Campaign for the Public University

DEFEND the ARTS and HUMANITIES urges all of its own, UK-based, supporters and readers to join the recently established Campaign for the Public University:

The UK Campaign for the Public University is open to all. It is a broad-based campaign with no party or other political affiliation. It has been initiated by a group of university teachers and graduate students seeking to defend and promote the idea of the university as a public good. We believe that the public university is essential both for cultivating democratic public life and creating the means for individuals to find fulfillment in creative and intellectual pursuits regardless of whether or not they pursue a degree programme.

To visit the website of the Campaign for the Public University, please click here.
To join the email list for Campaign for the Public University, please click here.
To join the Facebook Group for the Campaign for the Public University, please click here.
To join the Campaign for the Public University on Twitter, please click here.

As the Campaign writes:

A vote enabling an increase in tuition fees is to take place before Christmas. The issue is not just fees, but also the withdrawal of public funding from social sciences, arts and humanities, and the reduction of public spending on higher education such that it will become lower than that for comparator OECD countries.
     LibDem MPs are able to abstain under the Coalition agreement, but abstention will simply allow the measure to be passed and so is, in effect, tacit support. If your MP is a LibDem MP, please point this out when you write. Labour MPs, of course, will be expected to vote against, but some Conservative MPs are also very unhappy with the proposals and so it is important that all MPs are contacted.
     This link provides a simple process by which you can find out who your MP is and send him or her an email via the site.

For a sample letter template please see here.