Report: Students at UK Universities Are Helping Develop Killer Robots
by Zac Larkham
Chronic underfunding in higher education is allowing the arms industry to step in and fuel autonomous weapons systems research, reports Zac Larkham.
Tag: universities
Report: This Company Promised Students Their Energy Bills Were Fixed. Now They’re ‘Bullying’ Them Into Paying More
by Simon Childs
UniHomes is jacking rates for cash-strapped students who signed 'fixed-cost' utility contracts. Simon Childs reports.
Report: A Prestigious London University Has Suspended Four Latinx Cleaners for Protesting Racist Pay, Falsely Accusing Them of Violence
by Polly Smythe
The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine is embroiled in another race scandal. Polly Smythe reports.
Analysis: How Striking Lecturers Won Their Students’ Support
by Alessio Koliulis
On the final day of UCU strikes, academic Alessio Koliulis reflects on the rebuilding of staff-student solidarity.
Opinion: We, Goldsmiths Staff, Are Striking for the Future of Our Universities
by Goldsmiths UCU Finance Working Group
When a new warden was appointed at Goldsmiths in 2019, she promised to continue the university’s ‘progressive’ legacy. Two years later, she faces massive industrial action. A group of striking workers explain.
NovaraFM: Sex, Dissidence, Desire
Jonathan Dollimore joins James Butler to talk sex, subversion and truly dangerous knowledge.
Opinion: Attacks on the Arts Are Part of the Tories’ Culture War
by Chardine Taylor-Stone
Earlier this month the government announced plans to cut funding for arts subjects at universities by 50%. Why? Because attacks on the arts play into the Tories’ confected culture war between salt-of-the-earth folk with ‘proper’ jobs and the ‘metropolitan elite’, argues Chardine Taylor-Stone.
Downstream: Is the Left Failing on Free Speech? Interview With Ronan Burtenshaw
Does the right actually care about free speech? Why should free speech matter to the left? Aaron Bastani speaks to editor of Tribune Magazine, Ronan Burtenshaw.
Opinion: To the Free Speech Warriors of the Right, Only Some Speech Matters
by Barnaby Raine
We shouldn’t be confused by the Tories championing free speech one moment, suppressing it the next. It’s always been perfectly clear whose speech matters to them, argues Barnaby Raine.
Opinion: Students, Here’s How to Organise a Rent Strike
by Rosa Porter
Universities conned thousands of students into returning to campuses across the country, only to almost immediately lock them inside their dilapidated and overpriced halls, while all teaching takes place online. For students who feel they have been treated unfairly, now is the time to strike, writes housing activist Rosa Porter - and here's how to do it.
Opinion: We Must Not Let the Government Blame Students for a Second Wave
by Dana Mills
It isn't safe for students to return to university campuses, and letting them do so gives the government somebody else to blame if Covid cases rise again. Dana Mills argues that lecturers must heed the call of unions and learn from the example of the United States, and insist that teaching happens online.
Opinion: Private Schools Have Always Let Wealthy Students Jump the University Queue
by Mark Jago
A-level downgrading has made clear the class discrimination that has always been inherent in the schooling system, writes Mark Jago. Universities should take this chance to amend admissions procedures to reduce rather than exacerbate inequality.
Why Are University Staff Going on Strike? Here’s What You Need to Know
by Oliver Eagleton
University staff across the UK walk out tomorrow for the first time since March 2018. The strike resumes the struggle over detrimental pension changes, with further demands on casualisation and equal pay.
Should Students Demand Refunds? 3 Perspectives on Student Demands in the UCU Strike
by Illan rua Wall, Myka Tucker-Abramson, Hope Worsdale, Elio Di Muccio
Should students demand tuition fee refunds for days lost to strike action? The response to the demand has been mixed, with no clear dividing line between those who are for and against the strike.
5 Reflections on Trans Liberation in Higher Education
by Luke Dukinfield
As trans issues become more visible, a reactionary backlash is surging to deride, undermine and repress the voices of trans communities. In this context, it is now more important than ever to examine how our universities have become a key site of contention around trans politics.
The Occupation Is Over, But Justice for SOAS Workers Must Still Be Fought For
by Charlie Macnamara
Outsourced staff at SOAS have won their most pressing demands, but management's behaviour, and the ubiquity of outsourcing at UK universities, means the struggle cannot end here.
“We Are Workers”: U.S. Graduate Student Workers Fight for Union Recognition
by Grant Macdonald
Graduate student workers are fighting for union recognition. But universities are blocking their efforts, knowing that if they obstruct long enough, Donald Trump could rescue them from having to afford them their rights.
IMOBastani: We Have to Get Rid of Tuition Fees
Labour have pledged to abolish tuition fees. Aaron Bastani serves up 8 reasons why this is an excellent policy.