London Metropolitan University, Disabled and Library protest unites the generations

Published: 13th May, 2011
by ANDREW JOHNSON

STUDENTS occupying their university building in Holloway in protest at swingeing cuts have accused the institution of failing in its duty of care after they were forced to walk home in their pyjamas at midnight on Monday after being evicted in the middle of the night by “rent-a-thugs”.

The performing arts students – many young women in their teens and 20s – said they were forced to leave barely dressed in the small hours of the morning after being given just ten minutes to quit by “rude and aggressive” bailiffs and London Metro­politan University security guards.

In addition, they alleged that during the week-long occupation of the campus building in Holloway Road they were subjected to racist and sexist comments by security guards who played loud music and set off alarms in the middle of the night.

One of the students, aged 18, who asked not to be named, said: “They won the injunction at three o’clock in the afternoon. 

“So why did they wait until midnight to evict us? We were given no warning and told we had ten minutes to get out or be arrested. I had to walk to Hackney in my pyjamas. 

“They were really nasty. They were making sexist comments, setting off fire alarms. We were just going to bed. If they’d burst in a few minutes earlier they would have caught us undressed.”

A 22-year-old female student from Holloway added: “This was our own university hiring rude and intimidating rent-a-thugs who hum­iliated and mocked us. 

“They were picking up laptops and waving them around as if they were toys. 

“It was really disrespectful. I don't see why they had to come at midnight. 

“We were kicked out by our own security who didn’t think that women would have to walk home at night in their night clothes.”

Several of the students now have injunctions against them, preventing them from being on university property except for exams, lectures and library study. 

As performing arts students they say this will have a big impact on their extra-curricular activities.

They also allege that the vice-chancellor, ­Malcolm Gillies, reneged on a pledge to meet them to discuss their concerns on Tuesday morning.

About 100 students, joined by trade union Unison and students from other universities, protested outside Lon­don Met’s campus building in Moorgate on Wednesday, demanding a meeting with Mr Gillies.

The professor of music has axed two-thirds of the university’s degree courses – including performing arts – from September. 

In all, 417 courses will be cut, reducing the number offered to 160. 

Mr Gillies says this will enable the university to charge lower tuition fees and to offer different fees for different courses rather than the blanket charge adopted by most other universities. 

The changes, which will also see dance studies, philosophy, history and possibly modern languages axed, are intended to shift the focus of its teaching towards “em­ploy­ab­ility”. The university had failed to respond when the Tribune went to press yesterday.

‘It’s wrong to label us as work-shy’

ALMOST 50 disabled people from Islington joined 10,000 activists from across Britain on Wednesday to protest against government cuts that could see £9billion slashed from their benefits.

The march of the Hardest Hit – which included those coping with blindness, deafness and mobility problems – was the biggest gathering of disabled people in history and culminated in a lobby of MPs and a rally at Methodist Central Hall.

The Islington contingent marched under the banner of Deaf and Disabled People Against Cuts. They included groups such as Disability Action in Islington (DAII), an advice centre that has seen its budget cut by about 70 per cent, and Islington Disabled People Against the Cuts.

Many disabled people are angry that under the Welfare Reform Bill they are to be assessed on whether they are able to work by people who have little understanding of the nature of their condition. If they are judged able to work then their benefits could be cut. In addition, the disability living allowance (DLA) is being reassessed, with a fifth of claimants likely to lose it altogether.

Penny Pepper, a wheelchair user who lives in Upper Street, Islington, said disabled people wanted to work, but did not have a “level playing field” in the workplace. 

She added that the number of people on the march was a “powerful statement” in itself due to the difficulties many disabled people have in getting around. “We face terrible discrimination, especially in the private sector,” she said. “Many workplaces are inaccessible. It is wrong to label us as work-shy. 

“The people who do the checking have no training or understanding of the way impairments affect people. If you have a fluctuating condition you can be assessed on a good day.”

A spokeswoman for DAII said that solving these problems was the answer – not plunging disabled people further into poverty. 

Jeremy Corbyn, Islington North Labour MP, submitted an Early Day Motion in Parliament yesterday (Thurs), stating the primary reason disabled people are not in paid employment is the discrimination they experience in the workplace. “The government’s plans turn the clock back from 40 years of developing the concept of rights for people with disabilities and an end to discrimination,” he said.

Libraries to face the axe

CRISIS-hit London Metropolitan University last night (Thursday) announced plans to axe dozens of staff, sell off buildings and close two student libraries.

Paul Bowler, deputy chief executive, said he had “no choice” but to implement the drastic cost-cutting measures because the university was being forced to repay £35million in wrongly claimed public funding, starting with an instalment of £10million in September.

Cuts proposals announced last night include: 

• Shutting two of the university’s five student libraries. 
• Sacking 86 staff in the professional services department – so-called “back-office staff”.
• Selling university buildings.

In a letter to all staff, Mr Bowler said: “We have no choice about this, we have to find the sum from our own resources.”