QUB is on the warpath against the arts, and it’s not okay

Goodbye culture, humanities and the arts


Last Monday night Queens Anthropology students found out that there would be a vote to do away with their single honour degree. The vote was almost certain to be passed. And it was taking place the very next morning.

Nearly sixty people including students and staff members took to the Lanyon building to stage a peaceful sit down protest. Completely legal, completely within their rights as students. And if removing their chosen academic path and only telling them about it the night before was not enough a sign of disrespect to their student body, the actions of the Queen’s chancellors at the protest became truly shocking.

I first enrolled in Queen’s as an Anthropology student. I’d been interested in the subject for a while and it helped that one of my favourite people in the entire world, Kurt Vonnegut, was a graduate. I was excited to start. Though I was incredibly interested by the subject, I realised soon that it was not right for me and switched to Film, which fit my needs better.

However this switch was never down to the quality of the Anthropology degree taught at Queen’s. The department is filled with bright young students, wanting to make a difference in the world by understanding the people that inhabit it. It is taught by staff who it is easy to see are clearly there for much more than a pay check. They care about their work and their students. They are the exact sort of people you want to see guiding you through the next few years of uni when you sit down on the first day of induction. This quality is reflected in our ranking, consistently in the top ten in the UK. Anthropology is something Queen’s should be proud of.

So with all this knowledge I was appalled to hear how the degree, it’s staff and it’s students have been treated over the past week. What is scarier however, is how this may effect many more subjects in the Arts and the Humanities at Queen’s. If you are in a non STEM course, you should be wary of what’s going on right now. Your course could very well be in danger too.

There had been rumours circling the school of Anthropology that Queen’s may be looking to downsize the subject, but they were rumours and nothing more. No concrete information was ever given. Until on Monday night  the Anthropology society found out about the vote for Queen’s upper management   the very next morning. This gave the students that opposed it, mere hours to form some kind of response.

I sat down, with four members of the school of Anthropology to discuss what had went on and how they felt about what was taking place.

Andreas Peatfield, an Anthropology masters was alledgedly kicked in the head by the Chancellor for Human Resources as he tried to move past the sit down. Andreas also told me of how it could have been more serious: Alledgedy, the incident meant Andreas had to make a trip to the hospital. “I’m actually epileptic. I had to go to my neurologist and get a brain scan just to make sure that everything was all right, as any knock to the head is dangerous for me. I know that the Chancellor couldn’t have know of my condition, but it’s not unreasonable to expect him to be more careful when interacting with students.”

Ironically, this was the Chancellor for Human Resources, meaning that if Andreas wanted to file a HR complaint about the incident, he would have to file it to the man who kicked him. You couldn’t make it up.

This same Chancellor is known for threatening to revoke a days pay from staff who took part in a two hour protest two years ago and this is confirmed in documents acquired by the Tab.

The actions of the Queens Management is highly questionable, as are their reasons for doing it.  Anthropology president Sean McFarlane told me some numbers to illustrate his point. “In 2011 Queen’s budget was cut by around £8 million. But in response, Queen’s cut £15.9 million, resulting in the loss of 142 jobs. This is a very similar situation, and it’s ridiculous seeing as Queens made 27 million from London stock market investments last year alone.”

Anthropology is a cheap degree too. The students pay for their field work, and there is only ten members of permanent staff, of which three would be lost in the downsizing, a significant blow for the course. There is no need for computer labs or sophisticated technology, merely a classroom and lecturers.

Sean (right) and the Anthropology Society

It seems Queens wants to move their money out of Humanities and into STEM subjects.  They also want to increase the flow of international students into Queen’s. Recently it was announced that grade requirements for local and EU students would be raised, while requirements for mainland and international students would be lowered. And this is only in the Arts. The sciences will not be effected. It’s hard not to think that the only reason for this is the much higher entrance fees these students pay, sometimes as much as £34k.

Queens is decimating it’s history as a great university in the humanities to make a short sighted profit. This is even more ridiculous to see when you look at the rankings. Queen’s is divesting in a highly rated subject like Anthropology (Consistently in the top ten, rated number one for research in the UK) to put more money into subjects like medicine, which out of 34 universities in the UK, is rated 30. Queen’s is not a STEM university, and it never will be seen as one. If a student has an offer from Oxford or Queens in a STEM subject, it is obvious which one they will choose.

I urge you to keep an eye on how this develops and if you care, to share the story with whoever you can. One of the reasons Queens is a great university is because of the university life that surrounds it, and it’s the subjects like arts and humanities, and environments like Mandela hall that create this. If you care about retaining the spirit of Queens, it is time you act and make your voice heard before the University is taken away from us. I know I will be making mine heard.