Last week students from the University of Brighton took to the streets to protest. This comes from the announcement that vice principle Debra Humphris and her board of governors will be closing the Hastings campus down.
From the short period of time ago that the V.C had made the decision, the students have started a protest labeled #HandsoffHastings and say that they won’t be backing down until they get answers which so far Debra Humphris has failed to provide.
Brighton Student Union tells us that the universities plans have changed more than once.
“A meeting took place a few weeks ago to discuss the matter, and it’s true that there really was no official vote. Firstly they said they would be closing the campus within the next 2 years, then they would move the courses and students to Eastbourne and then they said Sussex Coast College but we don’t believe there’s enough funding or resources, so it’s not really viable.”
The Union have been criticized for releasing their statements about the universities plans even before students were told by officials.
“Our main priority is the students so we didn’t want to wait. There are also accommodation issues as well; landlords are worrying about students not being able to invest into their properties, although there are currently halls, once they close who knows what will happen. They’ve promised to start a “teach out” program, which means they can still find a location to teach the students in Hastings instead of moving them to Eastbourne or Sussex coast, but it’s still not something we are happy with.”
-Brighton Student union
It seems that the reason there has been no statement from the University is because they aren’t sure what happening themselves, in the meantime students have been rallying with the public about the matter that’s now become the talk of Hastings town.
Student Harvey Fountains explains to me that he’s increasingly worried about the accommodation.
“There’s already a problem with homeless students living in Hastings, once they close the building it’s only going to get worse. They aren’t happy with the numbers of people attending the campus but they’ve done nothing to help it.”
-Harvey Fountain, UoB Student
The future of the Hasting’s campus is looking bleak at the moment, nothing has yet been set in stone and the students are hoping to turn things around. If the campus closes down it would be a decision that could damage the Universities reputation.