Yet the "class wars," as some Oxford students have termed it, may also be the British government's strategy to pave the way for somewhat unpopular legislation.

"The government got on the back of this story," OUSU Press Officer Jeff S. Glekin said. "At the beginning of the week it was a very small story but then Gordon Brown condemned Oxford."

The Labor government currently in power is expected to release a plan in which education in England would be funded similarly to education in United States.

Currently, university education is free for eligible students, but the new "top-up" fees could change that system.

Students, or their parents, would have to pay for their education if they could afford it. More competitive universities would cost more than less competitive ones.

While this may not seem like a novel idea to Americans, British students say this is a revolutionary idea.

"We don't see Britain as a fair system to compare to America," Glekin said. "We're so different culturally and economically. That education should be free for all is entrenched in people's minds here."

Oxford students are actively protesting the possible change in legislation and are complaining that the attack on Oxford has an ulterior motive.