Students in London have voted to save their student union after the university threatened to turn it into a management-run services centre in order to save money.
The University of London Union (ULU) will be scrapped this summer, despite being Europe's largest student union. Students have called the decision "disgraceful" and "destructive".
Many are questioning the university's reason as the vice-chancellors have a combined salary of £4.1m. According to the union, the cost of funding ULU is an annual grant of £800,000, most of which is paid directly back to the university as rent.
Michael Chessum, president of the union, told The Independent: "The referendum proven what we already knew: that the proposals to abolish ULU have no legitimacy and that management are running out of credibility.
"The fight to keep the ULU building in student hands isn't just about ensuring the continuation of vital campaigns and services, it's also about what kind of education system we want to see: one in which students and workers are part of a genuine community and have the freedom and space to organise, or one in which campuses are run by unaccountable managers like big businesses."
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The ULU represents more than 120,000 students from 18 colleges and 10 research institutions, including the University College London (UCL).
A petition has also been started in efforts to save the union and has more than 7,000 signatures.
A spokesperson for the University of London said: “We are not planning on removing any of the services the students’ value. What we are interested in is working with the wider student body to ensure the student services provided are the ones the students want.”