Since Tuesday students at Sussex University have been occupying the first floor of Bramber House. This space was occupied last February and is where Chartwells, the company now in charge of outsourced catering services, is operating. The students declare their continuing fight against the outsourcing process and the marketisation of higher education, exemplified most recently by the selling of the student loan book. Student protests in Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, York, Brighton, London and Manchester, and statements by the National Union of Students show widespread discontent.

Since 30 October, Occupy Sussex has twice taken action to support us, lecturers and tutors, in our national dispute over fair pay. We consider their actions, and ours next Tuesday, to be part of a broader struggle. One to defend and move towards a model of education that prioritises and financially secures the teaching-staff relationship that makes our universities so attractive.

The injunction obtained in April against the previous occupation cost the university £81,812 in legal fees. Considering the widespread support for the occupation inside and outside the university, and the fact that the injunction banned any unauthorised protest on campus and that it failed to do so, we consider these costs unnecessary and misplaced. We are signing this letter of support to pressure the management to open a dialogue with students and staff over outsourcing, representation, and fair pay. It is important to protect the right to protest at our university and avoid any injunctions that could criminalise protesters and curtail that right for all of us.

Prof Luke Martell Head of Department in sociology, University of Sussex

Prof Gurminder K Bhambra University of Warwick

Prof Charlie Post Sociology, Borough of Manhattan Community College and the Graduate Center, CUNY

Prof Des Freedman Media and communications, Goldsmiths, University of London, Secretary, Goldsmiths UCU

Prof Mario Novelli Political economy of Education, University of Sussex

Prof John Holmwood Sociology, University of Nottingham

Prof Marie-Bénédicte Dembour Law and anthropology, University of Brighton

Prof Bill Bowring Law, Birkbeck, University of London

Prof Michael Outhwaite Sociology, University of Newcastle

Prof Raphael Salkie Humanities, University of Brighton

Dr Mark Erickson Reader in sociology, University of Brighton

Dr John Drury Senior lecturer in social psychology, University of Sussex

Dr Benjamin Selwyn Senior lecturer in international relations and development studies, University of Sussex

Dr Lucy Robinson Senior lecturer in history, University of Sussex

Dr Reima Ana Maglajlic Senior lecturer in social work, University of Sussex

Dr Barry Luckock Senior lecturer in social work and social policy, University of Sussex

Dr Benno Teschke Senior lecturer in international relations, University of Sussex

Dr Catherine Will Senior lecturer, Sociology, University of Sussex

Dr Ben Fincham Senior lecturer, Sociology, University of Sussex

Dr Kenneth Veitch Lecturer in law, University of Sussex

Dr Kimberley Brayson Lecturer in law, University of Sussex

Dr Emily Robinson Lecturer in politics, University of Sussex

Dr Michael Kearney Lecturer in Law, University of Sussex

Dr Kamran Matin Lecturer in international relations, University of Sussex

Dr William McEvoy Lecturer in English and drama, University of Sussex

Dr Paul Kirby Lecturer in international relations, University of Sussex

Dr Anna Stavrianakis Lecturer in international relations, University of Sussex

Dr Bhabani Shankar Nayak Lecturer, Glasgow School for Business and Society

Dr Alana Lentin Senior lecturer in cultural and social analysis, University of Sydney

Dr Charlie Masquelier Lecturer in sociology, University of Surrey

Dr Ruth Charnock Lecturer in English literature, University of Lincoln

Dr. Rebecca Searle Lecturer, University of Brighton

Dr Doug Haynes Lecturer in American literature, University of Sussex

Dr Paul O'Connnell Reader in law, SOAS, University of London

Dr Matt Dawson Lecturer in Sociology, University of Glasgow

Dr Lucy Finchett-Maddock Lecturer in Law, University of Brighton

Dr Nadine El-Enany Lecturer in law, Birkbeck, University of London

Dr Ben Jones Lecturer in modern British history, University of East Anglia

Dr Tamsin Hinton-Smith Lecturer in sociology, University of Sussex

Dr Luke Cooper Lecturer in international relations, University of Richmond

Dr Jennifer Cooke Lecturer in English, Loughborough University

Dr Tish Marrable Lecturer in social work, University of Sussex

Dr Tom Hickey Chair, UCU coordinating committee, University of Brighton

Dr Jeffery R Webber Lecturer, Queens Mary University, London

Dr Louise Purbrick School of humanities, University of Brighton

Dr Synne Laastad-Dyvik International Relations, University of Sussex

Dr Cherine Hussein Research scholar, Council for British Research in the Levant

Dr Maïa Pal Sociology, University of Sussex

Dr Chris Kempshall History, University of Sussex

Dr Yuliya Yurchenko Associate researcher CGPE (Sussex), Lecturer in international business (Greenwich)

Dr Kerem Nisancioglu Visiting lecturer, University of Westminster

Dr Shamira A Meghani Former tutorial fellow, School of English (now University of Leeds)

Dr Andrei Gomez-Suarez Research associate, Centre for Criminology, University of Oxford

Dr. Nikolas Funke University of St Andrews

Dr Joanne Lee Senior Lecturer in fine art, Nottingham Trent University