Schumacher College students protested at the closure of the centre on Sunday (September 1) and criticised Datington Hall Trust's handling of the affair.
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00:00The first thing that I heard of it, and I think everyone heard of it, it was mentioned
00:12in that article that everyone received, all students had been emailed, actually no students
00:17were emailed. I don't think that I still haven't received an email, I don't know if other people
00:22have, but that's where I'm at with that. So yeah, I'm halfway through, I would be going
00:30back in March and finishing in August and so obviously there's no clear guidance whatsoever.
00:36So this is your final year? Yeah. So how do you feel about the way it's been done? I'm
00:42gutted and it feels very brutal and I'm sad, of course I'm sad for my own MA, I'm sad for
00:49this community, because if you've really taken part, if you've really lived here, you know what
00:54it's about and you know how much of an impact it makes people and the world. These places are very
01:00very special and they're like jewels, they're like hidden jewels, they're not necessarily that obvious
01:04to most of the world. So yeah, I'm gutted for the community and I think it's just barbaric the way
01:09it's been conducted. It's just, there's almost no communication at all. You are also a student
01:17here or you have been a student? I was a student last year, I was a grower, so we were here for six
01:22months living residential growing food for the college and learning about growing food.
01:27Right. And the growers are a very integral part to the college. When they made the announcement
01:34they said they couldn't continue with Siumaca College because it's a huge loss-making venture,
01:40what's your response to that? I think we don't know for sure how true that is. I mean,
01:48the point is they've captured the narrative very quickly to scapegoat Siumaca, which in itself is
01:57clearly... What are you hoping to do now though? You've got a protest here today, what are you
02:03hoping to achieve with the protest? We're hoping to show up and demonstrate what this place is about and actually
02:08turn up and try and really want to force a dialogue. We would like an actual response
02:13from the CEO, from... This place is about community spirit, it's about working together,
02:21it's about demonstrating a way of life which is meaningful and is sensitive and in which
02:27you can actually... Decisions can be made in a communal way, not in a top-down way, which
02:34is what's happening now. Craig Cooper here from Australia, born in England, grew up in
02:41Australia, passionate about First Nations wisdom and my identity here to come back and learn.
02:47Completed a Masters of Regenerative Economics, world-class college, 100% convinced it's the
02:53best we've got. We've got students from all around the world. Regenerative Economics is about how we
02:57create enterprises and still keep an economy that cares for Mother Earth. This is an international
03:04college, surprised, saddened, but nevertheless we'll champion on.