Liberate the University occupies UCL's South Cloisters
Source: Liberate the University
A student-led movement has occupied the South Cloisters in support of UCL’s striking lecturers.
In a climate where lecturers are striking and students are often dissonant, Liberate the University is seeking to stimulate debate on the university's treatment of staff, the cut to their pension funds, and the marketisation of the higher education system more broadly.
“We’re against casualisation,” says Leo Peace, a member of Liberate the University. He added that, among university staff and students, there is a feeling that the academic profession is being “deprofessionalised”. Where once there were defined securities and benefits associated with the job, the profession has been eroded, with 35-hour work weeks and poor pay becoming commonplace. Postgraduate teaching assistants (PGTAs), for instance, often work unpaid hours and pocket low hourly wages.
Photography by Elliot de Smedt Day
Owen Jones, newspaper columnist and political commentator, attended the occupation of the South Cloisters, speaking in support of Liberate the University. In his speech, he proclaimed support of Liberate the University’s aim of ‘joining up the dots’: “The strike is about pensions, about security and cleaning workers, but it is also about what society should look like”.
He urged Liberate the University to highlight the inequality that exists at universities, lamenting the “disgraceful situation” where “security workers hold no job security” and simultaneously, where the “management are on inflated wages”. UCL’s provost, Michael Arthur, is paid £368,000 a year; this is eight times more than UCL’s lecturers and 19 times more than PGTAs.
Photography by Elliot de Smedt Day
The occupation is set to continue for this week with daily talks from unions such as the Rail and Maritime Union, representing the underground workers, alongside music and films in the evenings. Later in the week, UCL societies are also expected to join in solidarity. The Environmental Collective is set to hold their meeting at the occupation site.
In a statement concerning the occupation, UCL acknowledged that “students have occupied a part of the Wilkins Building”. For the time being, UCL will “monitor the situation” as long as the building remains accessible. They did not comment on any progress regarding the UCU dispute.
“This shouldn’t be radical,” says Isaac Hanson, who leads Liberate the University. But across London universities, this is the first significant act of solidarity from students. In the coming days, Liberate the University hopes to spread momentum to other universities in the UK and add pressure for a resolution to the UCU dispute.