Profs Shut Up Over Education Cuts

Top Cambridge boffins will hold a 3 minute silence on Monday in protest at the controversial government “attacks on British universities and university funding,” in the latest action against education cuts.

CACHE, the Cambridge Academic Campaign for Higher Education, consists of a group of academics and members of the Regent House (the official governing body of the university). Having organised the protest, they will don their gowns outside Great St Mary’s at noon, and have urged others to join them.

A spokesperson for the campaign said the silent protest will provide “an opportunity for the many academics whose voices have gone unrecorded by the press and by the University itself, to express their discontent at the current climate in higher education in the United Kingdom.”

This action is set to back up the demos witnessed last term that saw violence and an 11-day sit-in at Senate House.

Over 300 academics signed a statement supporting the occupation, including John’s Fellow Prof. Simon Szreter. On top of giving a speech last month likening the protesters to Dumbledore’s Army fighting Voldemort, Szreter is a key force in Monday’s protest.

Yet, students are sceptical about what this latest stance can do. Marios Fournarakis, 1st year engineer, said: “I am against the cuts but I don’t think anybody will care. Either we should organize a massive protest or a strike or it won’t be worth it.”

Andy Payne, a Queens’ student, was equally cynical: “I spend more time in silence walking back from Sainsbury’s than that, and no one seems to care.”

A uni spokesman told The Tab that Cambridge fully supports academics’ right to protest peacefully, but it is unclear whether this will make a difference to the cuts and tuition fee levels expected.