STUDENTS at Edinburgh University have chanted during their graduation in solidarity with staff engaged in industrial action.
At a graduation ceremony for arts students on Monday, graduates were shushed by the vice principal for chanting “pay your workers”.
It comes as up to 2000 Edinburgh students this year will graduate without marks, according to the university, due to the Universities and Colleges Union marking and assessment boycott in an ongoing campaign for better pay and pensions.
Professor David Argyle, the university vice-principal and head of the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, took to the stage and said “guys, settle down” whilst shushing the students.
He added: “Please just remember that this is a special day for lots of people.
“I’d be grateful if you could just be respectful of everything, and everybody here today who have come large distances."
Argyle further requested that students keep it “professional”.
📢 PAY YOUR WORKERS 📢 This amazing video from the ECA graduations today show that students know what needs to be done to solve this dispute 💪 pic.twitter.com/OjRBg3Kp57
— Staff-Student Solidarity Network Edinburgh (@sssn_edi) July 11, 2023
This was met with both applause and boos, with one person shouting: “If not now, when?”
General secretary of the UCU, Jo Grady, shared the video on Twitter and said: “I dare you as a UCU member to watch this and not have a tear in your eye.
“The solidarity we have received from students across the UK has been so inspiring and we can’t thank you enough. Edinburgh students, we salute you.”
Last week, a student at a graduation for the School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences walked across a stage holding a banner reading: “For us, housing crisis and empty degrees. For you, a £43k pay increase!” as others wore pink sashes in solidarity.
A student handed a pink UCU sash to vice chancellor Peter Mathieson as they crossed the stage.
A University of Edinburgh spokesperson said: “Graduation day marks the culmination of years of hard work, in difficult circumstances for this particular cohort.
“We are acutely aware that delays associated with the boycott are a major source of anxiety for our students, and we are deeply sorry about the continued uncertainty they face over their futures. We understand the strength of feeling on these issues of national dispute and we support the right of our students to demonstrate lawfully and peacefully.”
