Passed at GUCU Branch Meeting 25.02.2022 (66 for, 1 against, 6 abstentions)
This branch notes
*Since the launch of the Recovery Plan, students have organised independently in solidarity with the campus unions, organising teachouts, mutual support networks, protest actions, and a fee strike.
*In an email circulated last week, senior management has threatened over 100 students active in the Goldsmiths Fee Strike with withdrawal from courses if their fees are not paid in full by Monday 28 February 2022.
*Some members of Academic Board have circulated an email in response to a student protest which contains numerous inaccuracies regarding the Recovery Plan and the student protest, including accusations against other members of Academic Board and Council. These accusations have not been evidenced but have been widely circulated to staff
*The fee strike and protest organised by students is in direct response to senior management’s Recovery Plan, which threatens the livelihood of scores of staff and has caused massive disruption to student learning in an already very difficult situation for the college. Despite the improved finances this year, senior management insists on pushing these plans through, despite the intense stress and hardship this places on students and staff.
*That student emails about the Recovery Plan, concerns about its impact on their education, and requests for fee rebates have been met with only perfunctory responses by senior management and the recovery team.
*That despite the insistence that the Recovery Plan has been subject to meaningful consultation with students, no real risk assessment or evaluation on the impact of students has been carried out as part of the Recovery Plan.
This branch believes
*The threat of withdrawal and accusations made against students participating in protest actions are reminiscent of previous management responses to student protest, including legal and police threats against participants in the Goldsmiths Anti-Racist Action occupation.
*That students have a right to protest and campaign; this right is integral to our functioning as a community of learning, and should not be met with public accusations or repressive actions.
*That the threat of withdrawal as a response to protest is totally disproportionate, unbecoming of Goldsmiths as a community of learning and causes further reputational damage to the institution, as well as aggravating tensions around the Recovery Plan.
This branch resolves
*To stand in full solidarity with student campaigners in Fee Strike and Goldsmiths Community Solidarity who have taken action in support of our members, colleagues, and friends threatened with redundancy.
*To demand a retraction of the misleading email circulated by some members of Academic Board.
*To demand that no students participating in the fees strike be penalised, and that the senior management team engage seriously with student campaigns.
Proposed by Vincent Møystad
Seconded by Tara Povey