On their website they say:
we will "not be bound to prevailing paradigms of social and political discourse"
we aim to create "a network of people who feel that the current higher education system stifles their abilities and potential"
we are "positively elitist and meritocratic. We wish to re-create the academic ethos that got lost in today's mass universities"
and
"We enjoy the ambiguity of being, at the same time, independent of the University of Sussex and on campus, of being research students but also student leaders and researchers of our own making"
Methinks they're a little too big for their boots. If they really HAVE been stifled, then I guess I should admire them though.