Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Equal Access campaign: The Story So Far
STAR groups at universities up and down the country have been gathering support for the Equal Access campaign – here’s a round up of our achievements so far!
Using plays, speakers and student media STAR groups have been telling thousands of people about the injustice of asylum seekers being excluded from university and gaining support from Student Unions to change policy.
See below for an update on progress at universities around the country.
Campaign Progress
Birmingham publicised the Equal Access Campaign on their group’s website and have persuaded over 200 hundred students to sign their petition. Working closely with the Student Guild after successfully passing a motion they were invited to meet with the University last month. They are now in discussions with the University over possible solutions.
Bristol recently held a successful speaker event to raise awareness of the campaign and secured a double page spread in their student paper, Epigram, on 8th March. They’re hoping they get their chance to meet with their Vice-Chancellor before the summer.
De Montfort raised awareness of the Equal Access campaign during Action for Refugees Week and managed to get over 20 pages of signatures for their petition. They’ve joined forces with their Student Union to write to their Vice-Chancellor and intend to meet with him in May…
Durham got people talking about the Equal Access campaign with their march through the city centre during Action for Refugees Week. And they’ve made a lot of progress in building relationships with local refugee organisations to campaign together.
Durham Demonstration
Essex designed a beautiful poster to wallpaper the campus and had an article published in their student paper. After writing a joint letter with their Students Union to the Vice-Chancellor they are waiting for a response.
Hull succeeded in getting the campaign noticed around campus having held stalls and events with Amnesty International over Action for Refugees Week. They even popped an amendment onto an NUS Motion to include support for STAR’s Equal Access campaign and will be writing to their Vice-Chancellor to request a meeting next term.
Nottingham managed to get over 350 signatures on their petition for Equal Access and they are intending to get even more! They enlisted the support of their Students Union Welfare officer to get the issue raised at the Executive Council and after this success the group are planning the next stages of their campaign.
Oxford passed a Student Union motion in support of Equal Access back in February and had an article in support of “Equal Fees for Asylum Seekers” published in the University’s Cherwell newspaper The group is also doing a great job by publicising their campaign events on their own website
Sheffield wrote to their Vice Chancellor for clarification of the fees policy for asylum seekers and are still chasing their VC for a response. The Student Union are already on board and are currently bringing together a wide range of support from local organisations to add support and discuss what else can be done for potential students.
Southampton raised the profile of their campaign with articles in both Wessex Scene and the local press. 70 people gathered for an awareness raising event on 10th March providing a great opportunity to highlight the issue of Equal Access. They plan to request a meeting with their Vice-Chancellor next term and hope to secure a number of free places for asylum seekers to study at the university.
Sussex passed a Student Union motion back in January and had an article called ‘Who’s Illegal? Who Decides?’ printed in the student newspaper.
Warwick drafted a motion in support of Equal Access which was passed by the students union, held a debate with the Warwick Debate team and have now collected over 200 signatures after a joint sleepout with Amnesty.
Share your Success
If we’ve missed your STAR group out then let us know and send in your achievements!
To find out more about the campaign- Equal Access
Posted by STAR team on 14/04/2010 at 03:09 PM
in Group News
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