A bankrupt assembly Glasgow students fight cuts and sexism

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AS WE go to press the students of Glasgow University will be entering the eighth day of an occupation of the arts faculty administration building as a protest against Tory education cuts..

The students overwhelmingly passed a resolution for immediate, indefinite occupation at an emergency general meeting of the Students Representative Council, which had an unprecedented attendance of 700 students.

They are demanding the freezing of all prices controiled by the university, a guarantee of no redundancies, no repeal of the repeat year grant for students in academic difficulties and no victimisation of students participating in the occupation.

The students intend to continue the occupation until all four demands have been met and already the Principal, Dr Alwyn Williams has agreed to no victimisation and at the students' request has written to the staff requesting them to reschedule lectures on Tuesday 2 March to allow staff and students to participate in the NUS week or action against the cuts.

The Glasgow students are part of a wave of opposition throughout British colleges and universities in which students have voted for direct action as the only effective method of resisting drastic reductions in grants and cutbacks in jobs and facilities.

Meanwhile, the Gay Society at Glasgow University is continuing its fight for affiliation to Glasgow University Union, one of the two students unions on the campus. When asked to explain the Board's decision to bar Gay Soc, President Vince Gallagher made the enlightened statement: "We don't want a squad of poofs in our union"

A Gay Soc picket of union, which only began mitting women last year, was held on 26 and 27 February.

Most students on the picket were met with open hostility and threats from some members of the union who set the society's banner alight and threw it at Malcolm Clark, secretary of the Gay Soc.

In the light of the Board's decision, the unions at the other Scottish universities, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Stirling, have taken steps to break links with the Glasgow University Union. Their support was also strongly in cyidence on Saturday's picket. action groups. There was nothing to exclude parties to the right of Labour; if they were there, they were (kept) silent.

Attendance

The West Indian Standing Conference, Transport 2000, Methodist church in Tower Hamlets, London Housing Advice Centre, Parents Movement London, Hackney UnderFives Group, TGWU, Pensioners' Voice, NUPE' Parents* Consultative Committee. Haringe! trades Council. North Kensington community Healt Halpin (representing London Transport workers) wanted 'a bipartisar. policy" which would come out of "a basis of a wide spectrum of politics" Jack Dromey (representing the South East Region of the TUC) called for the setting up of local assemblies - a position reiterated by many CP speakers.

The most militant speech of the afternoon was that by Tom Snow of NUPE. The difference between Labour councils who acted within the limits set by the Tories and the Tories themselves. he said sual ite differEnte DESTEES 303=E organisations and paigns.

-No' Turkey Solidarity Campaign: Box BAd 5965, London WC1 3XX.

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Wor a tews Organiser, Thursday Vice-chairman Deng Xiaoping has disappeared from public view for two months, and chairman Hu Yaobang has appeared in press photograph sweeping the streets.

The official story that Deng has withdrawn because of old age - he is 77 - may be true. But David Bonavia, in the Far Eastern Economic Review, to conflicts between Den the army (the PLA suggests there has. "'a bloodless coup"

For sure China's new "modernising" policy has I and been run into problems. The National People's Congress last December extended the "readjustment period" from 197981 to 1979-85.

ANN EVANS