It’s a nice thing to see when students take the time out of their busy day and weeks just afte the  Christmas break to start a campaign.  And that’s what is happening on Sussex Campus this week.  Am not sure if you have ever voted in a student union election before or if you would want to vote in one but this year’s batch of candidates has seen a record number of students run – this is impressive and can only mean a good thing for the students at Sussex.

So TNC is stepping into the political areana and endorsing cndidates we think ar going to make a good and lasting contribution to the students union and the students at Sussex.

President – TNC Supports Josh Jones for President USSU 2010

Josh has been a clear favourite for sometime and his campaign has been one that’s been honest, clean, and above all understanding of the issue that are facing the students at US, he remains true and passionate and has made a very real impression on the many students suporting his campaign.  His “Sussex United” tag-line is one that can only show a fun but serious attitude and one that is going to get the voters rallied up in support.  There is also a realism to Jones campaign that some I fear might have missed.  There are great thing to be done and the need for a realistic view point ever more important.

The Union needs a leader that is strong, willing to fight for the students who supported them and willing to fight even harder for students who might be a little apathetic and not engaged in student politics.  Josh Jones is the only candidate who can bridge these gaps, open up the union to real democracy and inclusiveness, and make this place the best student union in the country that WORKS for the student.

Key Point are: support to stop the cuts at the university, campaigns t ‘impreove housing, welfare, and education for Sussex Students’, and making the Union more ‘open and engaging through organisational reform’ Josh Jones seems like the best person for the job. 

You can VOTE for Josh Jones HERE.

Developing Story (Falmer) We have just learned that the students who had occupied the 3rd floorof Bramber House in the University of Sussex have been evicted last night.  This is a great shame and we hope to bring you more news about this when it happens.

We have been told that this is a change of tact by the university who last year allowed a protest to go out peacefully.  When our editor when to Bramber House today to interview the occupies he was told that they had been evicted last night and the door was locked.

Just in(Brighton) We had a chance to talk with Claire, one of the students who had been part of the occupation and she said that they had decided to leave Bramber House late on Tuesday and that the University did not evict them as Niger was told.

It seems a shame that they have decided to give up so sooner even though it was starting to get some movement going.  This seems indicative of the student movement now, they start something but don’t want to see it out, in this case if could have something to do with the fact that it’s election week and Claire is running for one of the officerships.

There is a saying that there is nothing worse when good people do nothing (Edmund Burke) and that seems to be the case here.  The issue of money being taken from our universities is a serious one and one that does affect the whole student body. But no one seems to really care, and they are not willing to put their neck on the line when an issue comes up that they are set against.

Small dribs and drabs or student protest seem to be the last reminder of a once powerful student body, once a group that could effectively change the system and make policy work for them.  Now something that had some light in it, a student movement that had some potential left, has now fully died, there is now no hope left for the student cause.

I don’t want to sound like it’s all doom and gloom but I find it hard to think that even these people have had the wider interests of the student body at heart, if they did then they would have stuck this out for weeks and months to come. Only them would a very apathetic student body turn round and say yes WE support you.  But when you close shop just a the wheels are about to turn then your left with a very apathetic student body going ‘I knew they wouldn’t keep it up’.

Students of the Uni of Sussex are protesting against the proposed job and course cuts at the university are still holding part of a university building room. There have been reports that about 100 students stormed the Terrace Room at Bramber House on Falmer campus at about 4pm Monday.

Up to 70 are thought to still be there on Tuesday morning with fellow students bringing food, water and blankets overnight. The university management have closed the third floor of the building whilst the demonstrators are there.

The protest was the climax to a demonstration, organised by the Stop the Cuts campaign, against management plans to cut 115 jobs in a bid to save £5 million in 2010-11. But this is where it gets a little tricky, what are they really protesting against and is there not a better way that they can try and get the university to hear what they have to say.

The New Current is in FULL support of students who make a stand against their institution for things they believe in but has any one asked where all the money goes, what does the university spend its budget on, what is the uni’s budget, what have they got planned for the future and where is that money going to come from.  What are the salaries of the staff, the VC, lecturers, and readers?  And how can they justify job cuts if in some cases most BA’s have only 8 hours max contact time and 6 months vacation time?  So where does all the money go?

Protesting against the cuts is important but they need to get a hold of a wider issue of the cost of the university and where they, as a group, can provide a credible alternatives to cutting these costs rather than cutting the jobs and courses.

A support demonstration was planned for Tuesday outside the campus library.

A university spokeswoman said: “We are making alternate arrangements where events in the Conference Suite might have had to be re-arranged. “Our overriding concern remains the safety of students, staff and visitors to the campus and the good running of normal university activities. We want this disruptive action to end as swiftly as possible.”

There is no mild way any institution needs to be or act when dealing with drugs.  But that was what I thought until I read this piece on the USSU website READ THE FULL PIECE HERE. This comes as a result of students on Campus, and I can only assume from the USSU website that these are first year students, have been to Unisex with problems they have been experiencing because of their use of Mephedrone.

For us there has to be at a University level a Zero Tolerance to drug use, possession and distributing.  Brighton, as is common knowledge, a serious drug problem, so much so that in 2009 it regained it’s ‘Drug Death Capital of the UK‘ beating much larger cities like Liverpool, Manchester and London.  On both Lewes Road (the Avenue) and London Road there are Methadone clinics and pharmacies that give out Methadone which make these areas unsafe and undesirable.

This last line in this piece states ‘For more ideas* on safer drug usage* and how to look after yourself and your friends, please see our factsheet‘ sends a very bad message to students and is one that I feel the union and University needs to re-address.  Students, to the most part are not addicts, but to provide ‘helpful’ information on ‘safe drug use’ is immature and does not in anyway deal with the issue which seems to be to many students doing drugs at the University of Sussex.  Does the USSU feel that they need to give students ‘ideas’ on how to take drugs, or supposed tips on ‘safe drug usage?

*Emphasis added by the author.

The USSU’s piece doesn’t go far enough and doesn’t give enough facts or information which is essential to try and ensure that students are all to aware that all drugs, smoking and drinking as well, are dangerous and can lead to death.  In Stockholm in 2008 an 18 year old girl died after buying Mephedrone over the net, here, and in 2010 last month a 49 year old woman died in Scotland after taking Mephedrone, here.  And since 2009 there have been calls in the UK to ban so called ‘legal highs’ as a result of this the USSU advice seems more condoning students using Mephedrone and other drugs than informing them that its against university policy.  Drug deaths are rising and you only have to look at the data available here.

This wouldn’t be a hard thing for them to do since Oxford University has banned students from using Spotify on university campus I think it would be easy enough for the University to ban students using so called legal highs and giving advice on drug usage.

There has to be some information about drugs made available to people who may take it but for many students prolonged use of any drug, including alcohol, can have serious and life long implications.  There seems to me a weakness from the University and the students union to actually tackle this issue full on and to inform a student body that any drug use will result in expulsion and criminal prosecution.  This might sound harsh but students are participating, in some cases more so than local residence, in the making Brighton (and other student areas in the UK) more dangerous and increase the drug dealer/traffickers coming to the area.

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