Protest 19th November 09

On Thursday 19th November, the UCU and students protested against job cuts at the University of Leeds. Different categories of staff and students from across campus came together in a crowd of over two to three hundred people. As the University council gathered inside to agree on the job cuts, speeches were made outside the Ziff building and the crowd was reminded that the Vice-Chancellor's Executive Group had all enjoyed a few days in a plush hotel this week, making plans for pursuing the threats of compulsory redundancy. A representative student made a speech about how he wanted the University to invest in lecturers, not buildings.
This protest received significant coverage by the local media. BBC Radio Leeds, Radio Aire and Real Radio all mentioned the protest in their news bulletins, all three featuring interviews with UCU spokesperson Mark Taylor-Batty. The evening edition of Look North showed images of the hundreds of protesters, as Harry Gration remarked that “there was another demonstration outside Leeds University this evening about proposals which unions say could leave the University with the worst teacher:student ratio in the country.”. For more details and media downloads, see our blog posting at http://wp.me/pFqYn-5G