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Mar 10
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Vast majority vote for ULU to remain in student hands

By London Student, University of London News

 

The majority of participants in a referendum held by the University of London Union (ULU) have voted against university management plans to scrap the union.

86% of the 4,545 students who took part in the referendum, which closed on 7 February, voted ‘yes’ to the question “Should ULU’s building, activities and campaigns continue to be run democratically by students?”

University of London’s (UoL) current plans involve closing the democratic representation functions of the union with management taking over its current facilities in order to create a ‘New Student Centre’.

Heythrop College and Goldsmiths have yet to contribute their results due to “political” and logistical issues, but both are expected to do so at a later date.

Adrian Smith, UoL’s vice-chancellor, was principal at Queen Mary in 2005 when the the possibility of absorbing the students’ union into the college as a department was considered.

Michael Chessum, president of ULU, said the result proved that proposals to abolish the union have “no legitimacy”.
“Any notion that the university’s plans had any sort of public support are now out the window,” he said.

Shelly Asquith, chair of National Union of Students London said: “It is clear that students are rejecting the university’s proposals, and the University of London must respect that.”

But UoL said they were standing by the conclusions of their own review and criticised the referendum on the grounds that those who voted were “only a tiny minority, just 3.75% of our total student population.”

However, just 826 students – 0.6% of the student body – responded to the university’s own survey on the student centre plans late last year.

A university spokesperson insisted the survey and referendum were “two completely different things” and said the survey was to see students’ opinions and would not “be used directly to create policy.”

Adrian Polglase, London Student: Issue 8 (10/03/2014)

Feb 17
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UCL and IOE in merger discussions

By London Student, University of London News

Institute of Education

University College London (UCL) and the Institute of Education (IoE) have announced on Wednesday that they are beginning to consult on a proposed merger.

The consultation, which will last until May, comes after a report by Times Higher Education (THE) which revealed that staff at IoE had been informed of the plans at a faculty briefing on 5 February.

If the merger were to go ahead, IoE would become UCL’s biggest faculty, a follow on from a strategic partnership already formed in 2012.

However, concerns have already been expressed about the loss of IoE’s university charter, degree-awarding powers and of potential ‘asset-stripping’.

Even though UCL Provost, Professor Michael Arthur, has stated that IoE staff have been guaranteed that there will be no job losses in the first year after the merger with UCL, an internal report by the two institutions suggests that this may change later.

The report states that job losses may be a scenario in the long term owing to a “detailed consideration of the administrative requirement for the new faculty” that would take place after the two institutions combine.

Charlie Owen, president of the University and College Union (UCU) branch for IoE, stated they had no official stance on the issue but expressed concerns over potential job losses over the medium term as well as the sudden announcement, which had been discussed behind “closed doors” by the management.

This news follows a merger between UCL and The School of Pharmacy in 2012 which went ahead despite meeting significant resistance by the school’s staff.

The UCU launched a ‘Saving Our School’ campaign after a survey of just over half the school’s staff voted 85% against the decision.

In original minutes, the institution’s audit committee stated that the merger proposals “did not provide assurance that the project was adequately managed or resourced” and that there was “no coherent plan”.

Yet, three months later, the committee removed the most explicit criticism from the minutes after the governing council suggested that these “strongly held concerns” be raised with its chair.

Professor Arthur has said that the School of Pharmacy benefited from attracting additional investment whilst retaining its own leadership under UCL.

In regards to IoE he commented, “We are not a predator – we are a thoughtful academic institution that does things for academic reasons, not to make cost savings”.

Adrian Polglase, London Student: for Issue 7 (17/02/2014)

Jan 27
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Anonymous hack QMUL over MoD links

By London Student, University of London News

Queen's Building, Queen Mary, University of London

Online activist group Anonymous has hacked into and leaked confidential information from Queen Mary, University of London.

The information included a sample of student details and map of the college’s IT network.

That ‘hacktivist’ group claimed the move was a response to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) funding “invasive” research at Queen Mary.

This attack was in response to the Guardian’s revelation earlier this month that the MoD funded individual Ph.D students’ cyberspace-related research at six higher education institutions, including Queen Mary and King’s College London.

A member of Anonymous told the Daily Dot that the group “plan on stirring things up over the universities taking MoD cash for invasive research”.

A spokesperson from Queen Mary said “We are investigating the claims. We have informed the police”.

Keumars Afifi-Sabet and Adrian Polglase, London Student: Issue 6 (27/01/2014)

Dec 09
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Teaching staff take further strike action

By London Student, National News, University of London News
Deptford Town Hall

Deptford Town Hall

University academic and support staff held a second strike over pay last Tuesday, following previous action on 31 October, with student at one University of London college staging an occupation in support.

Members of four unions – the University and College Union (UCU), Unite, Unison and the Educational Institute of Scotland – formed picket lines all over the country on 3 December, opposing a 1% pay rise offer which they say constitutes a 13% real terms cut sincere 2008.

Last Tuesday’s action forced the University of London to shut Senate House Library and caused class cancellations across the city.

The strike also say Goldsmiths students occupy Deptford Town Hall, which houses university management offices, in support of the strikers. Around 100 students moved in last Monday evening, with around 30 saying until 12pm the following day.

Their occupation came after other by students in Sheffield, Edinburgh, Sussex, Ulster, Birmingham and Exeter.

In a statement, the occupiers said managers should look to their own incomes to find savings. “The university sector has the biggest pay disparity of all public sectors, with the gender pay gap widening with every new government policy of marketisation”.

In an open letter to Pay Loughrey, Goldsmiths’ warden, members of the university’s UCU brand wrote: “While salaries of lecturers and support staff have declined in real terms, the same cannot be said of the warden who has recently been awarded a 9% pay rise and benefits from a pension contribution far in excess of the annual salary of most support staff”.

A Goldsmiths press officer response to UCU’s letter by emphasising that of the four years Loughrey has been warden, he has only accepted a pay rise in one of them, making his average yearly pay increase just over 2%.

He also claimed that Loughrey was “well below average” in league tables comparing university head’s salaries with seventy others earning more than him.

Adrian Polglase and Nicholas Winchester, London Student: Issue 5 (09/12/2013)

Oct 28
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University's survey on future of ULU criticised

By London Student, University of London News
University of London Union Building on Malet Street

University of London Union Building on Malet Street

A University of London survey released this month asking for opinions on what should replace its students union, which is set to close next year, has been condemned by the students’ union itself.

The questionnaire is meant to find out from students which services they currently use at the University of London Union (ULU) building and which they could do without. The university has voiced an intention to turn the premises into a ‘student centre’ from 2014, apparently removing its elected officers but keeping some services.

There is no option on the survey students can select if they want to see the building continuing to be run by elected officers.

Moreover, anyone can fill in the online survey, launched on 12 October, since no university password is required. By using a different browser, a person can participate in it multiple times.

Michael Chessum, ULU president, said that the survey placed students “in the absurd position” of filling out a survey “in which they can say anything except what the vast majority of them must be thinking: that we want democratic control of the building”.

At last Thursday’s meeting of the ULU senate, the student unions of Birkbeck, Goldsmiths and the School of Oriental and African Studies said they would “definitely not” be sending the survey to their members.

Chessum said ULU will run a referendum to rival the university’s survey next month.

At time of going to print, the university was unavailable to comment.

Adrian Polglase, London Student: Issue 3 (28/10/2013)

Sep 16
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University attempts to ban protest on campus

By London Student, University of London News
3Cosas Arrest

Chalker Arrest outside ULU

The University of London declared restrictions on protests on its campus, following the prosecution of a student protesting in support of outsource University workers as part of the 3Cosas campaign.

A letter sent by the University’s Chief Operating Officer, Chris Cobb, to University of London Union (ULU) president Michael Chessum stated that management is “no longer willing to tolerate demonstrations” on parts of its campus, including Senate House, the administrative centre of the University.

The letter continued that if these restrictions were ignored, the university would consider protesters to be trespassing and take “necessary legal measures to prevent and prosecute such trespass”.

It also claimed that 3Cosas protests, which call for pensions, sick and holiday pay for outsourced staff on the same terms as directly employed staff, intimidated and frustrated students, staff and visitors using Senate House.

The warning was sent following police officers being called onto campus after a University of London student wrote “sick pay, holidays, pensions now” in chalk on the Senate House foundation stone.

Police arrested the student on one charge of criminal damage and two of assaulting a police officer on 16th July.

In a preliminary hearing at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court last month, the 24-year-old denied causing criminal damage in excess of £600. She also denied assaulting an officer inside ULU and another on Malet Street.

The maximum penalty for assaulting an officer is six months’ imprisonment, whilst the maximum penalty for criminal damage in this case is three months’ imprisonment.

The student represented herself at the hearing, claiming that her legal aid had not come through in time. Outside the court demonstrators protested the charges.

Daniel Cooper, ULU’s vice- president, claimed that there were around forty demonstrators. Following the proceedings, he said: “I am disappointed the case wasn’t thrown out, but it was expected”. He also reiterated ULU’s earlier stance that “the university must issue an apology, and intervene with the authorities”.

ULU described her arrest as “a disgrace”. It added: “Chalk can be washed off – that is the whole point of chalk”.

Following the hearing, the student was granted bail and will face trial on 17th October at Tottenham Magistrates’ Court.

Adrian Polglase, London Student: Issue 1 (16/09/2013)

Sep 16
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Queen Mary Students' Union overrules members on sports team merger

By London Student, University of London News

Queen Mary Students’ Union’s Board of Trustees has overruled a vote at its Annual Members’ Meeting to keep the sports teams of the college and its medical school separate.

Members voted in favour of Queen Mary and Barts and The London continuing to compete separately in British Universities and Colleges Sports (BUCS) competitions in February. However, the trustees decided in June that the two will compete as a “single entity” under the name “Queen Mary (Barts and The London Medics)” from 2013/14 onwards.

Their decision follows a BUCS review which decided to prevent medical students competing for both their medical school and parent university.

Keeping the teams at Queen Mary separate would make fielding women’s rugby and basketball teams impossible according to Kayah Abdulmajed, the incoming Mile End sports officer. In the context of the union’s Diversity and Equality Policy, the trustees ruled that this would be unacceptable.

But Andrew Smith, the outgoing vice-president of the Barts and The London Student Association (BLSA), called for a delay on overriding the members’ vote until a “more objective review” took place.

He said keeping the teams separate “preserves the identity and heritage of both institutions.”

Sarah Sawar, the incoming union president, disagreed and supported the trustees’ decision. She said: “We have individuality across the campuses and that is something special, but that does not mean that we are separate.”

Michael Woods, president of Queen Mary’s men’s rugby, told QMessenger: “We fail to understand why BUCS have felt the need to enforce change when we feel there was no problem with the previous system”.

Eleanor Matthews, president of Queen Mary’s women’s rugby, voiced support for the trustees’ decision. She told the newspaper that “the other option would have completely devastated mine and several other sports club.”

Ivy Lim, from Queen Mary’s women’s basketball team, shared this view. She said that had the teams remained separate, “in terms of club development, our good work from the past three years would’ve been in jeopardy”.

Adrian Polglase, London Student: Issue 1 (16/09/2013)

Sep 16
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Struggle for ULU legacy

By London Student, University of London News

Representatives from London’s students’ unions are at odds with the National Union of Students (NUS) over what should replace the University of London Union (ULU).

Following a University of London Council vote to shut ULU in May, sabbatical officers from unions in London met in July and founded the London Union of Students (LUS). It elected an eleven-member executive committee, with two of those members from unions outside the University of London.

The intention of the LUS’s founders is that, in the likely absence of ULU, it will be a union in the full-blooded sense, with democratically elected full-time officers.

ULU’s press release announcing the new union also said: “It is possible that LUS could lay claim as successor to ULU’s headquarters on Malet Street”.

The NUS held a rival meeting this month, proposing NUS London – an organisation that would be “democratic in nature” but lack full-time officers.

The proposal, made at a meeting of the National Executive Council (NEC), also made no mention of ULU’s headquarters.

A London union source described the NUS’s proposal as “watered down”, suggesting the NUS was reluctant to support a full union because it would be dominated by the left.

Michael Chessum, president of ULU and a member of the LUS’s executive committee, pointed out areas where he disagreed with the NUS plan.

He said: “The relationship between the new pan-London structure and ULU and its building is not yet formally established… There is also not yet a consensus on exactly what kind of presence full-time elected officers should have in the new structure”.

The proposed NUS London body claims to be “politically autonomous” and will act as “a legitimate voice” for London’s students. There will be an attempt to merge the two proposals when the NEC votes on an amendment tomorrow.

Adrian Polglase & James Burley, London Student: Issue 1 (16/09/2013)

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