UCU rejects UCEA pay offer
UCU has rejected UCEA’s pay offer of 2.5% reported Times Higher. Speaking to the paper and Research Professional, UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: ‘The ball is now in the employers’ court to make further improvements.’
Gaza protestors targeted by police
Universities have been collaborating with police to spy on pro-Palestine student protestors reported The Metro. Speaking to the paper, UCU described the findings as disturbing: ‘Evidence of university managers collaborating with the police to target, monitor, and potentially criminalise their own students for peacefully protesting against genocide should ring alarm bells,’
Nottingham and Birmingham universities went to court to try to remove pro-Palestine student encampments and The Guardian has reported the high court has ruled the students can be evicted.
Labour wins general election
In response to Labour winning the general election, Jo Grady told Chemistry World it was the result trade unionists needed after “14 long years of Tory misrule.”
Jo told FE Week that Labour must treat the teacher pay gap as a day-one priority to “show it cares about further education”.
Now Labour has won, Lord Wharton has quit as chair of the Office for Students. This follows a damning report last year from a House of Lords committee slamming the higher education regulator’s political independence. Speaking to The Independent at the time, Jo Grady called on Wharton to resign.
UCU calls out Cass Review for ‘serious methodological flaws’
UCU’s NEC unanimously voted to adopt a motion which claims that the landmark Cass Review into gender identity services for young people, published in April, “falls short of the standard of rigorous and ethical research expected of research professionals” and “provides no evidence for the ‘new approach’ it recommends”, reported Times Higher.
Speaking to The Times and Times Higher, UCU said the union was “an unequivocal supporter of trans rights, a position established and repeatedly endorsed by our annual congress”.
“This motion was brought by our members after listening to concerns about the Cass report from the trans community, including LGBTQ charities such as Mermaids and Stonewall.
“Our union will proudly work with trans-led organisations to resist any recommendations that could harm young trans people and will pressure the government for an approach to trans healthcare that affirms and centres the trans community.”
Goldsmiths ‘determined’ to close Black British literature course
Goldsmiths, University of London has been accused of being “determined” to close its Black British literature course, reported The Guardian after provisional redundancy notices were issued to 97 academic staff across 11 university departments, including the co-founder of the course.
Goldsmiths UCU executive committee member Catherine Rottenberg told the Guardian: “What’s clear to me is that the media pressure worked initially to get them to at least commit to not closing the programme completely, but what’s also clear is that they’re determined to close these programmes.”
A sociology professor at Goldsmiths told Research Professional she has lost her faith in academic meritocracy after receiving a redundancy letter and The Stage has reported that Dramaturgs, academics and students have criticised redundancies affecting Goldsmiths, University of London’s theatre and arts departments, calling them symptomatic of a “severance” of the arts education pipeline.
Glasgow University pay-day chaos
University of Glasgow staff have been left ‘concerned’ after waking to find their wages missing from bank accounts, reported Yahoo News. Speaking to the outlet, UCU Scotland official Mary Senior said: “We know of around 9,000 staff who the University of Glasgow has not paid today. It appears this is due to a banking error, but our members urgently need their wages, so we expect the university and its bank to fix this as soon as humanly possible.”