Warwick students are occupying The Oculus in protest of the Warwick Economics Summit

Students at University of Warwick are occupying The Oculus building on campus in solidarity with striking university lecturers and staff, amongst other things.

The students, who are part of the group Student Action Warwick, arrived at the building yesterday evening where they unfurled a banner saying “Abolish the economy”.

In a post shared to Instagram, the group outlined its four main demands: “immediately call off the Warwick Economics Summit and pledge not to host or sponsor any future conferences that reproduce deadly neoliberal orders, Warwick University to release a statement to acknowledge the material and ecological damages produced in and through its partnerships with global finance and and associated industries, meet the demands of the UCU and display a commitment to a free, liberated education that puts people over profits and to open up the university and abolish tuition fees making free education for all.”

According to its website, the Warwick Economics Summit is an “entirely student-run international forum where talented university students listen to some of the world’s most revered and inspirational speakers.” The summit claims its focus goes beyond just economics and encompasses aspects of the social sciences as well including politics, journalism and international relations. The first ever summit was held in 2002 with this year’s due to run this weekend starting today, February 10th-12th.

Last month, 18 days of strikes days were announced. Scheduled to take place over a two month period during February and March, 70,oo0 members of university staff at 150 universities nationwide are expected to participate making this the biggest period of industrial action ever seen. This comes after last academic year saw 18 days of strike action in total.

A University of Warwick spokesperson said: “We are aware of six people protesting at the student run Warwick Economic Summit.   The event is continuing as normal and the speakers include Nobel prize winning economists and world leaders in the field of finance from Europe, Africa and the Middle East.  It provides a prestigious learning opportunity for our students as well as sixth formers hoping to study economics.”

Featured image via @studentactionw on Twitter.

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