Easter Strike for Lecturers
by Maddy Potts
Lecturers at the University of York will stage a mass protest as part of a national row over pensions.
A reported 800 members of university staff will take part in the two-day walkout which begins on 22 March. They are among staff from 63 other UK institutions taking industrial action over proposed changes to their pension scheme.
As the planned strike will fall during the Easter holidays, it is not expected to cause disruption to students.
Royal Wedding Exam Delay
by Maddy Potts
A decision has been made to delay certain Summer term examinations from Week 1 to Week 2, due to the unusually late Easter and the Royal Wedding.
In subjects including Philosophy and Economics, exams have been reorganised to fall in the second week of term. In an email sent to all Philosophy students from the head of department, the decision to delay the examinations by a week was taken by the University “without consulting” the department.
According to the current provisional timetable, several subjects, including History and Politics, continue to have exams scheduled for April 29, the date of the Royal Wedding, despite the national bank holiday.
Lecture Moved Due to Popularity
by Dominic Falcao
The ‘Arab Domino Effect’ panel discussion held last week proved so popular that it had to be relocated to campus’s largest lecture hall, from its original proposed location in Alcuin.
Attendees were treated to an eye-witness account of the build-up to protests in Tahir Square by Sara Sadek, an Egyptian-born researcher from the UoY Centre for Applied Human Rights in P/X/001.
Commenting on the strength of support for the event, one of the panellists, Dr. Ziad Elmarsafy of the English Department, said he had never seen the two-tier lecture theatre so full.
The event was co-hosted by the Arab Association at York and the club of Politics, Economics and Philosophy PEP.