Lancsolidarity walkout held in Alexandra Square

In Alex Square, approximately forty protesters gathered in the rain and wind to protest against the university management in a student walkout, yesterday, Wednesday March 2nd.

The event was organised by the student-run groups @lancsolidarity and @lancastermarxistsociety, and the turn out comprised of a mix of students, academic and professional staff, as well as representatives from the UCU.

The protest was a part of the National Union of Students’ (NUS) Student Strike for Education: Walk Out Teach In, and was directly after the final picket line of ten days of strikes.

Those in attendance were there for a variety of reasons, but all held one major goal. The event was formatted as as open mic, with some speakers having been planned in advance, and others choosing to speak off the cuff.

‘The uni management has done nothing’

Opening the protest were the students who founded @lancsolidarity, who asked, “what are we paying nine grand for? Well apparently, what we’re paying nine grand for is a uni that invests heavily in arms sales and wars across the world, we are paying nine grand to a uni that isn’t taking issues to do with racism seriously.”

They went on to say: “The uni management has done nothing to support those who have been discriminated against”, citing the case earlier in the term where former Lancaster University student, Sa’ad Mustafā, posted a TikTok detailing the racism he faced whilst a first year student at Lancaster in 2018 and the university’s handling of this case. 

The students also spoke on the direct impact that management has had on the staff and their pensions, saying: “The Vice Chancellor, during the pandemic, gave himself a bonus, whilst staff pensions are under threat. A VC who is building buildings instead of helping his staff who were working through Covid, and all of this, and the uni has a budget of £300 million. £300 million! And they make a profit every year of about £15 million, I believe. To solve this pension fund, we’re taking 0.5% of this budget. We don’t have a VC that is looking out for us.”

‘We need to stand firm against this great injustice’

Several students from the Lancaster Marxist Society spoke, including one who made a passionate case to university management for the Disabled Student’s Allowance, following their own positive experience with it and other’s negative. They said: “I am one of the fortunate few that have been able to get through this complicated system, this very bureaucratic system, this delayed system. Some of my mates, who have conditions such as dyslexia, dyspraxia, have not been informed of the service, but when they have applied, they have had no response, and have had delays of up to a year.”

Acknowledging a particular situation, they detailed: “My mate, who is in second year now, has only got the application through as of this month. This is a year and a half of basically being disadvantaged in comparison to most students.”

They closed by saying: “We need to stand firm against this great injustice. We need to fight for a free and fair education, where we work to help each other and to give each other a leg up.”

‘The UCU cares about us’

One student spoke passionately about their experiences on the picket lines over the last three weeks, explaining that they hadn’t been intending to speak this morning but had decided to when they realised that “I feel a damn sight more akin with the UCU than I do with my own Student Union”. They went on to speak about the Students Union, saying: “Those are our elected representatives, but they do not represent me and I hope that they do not represent you. All the people in charge do is stand by those bullies because all they care about is protecting themselves.”

‘You deserve better. We all deserve better’

Many members of staff were present and chose to speak, including several members of professional services staff. One compared the way that the university functions to a business model, rather than a place of education, and said that this was not why many staff members chose to work in education. They explained: “I wanted to work in higher education because I believe it makes the world a better place. But the corporatism of a university is stealing. It’s stealing the ability to believe in what we do. I want to come to work every day knowing that I work for an organisation that believes in making people’s lives better.”

However, this is not the reality of the situation, and they elaborated, saying: “I’m working for a university, for a university that sees itself as a business, that sees us as profitees and units of profit. It sees staff as disposable units; it sees students as just a means of income, an income stream.”

In a moment that left the protesters cheering, they went on to say: “Students, you have been stolen from. This should be one of the best experiences of your life! Where you come to learn, to think, to dream, how you’re going to make the world a better place. You have come to a job factory. You have come somewhere to see the belt churning out workers for their economy. You have become income for a business. You deserve better. We all deserve better.”

A Lancaster University spokesperson said: “Arms sales. The University has transferred all its managed investment portfolios to two new funds.

“The first is called ‘Responsible Multi-Asset Fund’ managed by Cazenove Capital and is designed to have a positive impact on people and the planet by avoiding harm through Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) integration and exclusions, benefiting stakeholders through responsible business activities. This fund is designed specifically for charities and aims to avoid harm by active screening of investments, including for climate change, tobacco and armaments.

“The second fund is called the ‘Advance Strategy Fund’ managed by Brooks Macdonald. This portfolio invests in funds which provide investment exposure to businesses providing direct solutions to the sustainability challenges that the world is facing and is framed around eight core themes: cleaner energy, resource efficiency, water and waste management, sustainable transport, health and wellbeing, safety, education and financial inclusion.”

Regarding VP pay rise: “The VC, along with other members of his senior team, donated a portion of his pay back to the university during the pandemic.”

Regarding pensions: “The decision to implement a package of reforms to the USS pension scheme has been made by the Joint Negotiating Committee. It approves changes that mean employer and member contributions will be 9.8 per cent of salary for members and 21.6 per cent of salary for employers from 1 April 2022 – with guaranteed defined benefits remaining at the heart of the scheme. This represents an increase of 0.5 per cent of salary in employer contributions, and 0.2 per cent of salary in members’ contributions from the 2018 valuation. 

“Lancaster University would rather the scheme was in a financial position where benefit reform was not necessary. However, without these reforms costs would have risen to unaffordable levels for employers, while the increased costs for members would have seen more people leave the scheme and miss out on a valuable employer contribution towards their retirement.”

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