Whole School Walkout - Save Our Student Academic Support!

When: Fri 24 November 2017 13:00-14:00
Where: SOAS Steps, Main Building

What's happening?

- Admin staff across our University are facing uncertainty as Senior Management has come out with proposals to significantly reshape different admin departments.
- Proposals would see all student support move to out-of-touch Hubs.
- Despite student experiences of queues and delays, proposals outline the creation of new managerial-level posts; we need more and better-supported frontline staff, not more managers.
- The online Student Information Desk is a failure because admin staff who run it are not properly supported, and Welcome Week was extremely disorganised from both the student and staff perspective because staff had had their job titles changed only weeks before.
- If you have a question about your degree, where do you want to go: a Hub where no one knows more about your degree than you do, or a department office where staff work with academics and students from your degree every day? (i.e. physical co-location of academics and admin support staff)
- The School of Law has this system of physical co-location of academics and admin support staff and, lo and behold, it works!

Why walk out?

- Despite a 91% vote in the Academic Senate and our petition in the Students' Union both calling for department-based support, these proposals for hubs are still on the table. Come out on Friday at 1PM to show you want proper support for admin staff, proper support for students, and a sensible organisation of Student and Academic Support across the University.
- These proposals by Senior Management are being done in the name of 'improving the student experience', so let's tell Senior Management what is the student experience and what students think the solution is.
- Because this is an issue that many people oppose, but the staff directly affected have limited options to demonstrate their opposition; so as students, we can act in solidarity. 

What else?

- Share and sign the Students' Union petition: SAVE ACADEMIC STUDENT SUPPORT AT SOAS! https://goo.gl/forms/iujP3fKThke3Ndwn2

*** FACEBOOK EVENT: https://www.facebook.com/events/705660976289172/ ***