When students walked out of the Clarendon building four weeks ago, there was a sense of achievement. Student activists and university authorities had reached an understanding with a spirit of goodwill that was praised by this paper at the time. The University has since been far from generous in fulfilling their promises. The statements of the Vice-Chancellor and Proctors were dismissive at best, and we now hear that students are being hunted down to pay unspecified fees. These students have reason to feel betrayed.
What good will it do to fine the students involved? At least £1,000 worth of good for the Proctors’ office, but that really shouldn’t be the point. This isn’t a proportional response to the ‘disruption and inconvenience’ that Hood alleges. The occupation lasted for just one day, and was confined to a single, small office building. Nor can the fine be seen as a reasonable deterrent. Occupations such as this occur so rarely that by the time students are preparing to barricade themselves in a university building again, none of them may remember the fines meted out on the previous occasion. The disproportionate nature of the University’s witch-hunt can be seen by the fact that only one other university, out of the thirty that have been occupied, have chosen to punish students in this way. This will serve only to perpetuate the perception of Oxford as an archaic, conservative institution out of touch with the rest of the British academy.
The fragmented nature of the University leads to many differences in operation, many detrimental. On this occasion, however, Oxford’s institutions have real potential to serve the interests of students. Porters, deans and tutors at individual colleges are presented with a prime opportunity to stand up to the centralising powers they frequently complain of for much weaker reasons. Not co-operating with the proctors in identifying their students for punishment would certainly be in the interests of students, and is just the kind of passive resistance by prevarication which is likely to succeed with minimal trouble.
All we can do is to offer our approval to Wadham, our hope that it may continue in its resistance, and that other colleges will act similarly.
