Socialist Students campaigning for affordable housing at Leeds Uni
This Tuesday (6th November), I attended an open question-and-answer session with the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leeds, Sir Alan Langlands. Accompanying Langlands on the panel were two members of the Leeds University Union Executive, Union Affairs Officer Chris Morris and Education Officer Serene Esuruoso. Also in attendance, amongst others, were Activities Officer Lauren Huxley and Gryphon Editor-in-Chief Robbie Cairns, along with 20-30 other students.
Morgan King, Leeds Uni Socialist Students
The debate promptly started at 5:30pm, with several students keen to immediately hold Langlands to account for the recent revelations regarding University investment in companies with a record of supporting human rights abuses against Palestinians, a story which made the front page of the Gryphon this week following the emergence of the Open Letter to Langlands from the LUU Palestine Solidarity Group (PSG) criticising the University over its investment policy.
As quoted from Cairns’ article, the University “invested £1,299,369 in HSBC, £194,883 in Airbus, £735,012 in United Technologies Corporation, and £123,299 in Keyence Corporation” as of 31st July 2018. The latter three companies provided equipment, including helicopters and fighter jets, to the State of Israel during Operation Protective Edge, which saw over 2,000 Palestinians killed during the summer of 2014.
st July 2018. The latter three companies provided equipment, including helicopters and fighter jets, to the State of Israel during Operation Protective Edge, which saw over 2,000 Palestinians killed during the summer of 2014.
Meanwhile, HSBC holds shares in Elbit Systems, a company which is known to have provided elements of the artillery which destroyed 17 hospitals and 89,000 homes during that summer.
The Open Letter is due to be delivered at the end of November: since the summer investment figures, the University is said to have divested of its shares in the above companies, but students remain keen to hold their academic leadership to account over what an overwhelming majority of those in attendance viewed as a gross misdirection of funds.
The Vice-Chancellor first denied the scale of these investments, only to be corrected by Cairns. Langlands then refused to discuss the reasons for the divestments, and reaffirmed that the University would never knowingly invest in companies that it believed directly contributed to the abuse of human rights, but claimed that financial decisions must be taken with the economic interests of the University and the opportunities of its students as the priorities in order to provide the best service possible to students. Students present at the session insisted they were far more concerned that revenue from tuition fees was invested responsibly.
In a related criticism of the Vice-Chancellor, several students were eager for further transparency regarding the University’s investments in fossil fuel companies, after it emerged following a Freedom of Information request in 2013 that the University had invested £457,000 in Shell Oil and £880,000 in BP. In July 2017, the University was host to the international conference,
In July 2017, the University was host to the international conference, Mediating Climate Change, and continues to hold a reputation as one of the leading universities in climate change research.
At the Q&A this Tuesday, the Vice-Chancellor refused to disclose figures for the University’s current investments in fossil fuel companies and denied the hypocrisy this entailed when juxtaposed with Leeds’s research focuses. When students refused to back down on this issue, Langlands claimed that fossil fuel investment was essential while we still rely on fossil fuels for many forms of transportation – an answer to which multiple students responded with astounded laughter.
At this point, Esuruoso stepped in to defend the investments, claiming that investment in fossil fuels was essential to ensure they could be used responsibly, suggesting that as an Engineering student she was obliged to consider all arguments for and against their use. While it is true that we, as an international community, have neither the infrastructure nor the technology to enable the complete adoption of efficient renewable energy overnight, it was disappointing to see an official elected to represent students refusing to support them when the Vice-Chancellor was clearly on the back foot.
After at least half an hour in this fashion, Morris invited other issues to the table, at which point I raised the subject of student accommodation. I asked the Vice-Chancellor if he was personally satisfied with the state and cost of student halls accommodation at the University.He stated that, as compared to the cost of student accommodation around the country, he felt that the University of Leeds’s rates were competitive. I told him that I was not interested in other student accommodations in the country, I was interested in the University of Leeds’s cost of student accommodation. “Why is it,” I asked, “that you find it acceptable that the cost of halls for some students is higher than the lowest student loan?”
He began to tell me that that was not how it worked, that student loan payments come thrice a year; regardless of this being irrelevant, I let him know that many students’ accommodation costs are paid in this manner as well (there is a choice when applying for accommodation to pay in a lump sum, monthly or triannually).
Langlands appeared not to be aware of this, and insisted it was important to bring in revenue from halls in order to maintain them, citing a £64,000,000 investment in private flats which the University brought into their ownership as a factor in their costs.
I estimated that this equated to around 7,000 students’ tuition fees for one year, which considering there are over 34,000 students at the University hardly excuses the extortionate rate students are charged for accommodation.
I questioned whether the University did not have funds in reserve for one-off investments, which the Vice-Chancellor confirmed they did, which I told him did not surprise me given the dramatic influence in tuition fees and the 21% real-terms decline in staff wages in the period of the last nine years.
He stated that, as compared to the cost of student accommodation around the country, he felt that the University of Leeds’s rates were competitive. I told him that I was not interested in other student accommodations in the country, I was interested in the University of Leeds’s cost of student accommodation. “Why is it,” I asked, “that you find it acceptable that the cost of halls for some students is higher than the lowest student loan?”
He began to tell me that that was not how it worked, that student loan payments come thrice a year; regardless of this being irrelevant, I let him know that many students’ accommodation costs are paid in this manner as well (there is a choice when applying for accommodation to pay in a lump sum, monthly or triannually).
The responses of Sir Alan Langlands during this Vice-Chancellor’s Q&A have confirmed the fears of Socialist Students, that the executive leadership of the University of Leeds is completely out of touch with the interests of paying students and the financial difficulties they face. We, as the largest single student body in the country, have the power to make the difference when it comes to demanding better standards from the University that we patronise, in both the interest of moral, environmental socio-political representation and the interest of value for money.
The Socialist Students campaign for affordable student housing begins now. We will continue to demand a £250 per month rent cap on student halls, while seeking to expose the numerous private landlords that rip Leeds students off with sub-standard housing and maintenance at sky-high rates.
If you have any problems with your housing or landlord in Leeds, any stories of a particularly dodgy rental or you’re even just concerned about renting in the city next year, please get in touch with Leeds University Socialist Students via email (leedsunisocialists@gmail.com) or at our Facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/Leedssocialiststudents/).
Leeds Socialist Students 