Dear Frances Corner and those in the Senior Management,
We would like to express our concerns regarding the decision not to close Goldsmith’s university as the COVID-19 pandemic grows. Many students are concerned about their own health and safety as well as family/friends around them whom they might infect as a consequence of attending on campus activities. A petition started on Friday 13th March encouraging Goldsmiths to close the university with over 500 signatures (http://chng.it/Kyny8jnC). We believe that Goldsmith’s should follow the decisions made by Durham, UCL, Kings, Birkbeck, Loughborough, Southampton, Salford, Bristol, Edinburgh, Nottingham and Oxford who have moved to online teaching to protect their students.
Citing from a letter written from a Italian citizen and family member of one of us received 5 days ago: “So some try to pretend nothing's happening, while the whole society around them is mobilized as in a war, because now this is the reality: the enemy is not a foreign power, but a disease whose diffusion speed exceeds the capacity of the our healthcare system to address care needs.” In Italy this happened because just two weeks ago universities,schools, shops, transportation and all social gatherings were still open, causing an accelerating rate of infection that doubled in three days.Italy is now in lockdown, with military intervention in few cities in the north.
If Goldsmiths doesn't take action now, the situation will become unmanageable and scary, as it became in Italy, Iran and China, with insufficient beds and respiratory machines in hospitals. It’s time that Goldsmiths shows that its “commitments to student and staff health and wellbeing” are a real concern and not only a marketing strategy. We demand that Goldsmiths acts upon its social responsibility immediately over institutional reputation as its priority, taking into account its double responsibility: a vital source of expertise and potential centre of infection and transmission, with local and international staff and students working in close proximity.
Social distancing has proven to be effective in delaying the spread of the virus, avoiding health services breakdowns. University College London biology professor Dr Francis Balloux said: ‘The trajectory of the epidemic in the UK is so far roughly comparable to the one in Northern Italy, but with the epidemic in Northern Italy two to three weeks ahead of the situation in the UK.’
As students many of us are worried about how our assessments will take place, whether that is exams or coursework. There are many courses such as Digital Arts Computing, Fine Art, Theatre and Performance, BA Curating etc that will require students to physically be present to prepare and show their work, in most cases this could become impossible. However with the advice of self-isolation particularly for those who are more likely to catch the virus, this means that students might not feel comfortable coming in to do this without risking their health. There are also students with family members in countries that have gone into lockdown due to the critical state of the virus, some students have gone home to be with family during this anxious time.
There is also a large concern for students’ wellbeing during this time, particularly in the case of a lockdown. Many students already face isolation when university runs as normal, in the case of a lockdown the isolation can grow making it even harder to cope under such circumstances. Goldsmiths’ wellbeing services should work to create a system which allows for students to still receive counselling/CBT sessions, even in the case that the campus does close.
There are also concerns for students who might have difficult living circumstances which are not suitable for study, consequently making academic work harder to deal with putting students at a larger disadvantage.
We also worry about the lack of equipment some students might have at home, many students will rely on university facilities to do their academic work. Many students may not have access to wifi, library equipment such as computers, books, printers etc, workshop equipment in the case of self isolation. This puts students, particularly working class students, at a higher disadvantage to their peers.
Most students are on zero-hour contracts working in places which might be closing early/cutting hours, many of these contracts pay minimum wage which is already limiting student’s financial income. With the advice to self-isolate if feeling unwell, many students will not recieve sick pay adding to financial worry. Over the examination period it is vital that students are marked with consideration of how this has been a stressful few months meaning students have not had the chance to perform to their highest abilities.
Some students may rely on living in halls, so we urge Goldsmith’s to keep halls open throughout the pandemic. Sending students home risks spreading the virus to smaller towns in the UK and going home should be a choice for students to make. We understand that there are a lot of staff who work in halls, we want to ensure that Goldsmith’s take responsibility for their employer Campus Living Villages as well as their in-house employees providing information on their procedure on their staff and ensure that they will receive sick pay for self isolation.
We are shocked that international students on Tier-4 VISAs have received communication from Goldsmiths immigration office (?) that they would still be required to attend their lectures in person to ensure their VISA status. This callous and impersonal message does not show any regard for the specificity of international students’ situation, many of whom would want to travel home to be with their families in these difficult times. We are writing to ensure that Goldsmiths changes its stance on international students’ attendance immediately and ensure that attendance will not be marked starting on Monday 16th March.
We also ask that you consider the difficulties for many students with disabilities in times where we don’t know what will happen next. The disruption of structure can be extremely difficult for many students, with the uncertainty of how the Covid-19 pandemic will continue this can cause a lot of stress for many students. Many disabled students require extra support through their time at university, we demand that alternative systems are made to support these students. Students with disabilities are much more likely to be vulnerable to Covid-19 and so would need to self-isolate for their health. We think that it is both unfair and ableist for students to be expected to attend classes as usual which would heavily compromise their health, through suspending all ‘in-person activities’ this would prevent the exclusion of our peers with disabilities.
We demand that Goldsmiths:
We also support staff demands who urgently call on Goldsmiths management to :
Covid-19 is now a pandemic therefore a global concern and threat, we expect you to recognize this and take action with urgency despite the untruthful and once again capital-centered policies put into action by UK’s Government. Goldsmiths must step up where the government has let its citizens down and act upon its duty of care to its students, staff (whether directly employed by Goldsmiths or not), people’s family and friends who would be urgently awaiting an adequate institutional response and the wider community. We hope that the contents of this letter are sufficiently absorbed and Goldsmiths considers the words of us students who have invested a great deal of trust in this institution and acts as it really is a matter of life and death for many.
Kind Regards,
Your Students