On Thursday 24 September, students and staff met in Appleton Tower in an assembly aimed to unite their joint concerns over major planned budget cuts.
The £140 million in budget cuts, threatening 1800 jobs and 90 course closures, as well as the University of Edinburgh’s continued financial links with Israel, inspired the Student-Staff Assembly (SSA) and attracted over 700 students to the event.
This was significantly more than the 300 capacity, necessitating the use of an overflow lecture theatre.
The Student was in attendance to understand how the SSA aimed to address frustrations with university finances.
The SSA began with an hour of talks from union representatives, student groups, lecturers, and tutors, followed by an hour of focused working groups.
One student attendee commented: “I found it very helpful to get a deeper insight into why teachers are going on strike”. He continued: “people assume teachers are striking over pay, rather than the fact the university is making 1800 [people] redundant.”
The speakers emphasised putting pressure on senior management through the collective power of staff and students, which “the university is nothing without.”
Furthermore, the event educated on the financial aspects of the strikes, where the SSA feel unnecessary capital spending is being funded by staff cuts. One speaker commented: “[the university] is not somewhere to make profit, it’s a place to learn.”
The working groups aimed to organise students and staff and allowed “energy and ideas the students have to go towards physically supporting the teachers on strike and showing solidarity,” as one attendee stated.
The SSA is now set to meet weekly, for at least the 5 weeks of planned industrial action, as a way for students and staff to organise together.
Image by Albane Mbow for The Student
