UU internal politics: a fine for students who study too long?
The University Council newsletter announced that the Executive Board proposed (on May 9th, 2011) “to reimburse the faculties within the university only for credit points earned by students within one year of the time given for the curriculum.” This reform would intend “to decrease the number of students who study longer than the time given in the curriculum. The Council decided not to give a positive advice for the time being.” From: Inform@il. (17/5/2011)

Another accusation of censorship at universities as Radboud blocks website
Accusations of censorship at universities continue as the Board of Radboud University (Nijmegen) decided to block it’s University news for outsiders, by making its independent news website soon only accessible for university employees and students via a log-in. An angered interim editor Anne Dohmen explained that the Board didn’t like the journalistic articles written by the editorial office. Last year the Board decided that the independent paper version Vox would be printed less frequently. Dohmen hopes the University Council intervenes, but fears it has little right of say in the matter. From: HU Trajectum (17/5/2011)

Greek students occupy university in protest of police violence
In response to police brutality in Greece during demonstrations on May 11th, Greek students occupied a university in Athens and a doctors’ union denounced the “police abuse of power and brutality.” As the students declaration explains, on May 11th during a general strike demonstration “thousands of protesters voiced their opposition to the Greek government’s anti-social measures which directly effect the workers,” but were “attacked furiously” by police. More than 100 demonstrators were hospitalized, while three of them underwent surgery. On May 12th, students occupied a university in Athens to protest against this police violence, turning the university into “a counter-information centre and a struggle front.” The Public-Hospital Medical Doctors Union also denounced the “endless and unthinkable brutality that the government of the ‘memorandums’ (memorandum = the agreements of the Greek government with the ECB, the EU and the IMF) uses in order to suppress any reaction of citizens that resist the plots of international and domestic capital, that are employed by their loyal servants within the country.” From: Contra-Info, KSU (12/5/2011)

Utrecht protests austerity and police violence
On May 12th around 150 people gathered at the City Hall in Utrecht to protest the use of police violence on May 1st (Labour Day), when an anti-austerity demonstration in Utrecht faced several charges by undercover and riot police forces during which one demonstrator suffered a dislocated elbow. From: KSU (13/5/2011)

From Italy and Spain…
“All over Italy students, migrants and precarious workers took back to the streets to generalize the strike launched by the Union CGIL,” reported Unicommon.org (9/5/2011). In Spain on May 15th around 130.000 people protested in 60 cities under the slogan “Real democracy now! We’re not merchandise in the hands of politicians and bankers,” according to democraciarealya.es. In the following weeks protests and camps occupying the main squares in many different cities like Madrid and Barcelona have continued.