By Alan Nemirovski and Klara Woxström
On Friday 3 February 2023, LSE students staged a sit-in outside of Centre Building to show solidarity with and protest alongside UCU members, who are demanding fair pay, sustainable workloads, reduced casualisation, and equitable treatment of staff.
The group, called ‘Occupy LSE’, is not directly affiliated with the UCU, but their demands “echo the demands made by the UCU.”
The sit-in comes on the heels of the first of 18 strike days planned by the UCU, spanning February and March 2023. The first day occurred on 1 February 2023. The next strike days are scheduled for 9 and 10 February.
Sarah Cat*, a second-year BSc International Relations student told The Beaver, “We are coming together because we are completely disgusted at the working conditions that LSE has for our staff, and our students, we understand that their working conditions are our learning conditions, and we want to show solidarity and help in the best way we can.”
“LSE has such a rich history of activism, but year by year that’s kind of died down and slowed down. It’s kind of frustrating to see. We’re here to show students … the [power] we can have as a collective … and to make noise and to take up space. And to let Minouche and all of the directors know that there are students who are willing to actually act and that care about our teachers.”
Tori Anderson, a third-year BSc International Relations student added, “I’m in my final year of undergraduate study and for three years we haven’t seen a movement like this… This time around it is very important that students show solidarity, it’s crucial to the movement. I mean staff said to students that they can’t really support this due to rules and regulations, [they] can’t turn up to a sit-in, so [they] need the students to do it. It was a question whether the students would do that or not and [we] decided: yes.”
“So after three long years, finally, as small as it is, it’s extremely important. I’m at Occupy LSE because this is history, we’re making history.”
Ishani Milward-Rose, a second-year BSc Social Anthropology student notes, “Considering that universities in the UK have £4 billion in reserves and only 3% of that would fix all the demands of the UCU striking staff are demanding, considering that and the fact that universities aren’t investing in teachers … we’re here to raise your voice and be angry.”
Maiya McQueen, a postgraduate student studying MSc Social Anthropology, believes that “as a post-grad international student working part time, and is here taking out student loans… paying £24,000 a year for this university to violate faculty, staff and students over and over again is very, very frustrating, exhausting.”
“We all worked really hard to be here. This isn’t an easy university to get into and it’s even more difficult to engage with once you’re on campus. It’s exhausting and disheartening to show up somewhere that you’ve tried so so hard … to get to and they don’t care.”
An LSE spokesperson commented on the student sit-in, stating, “Free speech and freedom of expression underpin everything we do at LSE. The School has clear policies in place to protect individual’s rights to freedom of expression, ensure the facilitation of debates and enable all members of our community to refute ideas lawfully, whether through protest on campus or other means.
With regard to Occupy LSE and the UCU’s demand, they added, “LSE is committed to ensuring an excellent education for our students and supporting all LSE staff. Pay and pensions are negotiated at a national level. We are actively engaging with representative bodies on these issues in the strongest possible terms and continue to have constructive discussions with our local LSE branch of UCU about a wide range of matters.”
* Some names in this article have been changed to preserve anonymity.
