Goldsmiths student occupation demands an end to job cuts

A previous picket at Goldsmiths university (Photo: GoldsmithsUCU/X)

Students at Goldsmiths University in south London are occupying the library to hit back at bosses’ plans to lay off workers. 

From next Monday, UCU union members will start a boycott of marking and assessments. 

Both the student occupiers and the workers are demanding that management rules out compulsory redundancies.

UCU member Marc Peacock told Socialist Worker, “Management is a bit bamboozled by the students’ action. I don’t think they expected students to get organised so quickly.

“The test will come next week, when term starts. They do some exams in the library, so management is concerned about disruption to that.”

Marc said the students are taking action because “the whole university is under attack”.

He explained that before Easter, bosses said redundancies are “definitely happening”. They want to slash £20 million, first through cutting support workers and then by targeting academics.

Two years ago Goldsmiths management made £16 million in cuts through axing nearly 100 jobs. Marc asked, “Why are we now in another crisis? And why is the response constantly getting rid of the workers who keep it going?”

The student occupiers said, “These cuts will push our society further into decline, removing possibilities of education from marginalised people and closing down any possibility to imagine any positive future for anyone who is not a part of the ultra-wealthy.”

A spokesperson for the UCU branch said, “The students currently occupying Goldsmiths library under the banner of ‘Free Goldsmiths’ are a necessary and timely reminder that it is students and workers who make the institution what it is.

“It is the executive board’s financial mismanagement that has led to millions of pounds of student fees being siphoned off to consultants and lawyers. 

“Goldsmiths UCU stands in full solidarity with the occupation and all of their demands.”