PRESS RELEASE - NUS members denied entry to Occupation

Today, is the 9^th consecutive day of occupation of the Fine Arts building of Newcastle University, management have denied senior NUS members access to the occupation. The NUS who support this action and others around the country are our union representatives. One member of the NUS delegation was Pete Mercer, a member of the NUS National Executive Committee tweets “Shame on management and security for restricting access”. Another member of the delegation tweets that “Newcastle University not allowing NUS in to give support to the occupation.”

So far the Vice Chancellor of Newcastle University, Chris Brink has refused to directly meet with members of the occupation as he claims that we do not represent the student body, however he is denying access to the very people who demonstrate that the occupation and our demands are representative of not only the student body, but of a huge section of society. We have had messages of support from Noam Chomsky, Chi Onwurah MP for Newcastle Central, the UCU, Unite, Unison and innumerable members of staff and students.

Tonight the Vice Chancellor is speaking at Union Council, which is a rare occurrence. A member of the occupation said, “This shows that we are starting to have an impact and that it can only be a matter of time until he meets with us directly”.