Your report (Oxford and Cambridge to join £9,000 club on fees, 9 February) may correctly report the thinking of senior officials at these universities, but it could give a false impression that Oxford's congregation, the university's sovereign body, approved specific proposals at its discussion on Tuesday. Congregation has not yet seen details of the fees proposals that must eventually be presented to it for approval by the council. The discussion simply gave university officials and other congregation members the chance to express their views.
You make no mention of the majority of speeches by academics and students opposed to a hike in tuition fees; and more generally to the cuts in public funding, the removal of the education maintenance allowance, and the false assumptions behind the Browne report. Failure to report this opposition will make it more difficult for the academic community as a whole to unite in opposition to the coalition's marketisation of higher education. A recording of the discussion can be heard at www.ox.ac.uk/subsite/congregation_meeting/congregation_meeting/. A transcript will be made available later.
David Barclay President, OUSU
Robin Briggs Emeritus fellow, All Souls
Beth Evans Vice-president (Graduates), OUSU; Wadham College
Robert Gildea Professor of Modern History
Patrick McGuinness Professor of French and Comparative Literature, St Anne's College
David Norbrook Merton professor of English literature
John Parrington Fellow and tutor in medicine, Worcester College
Rebecca Sparrow Oxford Education Campaign; Wadham College
Bernard Sufrin Emeritus fellow and tutor, Worcester College
Rowan Tomlinson Fellow and tutor in French, New College
Kate Tunstall Fellow and tutor in French, Worcester College
Stuart White Fellow and tutor in politics, Jesus College
• Russell Group universities don't need to set themselves the impossible task of solving the problem of underachievement in state schools. My daughter, who received the middle level of EMA and attended the local comprehensive, attained three A*s and one A at A-level. She failed her Oxford interview because she was overwhelmed by its social circumstances and her fellow candidates, most of whom hadn't heard of Shropshire. Nor had she received intensive, paid-for, tutoring for the event. Oh, and she was the only one without an iPhone.
Debbie Gore
Clive, Shropshire