VC Rejects CUSU Graces

The Vice Chancellor has rejected an appeal submitted by CUSU calling for promises on bursaries, despite the union obtaining over five times the number of signatures required.

Last week CUSU rushed to put together two petitions, also known as graces, to try and force the University to promise to maintain Bursaries at the current level, as well as make the University justify £9,000 fees.

CUSU needed to get 25 signatures for the first grace, which was submitted last Friday, but in the end they managed to gather 138 signatures from academics across the University.

Despite this, the University’s Vice Chancellor, Leszek Borysiewicz, has vetoed the petition claiming the: “amendments are inadmissible as being in substance and effect incompatible with the main purpose of the Grace.”

Borysiewicz claimed the purpose of the grace before Regent House was to establish that the current statues on fees were still workable, not to determine the new fee regime.

He said that if the University followed the petitions they would be unable to put their proposal to OFFA in time, and  argued that the decision on bursaries had yet to be taken.

But students have reacted angrily to the decision. CUSU President Rahul Mansigani called the result “maddening,” and said: “We are appalled and outraged by the decision of the University to blatantly refuse to acknowledge the concerns of its students and academics.

“The University’s rules are clear on this matter, and the University has broken them.”

Adam Booth, who is running for CUSU presidency, as well as being involved in Cambridge Defend Education, said: “The University’s refusal to accept the amendments on the bursaries grace shows that we cannot limit action to negotiation and compromise.

“Now, more than ever, we need a fighting student union to defend education.”

CUSU have called for a protest in response to the result to be held tomorrow outside Senate House. View the Facebook event HERE.

The Tab also understand that CUSU will also be appealing the verdict.