On a day when many classes were empty in universities across the country because of #UCUstrikes, I just finished teaching my evening lecture at an institution where voting turnout (though being pro-strikes) was marginally less than the statutory 50%.
So I decided to use my platform tonight: At the end of the lecture I made sure students were aware of the strikes then explained why they were taking place. I offered to stay after class to answer any questions they might have about the strikes.
I told them that the strikes were not directed at students but at a system that needs to be fixed. Because the ongoing corporatisation of higher education and casualisation of university staff is a broken system.
Because turning universities into profit-driven businesses that view staff not as assets but as costs is a broken system.
Because the formula of more students and less staff; less staff and more students year on year, is a broken, unsustainable system.
Universities might see them as numbers. But they are more than numbers to us. And that's why academics are striking. Because we need to fix the system. For us, for them.
I ended by making one final appeal: I reminded them of an important deadline, not an assignment deadline, but the #GeneralElection19 voter registration deadline. Because in the current environment, we simply can't afford to be apolitical.
