UGM - May 2021
Should the LSESU Support Future Student Strikes?
Proposer: Tori Anderson
Seconder: Emerson Murphy
Issue: LSE students pay some of the highest tuition fees in the country. When around 7 in 10 LSE students are international, around 7 in 10 students are paying overseas tuition fees, which more than double the price of home fees. In addition, LSE halls of residence charge some of the highest student rents in the country. Both tuition fees and rents are set to increase next year, in the midst of a pandemic which has strained all students’ finances.
This crisis spurred the ongoing student rent strike movement, the largest in 40 years. A national fee strike movement is also burgeoning. The importance of Student Union support for these strike movements is critical to their success. Students engaged in strikes in future need to be confident that their Students’ Union will provide support and all necessary campaigning resources to strikes, increasing the legitimacy of the strike and the likelihood of their success. Currently, many SUs across the country are dragging their feet or actively oppose strikes, leaving strikers isolated and at a significant disadvantage.
Solution: The LSESU should unreservedly support all future fee strikes and rent strikes at the LSE. This would include rent strikes in LSE halls of residence as well as in private accommodation. Support would involve: 1) offering access to SU all-student mailing lists, 2) working to secure meetings between strikers and LSE management, 3) providing free printing and banner materials, 4) campaigns advice, 5) significant campaign funding, and more.
This would include rent strikes in LSE halls of residence as well as in private accommodation, and strikes used both as campaigns and tactics for alternative (non-discriminatory) causes.