Just
when I thought that we were entering a quiet phase in the campaign to
keep Classics intact at Royal Holloway, things have suddenly hotted up.
Last
Wednesday a group of students peacefully occupied the charged space of the main building’s east
wing (sometimes known as ‘Testosterone Corridor’) leading to the
Principal's office. They are demanding that management helps students
more financially, allows them greater representation on Council, and
lifts all the threats of redundancy from the Department of Classics & Philosophy.

The young people outside Paul Layzell's door, beneath the portraits of former Principals, are symbolically taking back ownership of
Higher Education. They are asking politely but firmly to be allowed a
real part in decisions about the curriculum and funding.

His appointment at Royal Holloway was ratified by our Council precisely two
weeks later.
The
classicists among the Royal occupiers know that there is a
precedent for their policy — which in my youth long ago we used to call a
‘sit-in’ — provided by a famous ancient play.

Lysistrata and the
women want control over the exchequer because the men have created a hopeless
crisis in both domestic and international politics. When the
self-regarding city magistrate orders his battalion of thuggish Scythian archers (the ancient
equivalent of riot police with batons and pepper sprays) to evict the
women, he suffers a physical, moral and intellectual defeat.

The Royal Holloway occupation mirrors similar student initiatives on campuses up and down the country. For the cause of this particular occupation of course can't be understood in isolation from the government's plans for HE in the UK, which is to turn universities into commercial enterprises regardless of the deleterious impact this will have on the quality, accessibility and diversity of intellectual work in our country.
It was almost exactly a year ago, on 9th December 2010, when the coalition government pushed through the education 'reforms' which proved to be the crunch psychologically for all financially fixated UK university managers. The first anniversary of that lamentable decision will be a suitable occasion for a performance of Lysistrata's great speech on fiscal policy and morale in Management Corridor next week.
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