► Vice President (Bob Sutton)

My name is Bob Sutton and I am one of the Guild’s Vice Presidents.

Universities are under attack. Last year the government’s decision to triple tuition fees and cut the teaching budget by 80%, as well as their attacks on schools, colleges and EMA, sparked the biggest wave of student protest in a generation.

I was involved in setting up University of Liverpool Against Fees and Cuts. We organised for students from UoL to take part in the demonstrations, occupations and walkouts which spread across the country against these assaults on education.

I think that fight – to defend education, as something which is of huge benefit to the whole of society and should be provided for free through taxing the rich, is going to be even harder this year than it was in 2010-11. I have written a short article (here----link to HE WP) outlining what I think the issues are, going into a bit more detail about what I think it means concretely for students at UoL.

So it won’t be of much of a surprise to find out that it will be to the issues of fighting fees, cuts and privatisation that I will be dedicating most of my efforts as a student officer.

In June I was elected to the National Committee of the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts and will be looking to link up with students facing these same issues in schools, colleges and universities across Merseyside and throughout the country. We need a student movement that will not take what the government is doing lying down and that is why I will be helping organise the Liverpool contingent to the National Demonstration to Defend Education and Fight Privatisation on 9 November.

However, it is not just around issues directly affecting education that I think the Student Union should be organising. This government is attacking the basic standard of living fought for and won in Britain since the Second World War. We should see ourselves as an important part of the wider fight against the cuts. This means joining the (March on Tory Party Conference -----link to March on Tory Party Conference) on 2 October, and beyond that, linking up with workers and Trade Unions and supporting their action to defend all of our jobs, services and conditions.

This also means challenging the bigotry and prejudice which, in times of crisis, can provide false answers and feed on the social decay caused by the cuts. I am helping organise the Guild’s programme for (Black History Month----link to Black History Month at LGoS) and will seek to combine promoting a historical and political understanding of racism with actively campaigning with students against racist and fascist organisations such as the British National Party and the English Defence league.

My other area of responsibility is around Student Housing. Students are regularly exploited and ripped off by landlords and at the moment, the Guild does not have a great deal of resources to dedicate to representing students facing these kinds of issues. I am still finding my feet on this one and am keen to get students involved in discussing how best we can organise to ensure every student at Liverpool enjoys their right to a decent home.

Overall, I want to see a Student Union that sees itself, fundamentally as an active, campaigning body. As late as the early 90s many Student Unions were still having weekly meetings attended by hundreds of students to discuss the issues which they wanted their SUs to be taking up. We need to build our union into a lively, democratic, fighting organisation that can meet the enormous challenges we face.

The Guild

Hello and welcome to Liverpool Guild of Students!

As a University of Liverpool student, you are automatically one of over 17000 members of the Guild. We are run by 4 elected students, who are supported by staff and volunteers.

The Guild aims to make students lives better, through campaigning with you to make positive change and providing you with a huge range of opportunities to meet other people, gain new skills and have fun.