A demonstration at Sussex University.
If students don’t protest, they are blamed for being apathetic. If they do protest, they increasingly face immediate and harsh repression. Just witness what has happened recently at Birmingham, Sussex and Warwick. Enrolling the police, seeking repossession orders, and/or excluding students seems to have become the order of the day.
Such handling of student protests is a cause for concern. It should go without saying that disproportionate or, worse, arbitrary repression is not acceptable in a democracy. However, we should also be aware that the problem may run deeper than disciplinary proceedings going astray. Its real root may be pervasive practices of governance that negate democratic principles of due process.
