University of Glas-Can’t-Go: coronavirus ‘chaos’ at Glasgow University as Nicola Sturgeon tightens Covid-19 restrictions

Nicola Sturgeon has placed additional pandemic restraints on students in Scotland, raising concerns about how Westminster will react to an uptake in coronavirus cases south of the border.

Photo by Michael D Beckwith on Unsplash

Almost 200 students at Britain’s fourth oldest university have tested positive for Covid-19 and an additional 600 are now required to self-isolate, prompting fears that other universities in England could experience similar outbreaks. It is believed that the university’s freshers’ week, which began on September 12, was the leading cause for the spike in cases.

One student, Ben Cochrane, told Sky News that “Just out here there have been large amounts of people gathering and I think they just don’t realise until it quite hits them, there were big parties and people coming out of their flats.”

The surge in cases has confirmed the concerns of respondents to a Survation poll conducted earlier this week. The poll suggested that residents in university towns and cities feared that the return of students would cause Covid-19 cases to skyrocket, prompting the introduction of local lockdown measures that would restrict civil and economic freedoms for all inhabitants.

As Scotland’s largest city, Glasgow is home to a significant student population, with 30,000 students enrolled at the University of Glasgow,  and an additional 40,000 students studying at the University of Strathclyde and Glasgow Caledonian University.

Professor Jason Leitch, the national clinical director of the Scottish government, initially told students that they could return to their family homes, but that “they should think hard about that”. Nonetheless, he later backpedaled and tweeted to clarify that family homes are “a separate household… [and] the law is clear: [students] can’t meet indoors with another household – even mum and dad.”

The Scottish government has since published new guidelines in a bid to prevent the spread of coronavirus across Scotland’s 15 universities. The guidelines state that “there must be no parties, and no socialising outside their households” and that students will be advised “not to go to bars or other hospitality venues”. Staff presence will be increased in student accommodation to police breaches of guidance, while “liaison” with Police Scotland will intensify and universities will introduce a “yellow” and “red” care system to discipline students that breach these guidelines.    

James Yucel, a political reporter for Glasgow’s student paper, the Glasgow Guardian, described the events as “utter chaos” like an “absolute exodus”, with “students frantically booking flights home, terminating rental contracts, being threatened with expulsion if [they] break the rule of six or go to the pub.”

A spokesperson for the University of Glasgow confirmed Yucel’s concerns about the severe punishments that noncompliant students could face. The spokesperson stated that the “university will not tolerate behaviour that puts others at risk” and added that “disciplinary action against any student who breaks the rules will include termination of student accommodation contracts and suspension from the university.”

However, the announcement by Universities Scotland and endorsement by Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has prompted criticism from the President of the National Union of Students Scotland Matthew Crilly and Mary Senior, an official at Scotland’s University and College Union (UCU).

Crilly said that the announcement showed a “complete disregard for students’ mental health and wellbeing”. He added that it “unfairly blames students for the spread of coronavirus and takes the unjustified step of applying different rules to students over and above the rest of the adult population.” 

The Times has reported that Senior reiterated Crilly’s concerns about blaming students, describing it as an “astonishing” accusation and stating that restricting students freedoms was treating them like “second-class citizens”. Senior and the UCU have suggested that Scottish universities “should instead switch to online teaching, in line with other workplaces”.

As James Yucel told Pi Media, “we were told we would be studying via a hybrid system where some of our course would be online and some in person - which is why we all came up to Glasgow. Now we know the course is likely to be online for the entire year, we are severely out of pocket because of the money we’ve spent on rent, living fees, bills, textbooks etc.”

Today, LBC has confirmed that the university will grant students a four-week rent rebate and those living in undergraduate accommodation will receive £50 in credit to spend on food deliveries in an attempt to offset the additional costs during this “very difficult time”. 

Coronavirus cases are also beginning to rise in university cities south of the border, raising concerns about the government’s possible reaction to cases in England. On Thursday, the University of Liverpool, Manchester Metropolitan University and Oxford Brookes University recorded a total of 149 coronavirus cases. 

Earlier this month, University College London published a list of measures in place across halls to prevent the spread of Covid-19 on campus in Bloomsbury. The list includes: social distance markings on entrance, one-way systems, hand sanitation stations in halls receptions, mandatory face coverings in certain areas, reduced access to communal areas to allow more time for deep cleaning, contactless parcel collections, and even the creation of a laundry app to reduce the risk of students being crammed into overcrowded launderettes, waiting for their clothes to be cleaned.

Britain’s Health Secretary Matthew Hancock has refused to rule out the possibility that students in England will be forced to spend Christmas on campus. Instead, Hancock told the BBC that: “We just have to work on all contingencies at this stage. I know that people understand it’s an unprecedented crisis and so we do have to work on contingency plans.”

However, Culture Minister Oliver Dowden has told Sophie Ridge on Sunday that the public will need to strictly follow government guidance to ensure students are home for Christmas. 

"I want students to be able to go home for Christmas and if we all pull together and observe these new rules, we follow the guidance, then we should be able to get to a point where that should be possible," Dowden added.

This article is published as part of The Commons Man series, written by Pi Media columnist Jack Walters.