Palatinate Officially the North’s Best Student Publication, 2017
Thursday 8th March 2018 | No. 805
Professor Stuart Corbidge
Palatinate question the University’s Vice-Chancellor on the strikes, accommodation fees and Durham’s expansion
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indigo celebrates International Women’s Day
▲ The ‘Beast from the East’ brought Durham to a halt last week as several classes were cancelled due to safety concerns across the City (Caitlin Allard)
Over 5,000 Durham students demand compensation for strike disruption Online petition gathers support but senior University official tells SU President he is not “paying attention to it yet” Tom Mitchell Deputy News Editor More than 5,000 Durham students who have had lectures cancelled due to academic strikes are demanding compensation for lost contact hours. The industrial dispute between university bosses and the University and College Union (UCU), which centres on changes to academics’ pensions system, has resulted in walkouts at 64 UK institutions over the past fortnight. Increasing numbers of students are dissatisfied the strikes are disrupting their education and impacting the value for money of
their annual £9,000 investment. A petition organised by Durham students urges the University to “resolve its dispute with its staff either by resuming national negotiations with UCU or by other means to avoid affecting its students. “We feel it fair and just that we are compensated for the loss of 14 days of our education.” The petition, which replicates similar appeals at other universities calling for reimbursement, had received 5,331 signatures at the time of going to press. Comments from signatories included that of one international student, which read: “I’m an
overseas student and losing [the equivalent of] £1,900 to £2,800 is just unacceptable. “My parents are (quite ironically) lecturers paying for this out of my dad’s pension and I can’t accept their hard-earned money just going towards nothing.” Another supporter of the petition criticised the University: “You cannot charge us obscene amounts per lecture yet not compensate us for the contact hours we will miss.” Conrad White, who first initiated calls for remuneration at the University of York before a similar petition was created at Durham, said: “The university wants
it both ways: they want to take the tuition fees money and behave like a business in that way, but then not offer students consumer rights.” In an interview with Palatinate, he said: “Universities need to take students’ needs into account when it comes to situations where our education isn’t being provided”. Although the petition has been signed by approximately 30% of Durham’s 18,000-strong population, Durham SU President Megan Croll claims Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education) Alan Houston told her in a meeting he “wasn’t paying attention to it yet”. Education Minister Sam Gyimah voiced his support for students on
25th February, arguing: “Students are rightly concerned about compensation during University and College Union strikes. “I expect all universities affected to make clear that any money not paid to lecturers – as a consequence of strike action – will go towards student benefit including compensation.” Durham University has previously confirmed all money not paid to its striking members of staff will be donated to the Student Hardship Fund. Meanwhile, further talks between the UCU and Universities UK (UUK) have been agreed to try... Continued on page 5