Are the Pope’s comments too little too late? (page 16)
indigo goes to Klute. Sober. (page i9)
Durham’s independent student newspaper
Palatinate www.palatinate.org.uk
8
No. 767
Thursday 20th November 2014 | FREE
News Features: More students now go into social work
Politics: 12 Obama’s uphill struggle commences
Protesters outside Israeli Ambassador Taub’s address hand out cupcakes
Photograph: Venus Loi
Students’ Union rejects free education motion Josh Smith
Creative Writing: i12 An interview with Alistair Robinson
Durham Students’ Union voted against a motion that proposed to support free education on Thursday 13th November, following a heated debate in Assembly. The vote came as a debate on ‘This House Supports Free Education’ in the Durham Union Society on Wednesday was rejected by one vote.
Speaking for the proposition, Jamie Penston Raja, a member of Durham Young Greens, said at the Union Society: “A right to education is one of the only rights you have.” Penston Raja stressed how free education would increase voter turnout, leading to a society “which is happier and healthier to live in.” One of the most contentious issues in the Free Education debate has been concern for international students’ fees. An increase in international tuition fees, Penston Raja
claimed, has led to a 15% drop in the number of international students at university. Penston Raja continued: “This is detrimental to our society. There is less cultural understanding at university.” However, in the debate at the Students’ Union on Thursday, a representative for Hatfield JCR maintained that after the introduction of tuition fees, there has been no such fall in the number of students applying to university.
Speaking to Palatinate, Penston Raja said he was “appalled” at the result in the Students’ Union on Thursday, after he presented William Pinkney-Bird’s original motion in his absence. “The disregard for any of the economic points I put forward showed the prejudice and privilege held by many Durham colleges.” Continued on page 6