University of London bans student protests
The breakdown in the relationship between the University of London and the University of London Union continues as the University bans student protests on its property.
After recent escalating tension between the University of London and the soon-to-be-extinct University of London Union a new act of aggression has been revealed. The University of London has sent a letter to the ULU banning protests by students on parts of the University’s property.
In the letter, written by the University’s Chief Operating Officer Chris Cobb, the University uses safety concerns for building users and the perceived disruption of people using the Senate House library as an excuse for booting the student protesters off University property. Additionally the letter suggests several public spaces that can be used by the protesters instead. The University has specified that it will no longer “tolerate” demonstrations that take place outside Senate House, the cloister entrance and the East and West car-parks and will consider future protesters in these spaces to be trespassing on University property and will prosecute accordingly.
The letter follows the fallout from a recent student protest about equality in staff pay, during which the University called police to arrest a student protester for scribbling with chalk on the University’s Foundation Stone. The 24-year-old student has since pleaded not guilty to two counts of assaulting a police officer and one count of criminal damage and faces trial on 17 October, with a potential imprisonment of 12 months.
