Red Army in London Town
The NUS held a demonstration in London yesterday to protest against the government's policy on student funding. The 'Students in the Red National Demo' climaxed with a rally in Trafalgar Square.
In a letter to students, NUS President Owain James urged them to "force the government to deliver on their promises" by taking part in the march.
In spite of supporting the decision of the Welsh Assembly to reintroduce maintenance grants for the poorest students, Tony Blair has however ruled out the implementation of a similar system across the UK, instead hiding behind statistics. He pointed out that under policies introduced by this government, "50% of students don't pay tuition fees." Stuart Hudson is, however, still optimistic, claiming that Mr Blair's response is "significant" and that it is now the prerogative of students to ensure government action before leaving university.
The NUS has been brought into the limelight as a result of recent JCR motions to disaffiliate, accused of overemphasising the issue of fees, which many students consider to be a peripheral issue in Oxford. Corpus Christi student Richard Brooks was quoted in last week's OxStu accusing the NUS of being "irrelevant" for most Oxford students, but in the spite of such skepticism about its significance, around fifty Oxford students were expected to attend the march.
Jesus JCR NUS rep Stuart Hudson attributed Oxford support for the march to the fact that student hardship is as much a problem in Oxford as anywhere else, and welcomes this action on the part of the NUS as an important way of pressurizing the government.
Hudson has been keen to emphasise that the issue of student funding is not restricted to tuition fees. He claimed that recent proposals to charge commercial interest rates on loans would result in "debt doubling every six years." He also condemned the trend that shows a decreasing number of applicants for long courses such as medicine from poorer social backgrounds, claiming that "access to university should be determined by your ability, not your bank balance."
21st Feb 2002