Sophie McNally - Deputy Editor
Industrial action is another glaring example of student neglect in a never-ending sequence of Covid teaching and packed picket lines that’s unfortunately marred the years I’ve spent at Newcastle University.
But, the fault should absolutely never lie with those striking.
University strikes are as liberating as they are limiting.
It's inspiring to see lecturers and staff take a stand for themselves and vocalise the ongoing injustices they are acting against, from pensions to gender and racial pay gaps. One of the most raw and true senses of university unity is undoubtably borne from teachers and students standing shoulder-to-shoulder on the picket lines — it's electrifying.
But having endured year after year of the same impediments to my education, strikes can feel pointless and painful. I miss crucial contact time, feel totally lost in my readings and assignments and have to undergo strict turnarounds only to see that there's been a marking boycott.
The inconvenience caused truthfully can make many students harbour resentment towards Newcastle University and its employees. The tuition we pay is in no way reflective of the quality of teaching we receive, irrespective of strikes, so when strikes do happen it's tough to see past the immediate obstacle we have to our education and the commodity we've forked out for.
Those actually to blame for the damage and unfairness of university strikes are certainly not the staff we see every day in lecture halls and seminars
However, targeting or vilifying the first: person, group, or organisation visible to you that's associated with your grievances is never the way forward. Those actually to blame for the damage and unfairness of university strikes are certainly not the staff we see every day in lecture halls and seminars.
Sophie McMillan- NUTV Station Manager
Standing in solidarity with these workers, and those striking elsewhere - postmen, railways, binmen, doctors and nurses - I believe, is placing yourself on the right side of history.
The worst part of being working class is watching the people you love around you work all their lives, destroying their bodies for a CEO who wouldn't even spit on them, and then watching them die before they can even live. Just because you may see the people around you smile as they retire, doesn't mean everyone will, at this point, you might not either - people deserve to live a comfortable life. We need to stand together against corruption and evil, we need to avoid selfishness and fighting within ourselves, as we are no better than each other.
I can't help but be heartbroken that people care more about a few assignments, a few days without a post or a cancelled train, than the people within these services who are suffering, starving, and dying.