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It all started in 0th Week last Michaelmas term, when we innocent freshers were polled by our JCR as to whether we wanted to run a non-payment campaign in Somerville college. With the resounding YES vote, we decided to set up a Campaign Against Fees Committee for those first years interested in withholding payment of their tuition fees and in protesting against recent changes to Higher Education funding. We structured our committee on an informal basis, with a small executive consisting of chair, treasurer, secretary, communications officer (to maintain our email list) and publicity officer (to handle the media). Of the committee members, two are elected to attend SAFE meetings to represent the views of the Somerville campaign, and we hold well-publicised weekly meetings open to anyone in college.  The main role of our committee is to oversee our non-payment bank account. We chose to open a communal account as it proved to the world that the tuition fees were being withheld on principle and not being frittered away in the college bar; the interest on the funds was used for campaigning expenses. We opened a Co-operative Bank deposit account, which allowed for multiple signatories; we chose to have eight for reasons of security, any four of whom had to sign for a transaction. When choosing an account, it is important to bear in mind that you will probably have to open a business account and so may be liable for charges; we opened our account at the Co-operative Bank because of their ethical investment policy. Apart from its practical advanges, such as the ability to pay fees at very short notice, a CAF bank account can help foster a sense of collective responsibility. We're not claiming that our campaign set-up here was perfect; we did make some mistakes, notably in the lack of committee liaison over the Christmas vacation. However, at one point we had thirty non-payers in college, and we are gearing up for the next academic year, when we hope to include even more existing students plus the freshers in an even bigger non-payment campaign. For more information or a copy of Somerville CAF committee guidelines, please contact safe@n2.com |
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