DUSA executive team announce they are “absolutely opposed” to uni cuts

The Dundee University Students Association (DUSA) has said it remains “absolutely opposed” to the proposed cuts highlighted in the university’s new recovery plan.

In an email to students, the DUSA Executive Team said the university is expecting students to accept the cuts, but that they remain firmly against them.

They then confirmed the current cuts under consultation:

• Significant reductions to support services (including counselling, disabilities, student funding and the health service)
• Closure of the Global Room
• Closure of the Chaplaincy
• Closure of the Botanic Gardens
• Closure of the Nursery
• Closure of English for International Students
• Suspension of Philosophy
• Suspension of Mathematics

However, they said this is not the entire list.

The DUSA Executive Team said that if all the propositions come to fruition it “will leave the University unrecognisable”.

The proposals sit on top of roughly 700 jobs already lost and a further 190 announced last month, as the University looks to find £20 million in annual savings.

DUSA was critical of how students have been kept informed. It said it had been “deeply disappointed” by the University’s failure to communicate, saying that students and staff had been “treated as spectators while decisions continue to be made behind closed doors.”

The Executive pointed to the Gillies Report, the independent investigation into the University’s finances, which set out the failures that led to the crisis. “Yet it is students, staff, and the wider Dundee community who are now expected to bear the consequences,” they said.

“The University must demonstrate to the Scottish Government and the Scottish Funding Council that there is meaningful engagement with students,” the Executive said. “There is no greater or more important time than now to make your voice heard.”

Students were urged to get involved in opposing the cuts, either by signing petitions or by following @uodstudentsagainstcuts on Instagram.

Taking action on Tuesday, a “Paint & Sip: Oppose the Cuts” event took place, where students and staff members made posters stating their opposition to the cuts.

The DUSA Executive group ended the email by saying “This consultation is not over, and neither is this campaign.”

Tom Christison, the newly inaugurated President of DUSA, said: “The proposed cuts to our University are devastating. Staff and students are being asked to pay the price for decisions they didn’t make, and that’s simply not right.

“I’d encourage every student to get involved, speak up, and support this campaign however they can. If these cuts go ahead, they’ll completely change the University many of us left at the start of the summer.

“What’s made this even harder is the lack of clear communication from the University. Too much uncertainty has been allowed to grow, with rumours and speculation filling the gaps.

“Students and staff deserve honest, timely information about what these proposals mean, and the University needs to start providing that.”