An avoidable coronavirus crisis has developed in British universities since the middle of September. At Manchester University the number of confirmed Covid-19 infections shot up, from just 10 cases on 27 September, when testing began on staff and students, to 160 just three days later, and 380 by 4 October. At Northumbria University in Newcastle, a staggering 770 students and staff were found to be Covid-positive by 2 October.
This situation could have been prevented, had not the British government encouraged British universities, which from March 2020 had been providing mainly online tuition, to revert to in-person class teaching. In the context of encouraging young people to eat out, drink out and mix socially in groups again, a higher rate of coronavirus had developed among young people generally. Throw in the added dangers of living in close proximity in halls of residence, and the bubble burst. With universities in Britain operating as big businesses this was inevitable: the priority was to get the vast annual tuition fees of £9,000+ safely banked, along with rental deposits. Many universities use student accommodation to generate extra income; in others, this lucrative revenue-stream is outsourced to major companies. Many students who are locked down in halls of residence, or have found that – despite promises – their entire course content for the year is going to be online have wanted to return home and found themselves locked into 10-month contracts without a break clause. Meanwhile, vice-chancellors continue to take home six-figure pay packages; at least half receive over £300,000 pa once perks and benefits are taken into account.
Many cities with large student populations are part of the growing crisis. These include Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and Nottingham. Major outbreaks have also occurred in the Scottish university cities of Glasgow and Aberdeen. Common themes have been a slowness in responding to the epidemic, a failure to isolate Covid-positive students from others not yet infected, and a general lack of care and regard for student welfare. There has been no provision for mass testing – indeed, the majority of students say they have been unable to access tests at all, even when showing clear symptoms of coronavirus. Mass lockdowns began at Manchester Metropolitan University when Birley and Cambridge Halls of residence began to show many new cases. A blanket policy towards all 1,700 students here ensured that the disease would spread. At Glasgow University, where 172 people tested positive by 24 September, it’s reported that healthy students tried to help sick ones as they were not getting support, and got infected too. Students here assert that there were inadequate food supplies, no isolation arrangements, a lack of cleaning equipment and PPE, and no real social distancing or hygiene. Even as food finally arrived, rubbish began to pile up. At Manchester University, the reality fell far short of the claims of Vice-Chancellor Dame Nancy Rothwell (basic salary in 2019 £269,000) that ‘Our top priority is the safety and well-being of our staff and students’. Instead, at Owens Park, one of its halls of residence in Fallowfield, there are reports of students sleeping on the floor in close proximity, as their rooms have not yet been allocated.
Students themselves have made demands for better treatment, including for rent reductions and better safety. They have sent messages to the wider public, such as placards saying ‘Send food!’ and ‘9K well spent!’. Malcolm Press, vice-chancellor of MMU – who enjoys a £348,000 annual remuneration package – demanded posters comparing the halls to a prison and reading ‘f**k Boris’ be taken, threatening the students with unspecified disciplinary action if they did not comply. Meanwhile, lecturers in the UCU at Northumbria University are demanding the sacking of their vice-chancellor Andrew Wathey (who received an £18,000 bonus last year on top of his £246,000 salary) over his mismanagement of the crisis. Universities have had to back down from using security officers to enforce lockdowns at halls of residence as lawyers and others questioned what powers they had to impose such restrictions in the first place.
But another question of prime importance is of course whether the virus will now spread much to the general non-university population. Labour MP Jeff Smith (Manchester Withington) has warned against shutting down businesses in the university cities which might cause a general economic slump. But students, despite having a coronavirus rate in Manchester now six times higher than for the rest of the city, are not totally isolated from the rest of society, and use public facilities such as supermarkets, take-aways, bars and so on. Moreover there are staff, cleaners, builders and others going into student homes, and safety precautions are not always followed eg at Birley Hall the reception staff were not wearing masks.
British universities, normally a source of profit to British capitalism, are now having to face a dangerous infection, which threatens students and older people too. Attempts to blame ‘partying students’ for the problem are dishonest. Real responsibility lies with a capitalist system which puts profit before people.
Martin Harrison
