After 212 days, Glasgow students end sit-in

IT COULD have been the end of any other university term. Students trooped out of their digs with sacks of clothes and pillows under their arms, guitars and sleeping bags slung over their shoulders, while others diligently scrubbed away at the furniture.

But instead the scenes marked the end of a seven-month sit-in at Glasgow University’s Hetherington Club in protest against a move to close it and cuts to courses and services to achieve £20 million of savings.

The protest at the former postgraduate centre officially ended in mid-August, when the university management agreed to the majority of the students’ demands, including opening a new post-graduate facility in the main university, making no further cuts to courses and services, and accepting an amnesty for staff or students involved in the protest.

The Free Hetherington group has spent the past two weeks cleaning the building.

It saw violence flare in March when police and students clashed during an attempted eviction, and the signs of the divisive political nature of the occupation were still visible yesterday, despite the clean-up.

Across a stairwell remained the words “Occupy Resist” daubed in green paint, while plywood panels covered in colourful political graffiti proclaiming “You can’t cut us, we’ll just keep growing!” that had once covered windows were in the backyard.

The activists were defiant to the last, raising their fists in victory as the doors of 13 University Gardens closed for the last time, chanting “No Ifs, No Buts, No Education Cuts” as they left the building once and for all.

Speaking outside the club, former maths student Josy Shewell-Brockway said: “It’s quite an important day for all of us. It’s the end of seven months of struggle and we’re celebrating everything the occupation has been. We have achieved what we came here to do.

“It’s been incredibly positive. It has genuinely changed my life to be here. Everyone has been really supportive of each other. It’s been great”.

Although the occupation has ended, in a statement on its website the Free Hetherington group said that it would continue its campaign against cuts.

“University management have not been able to restructure this university without considerable protest,” it said. “It remains a disgrace that Slavonic studies, adult education and the Crichton campus are under threat, but those battles are not yet lost.

“Management will continue to try to ‘restructure’ the university, they will try to back down on promises, and they need to be held to account. This is an ancient institution, and it has a long memory. It will not survive unless it is fought for.”

It added that the outcome of the protest had proved the validity of the sit-in as an effective tactic, and that it should be used in other stand-offs with the university. The building will now be converted to offices.

A University of Glasgow spokesman said: “We are pleased that the students who have been occupying Hetherington House for seven months have decided to bring the occupation to a peaceful conclusion, and are now leaving. This will allow the university to redevelop the space for academic use.”

He added: “The university has always respected the right of students to peaceful protest and we also recognise the depth of feeling there has been on campus about recent cost reductions.

“A new social facility for post-graduate students will open in the main building in session 2011-12 and the university will continue to consult with students and their representatives on future facilities and amenities for the student body.”