QUB senior Chancellor appears to step on student protesters over fate of Anthropology

A protest against removing Anthropology as a single honours degree was interrupted by staff who appear to step over campaigners.

Last week, QUB announced there would be a vote amongst chancellors to decide whether or not to remove the subject as a stand alone qualification.

Anthropology students decided to mount a protest the following morning on Monday 11th April. A number of students gathered on the stairs to obstruct the Chancellors from getting in to vote.

But video footage appears to show a senior Chancellor  stepping onto the students.

At around 9am the committee members showed up. Anthropology third year Charley Troy said: “At one point a security guard stepped in front of a chancellor. The fact security had to stop a chancellor shows you how bad it was.”

Sean McFarlane, president of the society for Anthropology said: “We let lecturers past, let people get on with their jobs. The only thing we wanted to disrupt was the vote on the so called ‘Shape and Size review’, which was about losing Anthropology. We were there to protect our field of study.”

The society is looking to obtain more footage from other incidents they say took place.

Treasurer of the Anthropology, Fionnula Braniff, explained her view on the situation: “It’s just crazy to me that the Queen’s management think they can treat their students like that.”

Peatfield is certain that this is not something that would effect just Anthropology: “This happened a few years ago with Ancient History. They took away the single honours but said it would still be available as a double honours subject. Now, just a few years later, the university no longer offers the course at all.”

From left to right: Andreas, Fionnuala, Charley and Sean

Mcfarlane said: “We have the full support of the school of History and of English. They are afraid that they will go next. Queen’s upper management has it’s sights set on downsising their humanities subjects as they don’t see money in them, but Queen’s is a university famous for it’s humanities.”

This also seems to match with the proposed demolition of the students union to make way for a new student centre, made to attract international undergraduates.

The Anthropology society and their fellow protesters are unsure what they will do next, but they are planning action. Braniff said: “We want to make sure we follow the book completely. We are in close contact with the Students Union, making sure everything follows procedure”. Troy also spoke of how the scope of the response is going to change: “It’s less of a protest now, it’s more of a counter-campaign. We are making sure we do everything right.”

It was decided that the university would go forward with the proposal, though no vote took place on the day, throwing the legality and ethics into question.

We have contacted the university for a comment on the situation, but as of the time of publishing, they have not responded.