voices critical of its ties with the military, while hosting and legitimising profiteers of the arms trade. Those protests were the only means available to bring this event and our arguments to attention.”
