Current Projects

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As CDE cannot simultaneously work on all dimensions of this vision at once, we are currently focusing on four goals:

 

1.       Fight fee rises and marketisation: We will work in collaboration with CUSU to resist the implementation of the planned higher education ‘reforms’, partly by continuing the BoycottNSS campaign that was successful last year. We will attempt to contribute to  the national student campaign against the Act by building links with the National Coalition Against Fees and Cuts and the sections of the National Union of Students who are radically opposed to it.

 

2.       Campaign against rent increases: As one of the latest local branches of the national Rent Strike, we will campaign on rents and exploitative housing practices within the University. Initially we will gather information from across the collegiate university, before starting to build a cross-college campaign against the excessive rent increases Cambridge students have been suffering in recent years. We do this in recognition of the intersection between class, race, and other oppressions - a liberated education demands an accessible university, where students are able to work in an agreeable and stress-free environment.

 

3.       Prevent PREVENT: We will continue gathering testimonials from those who have been targeted by PREVENT policy at Cambridge in order to actively monitor any violations of the Education and Equality Acts in implementation, and to build a base of evidence for further organising. This is the testimonial form. Please fill it in if you have had any relevant experiences, and share it personally with anyone else who may have. We will organise further action against PREVENT as part of Cambridge Against Prevent, a coalition of students and faculty.

 

4.       Living wage campaign: We will collect information about wage conditions in the colleges (some, following past staff and student campaigns, have implemented the living wage, while others have not), and meet with staff representatives to discuss the best way that CDE can provide support to the campaign.

 

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