The University of Brighton is seeking a court order to stop students occupying the floor of an office block in protest at staff redundancies.
Student occupiers say they have received threatening legal letters and verbal abuse over the weekend, and say the office block was “flooded with sewage”.
The University says there could be a considerable amount of damage caused by the group’s barricade.
Students protesting against 110 proposed redundancies at University of Brighton have occupied the eighth floor of the Cockroft building for six days.
The occupying students said: “Over the course of this occupation we have received homophobic language and other verbal abuse from employees of the university.
“We have been flooded with sewage and had a twelve hour delay in receiving supplies to clean it up.
“During those hours we were continually asked to open the doors, let people in, and gaslit about our answers.
“There has been a continued lack of communication from the university.
“All we have received is threatening, in many cases incomplete, legal paperwork designed to frighten us.
“Our time here, and the management’s response, has demonstrated one thing most clearly: that this university administration despises the staff and students which make this university so beautiful.
“We have one demand: cancel these redundancies or you will be burning our university, and our home, to the ground.”
The students began the sit-in during the early hours of Thursday morning and remained there over the bank holiday weekend.
The group of occupiers released a video on Twitter showing spokespeople wearing masks, declaring their demand to cancel the redundancies.
The occupying students have released a video to tell us more about their demands! ‼️‼️ pic.twitter.com/6ne0fRdd9W
— UOB (@UOBSolidarity) May 27, 2023
A spokesperson for University of Brighton said: “The University of Brighton has sought an injunction after a group of masked individuals forced entry into university offices in the early hours of Thursday, 25 May.
“The university is aware that a considerable amount of damage has already been caused by those individuals through their attempt to barricade themselves into the premises.
“The university has tried to engage with the individuals constructively and has drawn their attention to particular concerns regarding their health and safety and pre-existing problems with toilet facilities in the office suite.
“University staff have been instructed to avoid confrontation and have sought to engage with the individuals in a constructive manner.”
I cannot imagine the optics will be good for Brighton University regardless of the outcome of this. Especially when we consider that Brighton University finance chief David Hall was jailed for six years for stealing £2.4 million in cash over more than 30 years. It doesn’t speak well to their financial management at all, does it?
Doesn’t speak well for their auditors over 30 years either, Benjamin. I’ve just seen that they’ve suddenly closed down some sort of art space in their Grand Parade building, apparently with little or no notice, so the panic button seems to have been pressed. I don’t know anything about such things, but is there not some sort of inspection regime for universities along the lines of the CQC or OFSTED, or are they allowed to operate in whatever way they like?
Oh, it has gotten worse as well, I heard they are losing their VC. There’s a few regulatory boards, and I know they are already caught up in the class action over teaching standards over the pandemic.
Appears there’s just problem after problem and it is starting to stack up. Unfortunately, I can’t predict what this means for the university.
The predictions aren’t great. Costs are going up, enrolments going down, and the income per student is static (by law). Whether the management is good or bad: something will have to give.