UK students

Student activism in the UK and the NUS. See also UCU.

Sheffield, Manchester, Brighton: students fight clampdowns

At the time of writing the statement organised by the Student Cost of Living Campaign calling on the University of Sheffield to drop ongoing investigations and proceedings, and end the use of private investigators against student protesters, has 350 signatures. The last Sheffield University Student Union Council passed a motion passed condemning the securitisation of campus, the university’s disproportionate response to activists, and the intimidating environment it created. We’re still waiting, however, for public statement from the Student Union, or from its officers, on the recently...

Universities seek to victimise student activists

The campaign has stepped up against the victimisation of student activists who have bravely stood against the ongoing assault on Higher Education organised by the Department for Education and carried out by the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA), aided by University managements. At Sheffield University students protested at a UCEA conference of university leaders which was taking place on a University and College Union (UCU) strike day and across a picket line. Instead, UCEA could have met with the UCU and agreed to the union’s “four fights” demands, important for the whole...

Students criticise deflection tactic

Against the ongoing campaign at Sheffield University over the securitisation of campus and policing of student organising, Andy Winter, the university Chief Operating Officer, responded that the private-investigator firm Intersol Global had also been paid to investigate cases of sexual misconduct. The UK-wide campaign Not on My Campus has replied with a statement condemning the use of “sexual misconduct as a way to deflect criticism” on “hiring external investigators to probe the political protests of students”. It condemns the university’s spending on investigations into student protests...

Sheffield University comes under pressure

The open letter to Sheffield University, demanding that it drop its investigation of student protesters, has been signed by student groups in Sheffield such as Sheffield Labour Students and Sheffield Solidarity Group, as well as by the chair of Sheffield Hallam UCU, the secretary of Sheffield International College UCU, and Sheffield Trades Council president Bob Jeffery. The open letter was started by the Student Cost of Living campaign , a cross-campus network of students around the country. Other signatories include the NUS Vice President for Liberation and Equality, Nehaal Bajwa, branch...

Sheffield University: drop the investigation!

Student protesters at the University of Sheffield are facing the threat of expulsion or a large fine for their alleged involvement in a protest. From September 2022 to January 2023 the University employed private investigator Intersol Global to look into students’ involvement in protests. University Regulations state that the investigator may require students under investigation to respect the confidentiality of the investigation. But we know from a report in the Guardian that in March the University investigated two students for their alleged involvement in the occupation of a building...

Protest hits Sheffield snooping

As part of a crackdown on student activism, the University of Sheffield has hired Intersol Global, a private investigator firm, to investigate its own students for building occupations. It paid Intersol Global £40,000 in an extraordinary escalation against free expression on campus. On 15 April, Sheffield Solidarity Group organised a protest during the university’s offer-holder open day. The goal was to rally students and the local labour movement in support of the investigated students. Student offer-holders wield economic influence, and universities try to entice them with slick marketing...

National Union of Students conference 2023

The National Union of Students (NUS) conference was a two day event held in Harrogate on 15-16 March 2023. It opened with a speech from the acting President, VP Education, Chloe Field, which situated conference within the rising cost of living struggle, the attack on higher and further education, alongside the positive gains that have been made for students, such as rent rebates, and hardship fund increases. Centre stage was the Tuck report on antisemitism in the NUS, which was acknowledged to be a critical point in the union's history. Lessons must be learned, and a program of educative...

Sheffield protests against crackdown

There has been an increased crackdown on student activism at the University of Sheffield which has culminated in management paying £40,000 to hire private security firm Intersol Global to investigate its own students. This represents an unprecedented escalation, especially given that neither of the accused students was in the city at the time of the occupation (one was on a year abroad). In response, Sheffield Solidarity Group (a student group which aims to foster student-worker solidarity across University of and Sheffield Hallam campuses) has called a demonstration during the offer-holder...

National Union of Students: don't disaffiliate!

The Tuck report into antisemitism in the National Union of Students (NUS) has led to a wave of student-led attempts to disaffiliate their university student unions from the organisation. In Warwick, Northumbria, Oxford, and UCL, motions have been submitted recently or will be shortly. Sheffield University holds an annual vote on reaffiliation, which is also coming up. Warwick voted to disaffiliate, while Oxford narrowly voted to remain. The arguments to leave vary. Some opt for a misguided left-wing argument (the Manchester campaign is arguing that the NUS has never done anything to support...

NUS: refresh, don't disaffiliate

In recent weeks motions relating to disaffiliation from the National Union of Students (NUS) have been brought to Oxford and Warwick University Student Unions. At Oxford the Student Union will hold a binding referendum on whether it should remain affiliated to the NUS. At Warwick the Student Union has voted to disaffiliate by 487 votes to 416 in an all-student vote (around 3% of the nearly 30,000 students at the university). The immediate background is concern over the Tuck report on antisemitism in NUS, but the moves reflect long-term political and organisational malaise in and around NUS...

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