In light of recent cuts at both the University of Edinburgh and University of Dundee, a joint rally was organised today, 1 October, outside the Scottish Parliament.
This rally comes as a response to the continued threats from senior management at both institutions, perpetuating unprecedented job losses and course closures.
Staff at the University of Edinburgh are on strike following a prolonged dispute with management over cuts, which has been heightened by recent course cuts.
At 12:30pm, students, staff, UCU members and politicians gathered at Holyrood showing solidarity with striking staff.
Protestors held signs reading “Stop the cuts,” “Save Our Jobs,” and “Not everyone can have two jobs Peter.”
UCU members from Edinburgh, Dundee, and Glasgow Caledonian University gave speeches highlighting the similarity of situations on a national scale.
The representative from UCU Dundee emphasised that the cuts were “an ideological choice” and that it was a necessity to put “humanity back into education,” altogether moving away from universities “run by accountants.”
This was followed by speeches from MSPs from Scottish Greens, Scottish Labour, Scottish Lib Dems and the SNP. Each MSP present indicated heavy solidarity with the industrial action.
SNP MSP Heather Anderson commented that university politics should be rebuilt around the “ability to learn, not ability to pay.”
Scottish Greens MSP Maggie Chapman highlighted the strength of industrial action: “your power matters.”
Scottish Liberal Democrats speaker Duncan Dunlop put the blame on the SNP government, differing from the blame on a systemic issue at the heart of university management across Scotland from other parties.
The Student sat down with one of the speakers at the event, Laurie, a 4th year Undergraduate Physics Representative and SSA organiser.
In conversation about the purpose of the rally, he stated that we need to force senior management to be held accountable, and to have “proper scrutiny and accountability.”
When questioned about aid from parliament itself, Laurie said: “The Greens are really supportive… they have offered to come and speak at events and assemblies. However, there is still some ‘degree of political football,’ where it is so easy to blame it on the current government when the case at Edinburgh is very different.”
In the case of the senior leadership team, Laurie highlighted: “I think they are on a warpath, and so I think we kind of have to be as well… they [UCU] would love to negotiate, but the senior management is giving them nothing.”
In his final comments, Laurie reemphasised that “lots of people are watching our university, and that gives us a responsibility.”
“Unless we can come together… we will lose the things that made us want to come to this university.”
Image by Elliot Thompson for The Student.
