Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Chapter 1
A history of CUSU
19642014
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years since the first attempt to found a student council had failed, the political
development at that time was the gradual acceptance in Cambridge of the National
Union of Students (NUS), which in turn led to the establishment in October 1963
because of its political impotence, it became the driving force behind the
council in Cambridge.
the case for establishing a similar student body in Cambridge. As Singer noted
in respect to his own organisation: We can never have the same authority behind
Student representation
This question, and many related issues, had been
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council, Varsity
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life in the first three decades of the new student bodys existence.
university reps that no sooner had they been elected than it was
University reps
not so old
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The first proper meeting of the SRC took place towards the
The fact that three women topped the poll is indicative of the
end of Lent term 1964, by which time a draft constitution had been
in 1969
to believe that the SRC could provide it. As Bronowski stated shortly
has changed its character; students are coming up with different needs and
student council on the grounds that it would simply end up duplicating the activities
that new institutions are needed to match the new conditions, the SRC aimed
of CAMNUS. Bibbys concern was not seen as a major problem, however, since
to increase and improve relations between senior and junior members while
Andrew Singer and his CAMNUS colleagues imagined that, rather than replicate
at the same time giving a more formal expression to the rights of students.
their activities, such a committee or council would be able to take over many
As anticipated, within two years of its foundation, the SRC had absorbed
for students that would include the right to witnesses and the right to appeal
CAMNUS and its various services into its structure. During these crucial first years,
to a higher judge and to establish a formal channel through which its own
it also set about expanding its business interests and range of services still further.
In 1965, the council, together with the Union Society, established Cambridge
with investigating libraries, lodgings, discipline and mental health, and these
of the SRC. Indeed, like its Oxford equivalent, the SRC set about representing
the Fitzwilliam House representative from 1965 to 1966, the SRC also established
and ran a thriving second-hand book and record stall in the lobby of the Union
Society building. Also in 1966, SRC President Ernest Brauch spearheaded the
production of the SRC Guide, which, despite almost bankrupting the council
university, the new council was committed to communicating its views to external
in its first year of printing, was the ultimately successful forerunner to CUSUs
various student-focused publications over the next five decades, including its
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and the USA, and the brutality with which these global protests were
an open union
of the SRA that the revolutionary left devised a plan to destroy the
sit-in at the Mill Lane Lecture Rooms and a brief occupation of the
With just 1,654 votes cast, the poll was undeniably small, but
its dissolution.
votes. Shortly after his victory, Newbigin made clear his intention
by announcing that if the SRA could not end its own miserable
existence, Ill have to do it for them. The militant left was finally
of change.
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Michaelmas term 1970 had barely begun when the newly elected
the other is [that we] look for a different site and start
year, Newbigin insisted that open meetings can work and set about
of at least 200.
term and that the new executive committee should consist of himself,
There was some controversy over the naming of the new student
Students Union, with the latter term incorporating Homerton and the
less than a week after the announcement of the SRAs demise and
An open union
With the change of name and constitution settled, Newbigin turned his
attention to the organisations place of business. Like the SRC and SRA
before it, the CSU was housed in 3 Round Church Street, a building
rented from the Union Society that was entirely inadequate to meet its
campaign for a central union could take. The first, he wrote, is that
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union and permanent home for the CSU seemed almost inevitable.
Political controversy
During her visit, she also appeared in a programme that was aired
Students Union and the Union Society and that plans for opening
made a more risky move. Not only was Greece under the control
Cambridge the previous year that ended in violence and led to the
was none other than Charles Clarke who, in early October 1971,
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Stalled progress
Committee Against Dictatorship. Not only did the letter alert the
between the Union Society and the CSU during the discussions
that had already taken place, and she dismissed entirely the terms
also made clear the fact that the Union Society is a private club,
students as a whole.
proposed by the CSU, with 1,247 against and 559 in favour of the
proposed merger. For the time being, at least, Clarke and his
conflicts of 1972
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published when her term as president had come to an end and former Vice-
student fee from the funds available to them. Similarly, the Union Society held
President David Powell had taken up office as the newly elected president in her
two polls on the matter, the first of which was carried by 730 votes to 703 and
stead. Powell, who had always been in favour of an open union, quickly devised an
the second by 743 votes to 687. In spite of overwhelming support for the proposal
alternative plan in which the Union Society and the CSU could retain their autonomy
in principle, however, and most frustratingly for all concerned, the scheme was
but share between them the centrally located Union Society building. In so doing, he
managed to sidestep two legal problems that had not yet been taken into account.
It is indeed ironic that, at a time when the dreamed-of central union was so
The first of these was that the Union Society building was subject to the
tantalisingly close to becoming a reality that Clarke and Carey could well have
terms of the Literary and Scientific Institutions Act of 1854. Under this act, if the
imagined it a done deal, the plan was scuppered by those who stood to benefit from
building ceased to be used as a debating society, its title would revert to the Estate
it most. After this highly charged period in CUSUs affairs a period punctuated by
of Sir Henry Peto, who had granted it to the original trustees more than a century
drama, intrigue and any amount of political posturing and preening the continued
earlier. On top of this, successive trustees of the building had a duty to preserve
campaign for a central union in cooperation with the Union Society would strike
it for the use of the Union Society and did not have the power to approve its use
for any other purpose. Powells proposal made it possible for the Union Society to
tackle its difficult financial situation by renting most of the building to CUSU while
Changing fortunes
retaining the debating chamber, rooms one to four, and its extensive collection
Rather than divide the Union Society building between the two organisations, it
Such was the plans appeal that it soon received the full backing of the
was proposed that a dedicated student centre be built at the back of the existing
building. The Wolfson Foundation was approached and asked to finance the
recommended that the Council of the Senate support the proposed splitting of the
Union Society building and, if economically feasible, provide a student centre open
the centres running costs. Both requests were turned down, however, and
to all Cambridge students, including those at Homerton and the tech. By the time
the prospect of a central union for Cambridge was once again placed on
Kevin Carey was elected President of the Union Society the following term, the
campaign for a central union was back on track and seemed unlikely to be derailed.
It would remain there, quietly simmering, until the late 1980s when the
Union Society decided to sell for demolition and redevelopment its buildings
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Considerable costs
on Round Church Street, including numbers 3 and 4, which housed the student
In May 1972, Clarke and Carey the latter a vocal advocate for an open or central
unions various offices and services. By this time, the CSUs fortunes had changed
union were invited by the Council of the Senate to serve on a committee set up
relationship between the university and the student organisation, and five years
According to their findings, the estimated annual running costs of a student centre
later, the newly named CUSU enjoyed formal recognition by the university for a
in the Union Society building would be in the region of 30,000. This was in addition
full year. Although they were owned by the Union Society, the buildings in Round
to any initial capital outlay needed. The major part of this expenditure would be met
Church Street had been leased by the university since 1981, and in light of plans
by the university and the colleges, with the latter bodies required to make an annual
the Hawks Club, which was then located around the corner in All Saints Passage.
Referenda were held in most of the colleges and, as well as voting in favour of
the proposed student centre, a majority of JCRs committed to paying the requisite
however, CUSU and the cash-strapped Union Society had already begun to
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reconsider the possibility of sharing the Union Society building between them.
Street offices, as well as its distance from the centre of town. In 2004/05, Sabbatical
decided that if a central students union was to be situated in the Union Society
set about documenting conditions in Trumpington Street and produced from their
findings a report called The Case for a Union Building: Building a Brighter Future
In addition to the fact that its size was insufficient to accommodate the
building and to arrange for the provision of secretarial services. It was also agreed
that in compliance with the Literary and Scientific Institutions Act the proposed
besides CUSU, included the two student newspapers Varsity and The Cambridge
Student, the student charity Contact and the Cambridge Rag Appeal 1112
furthermore, that the student unions facilities would include a bar, food, CUSU
offices, meeting rooms for other societies, a welfare office, childcare service,
corridors and narrow stairwells meant, furthermore, that students with less
printing space and provision for hosting events and entertainment. It would also
severe mobility problems were also effectively excluded from making use
include a shop, which would be separate from the rest of the building and could
it. Added to these drawbacks was the inescapable fact that the offices were
working environment.
range of services since 1975, and CUSU was understandably anxious to retain it.
Located at the top of a staircase above the Union Society kitchens at 3a Round
Rooms) and other relevant interest groups. Unsurprisingly, the results were almost
Church Street, the CUSU shop was managed by one Mrs Charlesworth and
unanimously in favour of a central facility where students can seek advice and
supplied its customers with affordably priced stationery and handmade third
representation, a venue where societies can hold meetings, a place to have a coffee
world goods. CUSUs proposed relocation to the Hawks Club meant that it
and chat with friends from other colleges. In its report, CUSU called on the university
would lose this precious source of income not to mention a vital part of
its identity so the possibility of incorporating a shop into the new students
building within the next five years. As it turned out, it did so sooner than CUSU could
union made a deal with the Union Society a particularly attractive proposition.
have imagined since the organisation was moved to refurbished offices in the Old
As with every previous attempt to unite the two bodies, however, CUSU and
Examinations Hall in 2007. This new suite of offices, which CUSU continues to call
the Union Society blended like oil and water in the late 1980s. By 1988, when the
home today, is central and accessible but falls far short of the spacious, inclusive
proposed merger with the Union Society had once again fallen through, it seemed
certain that the CUSU shop and the valuable income it generated would be
sabbatical teams.
lost. This prospect finally became a reality in 1990 following CUSUs relocation
Just a short stroll away from its present location, past the colleges of
Kings, Trinity and St Johns, is the space where much of that imagining took
shape over the years: CUSUs birthplace in Round Church Street, which survived
its planned demolition in the late 1980s. As a bricks-and-mortar reminder of
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CUSUs origins and early life, the buildings resilience and survival against the
odds marks CUSU as a chip off the old block: still going strong and ready to
would not materialise until the new millennium. By the early 2000s, CUSU was
Charles Clarke
President of the CSU 1971/72
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students, Pages views were not entirely out of step with the local
agenda in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and it was from this
time that direct action was needed in order to bring about positive
travel agents also became involved in the planned soire, the event
clear that the SRA was an ineffective vehicle for achieving this aim.
If the great and the good of Cambridge were licking their greasy
hampered still further by the fact that their attention was divided
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and burned them on the street outside. Later that same night,
few years earlier. The event had the unfortunate effect of aggravating
gathered outside the Garden House Hotel just as the guests the
the longstanding divisions between town and gown, and led, among
the event and stop late-arriving guests from entering the building,
achieve, by far the most constructive outcome of the whole affair was
the protest was finally brought under control. Although the violence
the demise of the SRA and the founding of the CSU later that year.
Proctor involvement
While the events at the Garden House Hotel might have happened
in any university town, what made the story unique to Cambridge
Six of the universitys students were arrested at the hotel that evening,
and several more were arrested and indicted over the course of the
and having been telephoned directly by staff from the Garden House
by a brick but commented shortly after the protest that most of the
In the days following the protest, Paul Fairest, the Senior Proctor
at the time, asked his colleagues to give full oral statements to the
prison terms.
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While the CSU was drafting its statement and planning its campaign,
system in the aftermath of the Garden House Hotel affair was busy
party again, and the sequel was a great deal more distressing than
any stage of the universitys review of the proctorial system, and in its
the affair itself, student attitudes towards him and his colleagues
statement, the CSU and its demands did not even receive a mention.
Garden House trial were members of Soc Soc, and the CSUs
At 9am, large vans full of police officers pulled into West Road
His was anything but a one-man mission. Such was the strength of
dogs and their handlers. Regular patrols passed between Trinity Hall
were stationed inside the Senate House itself waiting to arrest any
protesters who dared to enter the building. With its doors and
through direct action and had clearly not been put off by the Garden
entering the building and, with the example of the Garden House
flyers to its students that stated that damage to property or the use
attended the picket which took the form of a CSU open meeting
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but the protest passed off peacefully in the end, since the standard
of speeches was not high and no speaker was able to stir the crowd to
vote for decisive action. Instead, the protesters accepted an offer from
the Old Schools. Examinations reform was not the sole focus of
least satisfied one of the CSUs several demands. The gradual fizzling
the protest, however, and top of the CSUs list of demands was
in February 1972
defeat for the CSU, but it also marked a portentous step towards
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Student dissatisfaction
Two years earlier, in May 1968, the university had announced its
Economics Students Committee, made it clear that the sit-in is not for
fun we have serious demands, but it was apparent that the powers
as bloody nonsense.
university was not willing to engage with, and take on board, their
which finally reached a breaking point in early 1972. The straw that
held the CSU liable for damage caused to the structure and fabric
of the Old Schools during the sit-in, the estimated cost of which
undergraduate examinations.
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cuts in the education budget and the planned increase in the cap
of the 1972 occupation of the Old Schools and the benefits of Devlins
view that students had established the right to be heard and that
the work that CUSU does today in representing students, lobbying the
without that initial victory. Claiming that the activist approach that
issue of fees that not only did several busloads of local students
university boards than any other university in the UK. Devlins various
Education (CDE) took control of the Old Schools and, with CUSUs
the kind witnessed in the late 1960s and early to mid-1970s have
university fees.
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Fees protests
The 1972 sit-in at the Old Schools and the subsequent Devlin report
tuition fees
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with CUSU over their most important demand: that the university
on these issues.
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Day of Action
of the Old Schools at an end and the battle against increased fees
our bursaries, CUSU quickly rallied its members into action, calling
this aim through its Save Our Bursaries campaign, which was
undergraduate bursaries.
its bursaries and instead provide fee waivers, they proposed to allow
plans, CUSU sought to beat it at its own game. In the first instance, it
sought support from members of the Regent House for its Amending
Grace, which would allow it to seek a vote challenging the Grace put
quarter for its Initiating Grace, which would allow it to submit a Grace
of its own. CUSU called on its members to ask their tutors, lecturers
November 2010
John Newbigin
SRA and CSU President 1970/71
that they rise fast and die fast. For me, the issue
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Gates that could be barred against the outside world in the event
as the preserve of the elite. For centuries, too, women who were
in its draft constitution that the university has changed its character;
are needed to match the new conditions. The SRC was one such
identity and focus over the years, its drive to meet the needs of an
persisted unabated. So, too, has its determination in all its various
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The single most significant change that the university has undergone
that began in the late 19th century but did not reach fruition for
late 19th century, when the first womens college was established.
after the SRC was established, and most of these bore the traces
not only did the university resist the initial arrival of women and,
in its report that during the first two years of mixed-sex living,
been launched and was now available on the NHS, the civil rights
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College), it was not until 1972 that the universitys existing colleges
mental illness provided by the SRC in its 1965 book Student Mental
and Kings, and over the course of the next two decades all of
Introduction of co-residence
difficult process not just for the colleges that had to change their
even more sexist and discriminatory than the everyday world, and
the pressure was even greater for those who have come here on
Women campaign
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for students, employees and academic staff with children, the group
with NAG both before and during the occupation, it did take the
own crusade. Moreover, despite the support the students union had
the CSU rather than NAGs own representatives angered the action
group, not least because the CSU had voted against NAGs motion
their demands.
At the time, however, the CSU was deemed to have actively distanced
Of course, the dialogue between the university and the CSU marked
women in Cambridge
crche in the college for part of the day. Furthermore, NAG warned,
the two bodies in the post-Devlin climate. Yet if the CSU regarded it
university meant that the already urgent need for childcare would
ears. Finally, on 3 June 1975, NAG voted to take direct action, swiftly
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who saw CSU desert them at a time when their support was
violent student riot. NAG, on the other hand, defended its actions
for a pilot scheme that would cost 10,000 per annum to run after
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own report a year later, however, it advised that the running costs of a university
the areas and issues upon which they wish to focus their attention,
university-wide JCR levy. The university rejected this proposal and instead opted
they alone determine the form and nature of their campaigns and
to provide grants for existing nurseries within the town, a measure that fell far
they alone decide on the individuals and groups to whom they wish
short of NAGs vision of a large, centrally located nursery that would cater
nursery citing the lack of such a facility as a key access issue since it prevented
prospective students with children from taking up the offer of a university place.
The lack of childcare facilities, in addition, made it difficult for existing student
place just last year and was organised by the then CUSU Womens
University for failing to reach the national standard. Since then, conditions for
for Cambridge students opened in the West Cambridge Site, and a year later,
manner, Susy, her team and their collaborators took to the citys
Clarkson Road. Several other colleges run their own nursery schemes, and the
Over a period of three days in April 2013, more than 700 people
Autonomous campaigns
CUSU has changed considerably since the early to mid-1970s, but the Womens
Campaign remains both integral to, and separate from, it. The main difference
When 60 of them were edited into a Tumblr site, they were re-
between now and then, of course, is that it is now a formal campaign headed
As one of five autonomous campaigns run by the students union the others
being the Black Minority Ethnic (BME) Campaign, the LGBT+ Campaign, the
and the Disabled Students Campaign the Womens Campaign is one of CUSUs
All five of CUSUs autonomous campaigns are tasked with representing and
ideas that feminism is outdated or elitist. Its clear that people are
funding from the students union, they nevertheless operate as independent bodies.
feminists in all kinds of different ways and for all kinds of reasons,
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Widening access
Year 12 applicants.
Although there is still a very long way to go, improving the situation for
reap the rewards of having a more diverse student body. Clare College,
that opening the door to women has meant that other categories of
to none. The organisation was at that time the only students union in
had created in 2001. Not only that, but CUSU was also already running
delights as possible.
first time ever, mature students were eligible to apply for a place.
experiences of non-white
students in Cambridge
Mary Beard
Professor of Classics and
Fellow of Newnham College
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In October 1965, SRC President Alfred Nock and the President of the
Cambridge that would be open to the entire student body and have
the facilities and space to cater for all its members needs. With its
Union Society building to make it a full social centre for the whole
the perfect choice for a dedicated students union building and has
As luck would have it, the Old Press/Mill Lane site, where the
expected that the university will transform this site into the hub of
a renewed area that will also cater for tourists and other visitors
Union Society building would persist for more than 20 years before
it finally expired, the Union Societys home was not the only existing
will help it advance its mission as the representative body for all
Crucially, CUSU hopes to share this new space with other student-led
most suitable site, however, CUSU is not pinning its hopes solely on
House Hotel.
On the move
By 2014, a full 50 years after the SRC was established and Cambridge
the city, little or no progress had been made on this issue. In its first
centre of operations,
half century of life, CUSU has led a nomadic existence, moving from
and CUSU is required to vacate its offices to the rear of the site by
side, the Resource Hub would bring together CUSUs various student
Helen Hoogewerf-McComb
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Hubs of activity
It is anticipated that the Resource Hub will also
house several new services many of which will be
directed at student societies rather than individuals
and a student shop, which it is hoped will be run in
conjunction with the Graduate Union (GU). In addition
to these areas, a Support Hub would be dedicated
to the vital activities of CUSUs Student Advice Service
and would be separate from the other hubs, allowing
for privacy and confidentiality.
A Media Hub would support student media
endeavours across the university. These activities
currently include three student newspapers, two TV
stations, a radio station and numerous other small
publications, magazines and journals. The Media
Hub will also feature small offices for each individual
group, as well as a radio suite, a media suite and
a computer space for students working in print
and online journalism.
Finally, the Facilities Hub would house the existing
Grad Caf, as well as CUSUs proposed new Learning
Lounge. The latter is imagined as a large, open space
adjoining the caf, and could include innovative
learning and social facilities such as soundproof
glass pods that could be used for both individual and
small-group study. While the Learning Lounge would
be accessible to both undergraduate and graduate
students, an additional large event space would
double up as a study room that would cater exclusively
for graduates. This event space could also be used
for conferences and symposia, thereby presenting
a possible additional source of income for CUSU.
So, too, would the several proposed commercial
units of the building, which CUSU envisages leasing
to selected retailers if the venture is approved.
Historically, of course, CUSU has had no success
in finding a suitable and permanent base from which
to conduct its affairs. Perhaps in its 50th year the
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are still a cause for concern today. Of these, the need for
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Cambridge students.
Flick Osborn
CUSU President 2013/14
drew me to it.
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