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PALATINATE | Thursday 19th November 2020
News
“The safety of our students is of the utmost importance” Continued from front
Seun Twins
Durham Students’ Union President
As we mark the halfway point of the second national lockdown, the University has announced a mass asymptomatic testing scheme for students to get a test for Covid-19. In order to make sure that student departure this December can be as safe as possible, not only just for students but for staff, the local community and the communities they are returning to, the University has ensured that all students will have tests available to them. I strongly urge everyone to participate in the University’s mass testing initiative. The easiest way to make sure that we mitigate the spread of Covid-19 is to get a test. These self-administered tests give you results in under 30 minutes and it is a great way to ensure peace of mind with travelling. In short: Get a test! Get a test! Get a test! In SU news, the DSU democracy review is being finalised and the survey has launched! The Democracy Review survey is available on the DSU website and on all DSU social media platforms. Also, you all have a chance of winning a £5 Greggs voucher if you fill in the survey. It will take approximately 10 minutes so get involved in shaping the future of your democracy and fill in the survey. It is common knowledge now that 10 core commissioners, including an independent commissioner, have launched the Culture Commission 20/21. This report and its recommendations must be shaped by the student impression of its own culture. This is why student engagement is fundamental to the success of the Culture Commission, so I encourage everyone to get involved in the back-to-back contribution sessions this November or look to the feedback form if you prefer to anonymously contribute. More about the research and the process behind the Culture Commission is on the DSU website, including my launch article and the commissioners’ profiles. Also, we will be announcing the open place commissioner very soon as well as the independent commissioner. Let’s all make the Culture Commission as great as it can be by getting involved. We want to hear from anyone and everyone. Take care and get a test, Seun
“The men didn’t try to communicate with me. There were two of them, middle aged, between 40 and 50. One of them was wearing a neon vest, and one of them had stubble, I’m pretty sure. It was dark.” Another remarked: “It seems to me that there’s a lot more sexual harassment nowadays. Me and my friends get catcalled by people in cars a lot.” The same student recounted how, at the end of October, they “saw this white car go past really slowly, like crawling. “It was these two men, both white and middle-aged; they veered towards me and slowed down more. They both looked at me really intently; their whole necks were turned to
face me. They never stopped to talk to me and drove away.” Two students recounted a similar experience just days later, in the street next to the aforementioned case. “We saw them in the street before we were about to leave our house, so decided to use the back gate to avoid being harassed as we’d already heard from others that they were targeting students without real reason.
“As a girl and a survivor this was incredibly frightening” “We decided to take the alleyways behind [redacted] instead of the main street. As we walked behind the houses, the… car followed along [redacted] parallel to us, revving its engine. “As a girl and a survivor this was incredibly frightening.” Another incident reported to
Palatinate took place in early November. The student said: “I had just got past the bus station, when two men in a dark coloured car pulled into the road, slowed down to a crawl and ended up passing me. “I thought nothing of it, until I heard the car rev its engine, and turn around by using the bus lane. “I noticed over my shoulder that they were slowly following me and looking at me. They stopped, and I heard the passenger get out of the car. I sped up to get to the roundabout, assuming they wouldn’t be brave – or stupid – enough to try anything in the brightly lit roundabout. “The passenger was a slim but tall man, wearing a dark hoodie. I managed to make it to the [redacted] accommodation, at which point he turned off towards [redacted]”. In response to Palatinate’s
findings, a University spokesperson said: “The safety of our students is of the utmost importance to us. Durham is a safe place to live, work and study and we are committed to making it safer still. “That’s why we’re part of key partnerships such as Durham City Safety Group, why we work closely with Durham Constabulary’s Police University Liaison and why we contribute to the costs of a term time police presence. “Our key advice on staying safe is: if you choose to drink alcohol, please do so responsibly; always plan how you will get home before going out; take safe routes home avoiding the river; and look after your friends and stick together when walking home. “If students have any safety concerns, they can contact their College or the Police University Liaison Team via the non-emergency number, 101.”
University will not reinstate key worker allowance through lockdown
Martha McHardy News Editor Durham University will not reinstate the key worker allowance for staff working on campus during lockdown. The University told the Durham branch of the University and Colleges Union (UCU) that it is unable to reinstate the key worker allowance for “financial reasons”. In response, Durham UCU stated that they are “extremely disappointed” by the decision. During the spring lockdown, which ran through Easter term, staff in grades one to eight who continued to deliver face to face teaching on campus for at least 3.5 hours every week received a flat rate of £75 per week.
The University has doubled the annual emergency leave provision to help staff Durham UCU delivered a series of letters to the University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Stuart Corbridge, asking that all face to face teaching be suspended until it is deemed safe by scientific advisory bodies. Durham UCU also requested that all staff across the University and colleges who are delivering in-person support and teaching are provided with a key worker allowance. The University told Durham UCU that the contribution of staff who are working to support students and essential in-person activities on campus is
being recognised in “other ways”. Joanne Race, Director of Human Resources & Organisation Development, told Palatinate: “During the first national lockdown, the University remained open but was operated by a much reduced skeleton staff on site. In accordance with Government Guidance at the time, these colleagues were considered to be key workers and were paid a special allowance for a short period to recognise the exceptional circumstances at the early stages of the pandemic. “The University is now working much more normally, with many more students and colleagues on site. The Covid-19 pandemic is likely to be with us for some time and we expect this to be our normal operating practice for the foreseeable future. Colleagues whose role requires them to be on site are therefore operating under their (new) normal working conditions and so, in line with many other universities, key worker payments are no longer applicable.” Mrs Race said the University had recognised the contribution of staff in a number of ways, including by encouraging nominations for the University’s Merit and Discretionary Awards. The University has also added two extra closure days to the Easter break, and three extra days to the upcoming Christmas break. Any staff member who may need to work on these days can take additional leave at another time, with many also receiving premium rate payments. Staff members are also allowed to
(Beatrice Law) carry forward some of their annual leave to 2021. Mrs Race also told Palatinate that the University has doubled the annual emergency leave provision to help staff to juggle caring and personal responsibilities.
“We have regularly raised issues of stress and anxiety that come from... working in a pandemic” However, some staff members have not felt adequately supported by the University throughout the pandemic. Durham UCU told Palatinate: “Members of staff across the University, especially those in Colleges providing front-line care and support for students, are working under extremely difficult and stressful circumstances, and without their presence ‘on the ground’ the uni-
versity would not be able to function. “We asked the management to reinstate the key worker allowance from spring in recognition of the central and integral role that these workers are playing in the present crisis, and the added stress and burden that it causes. “We have regularly raised issues of stress and anxiety that come from not only living and working in a pandemic, but also due to the added workload that blended learning and online teaching necessarily generate, and requested the University management for an institution-wide response to the stress caused by Covid-19, including a thorough stress risk assessment for all employees. “Durham was happy to recognise the key worker status of this subset of its employees in spring and there is no reason for them not to recognise it now.”
