To the Royal Holloway Students’ Union,

We, as the student body you represent, implore you to fully support of our lecturers and academic staff in their struggle to gain just treatment by our university. This includes basic concessions of:
1. Fair pay,
2. Job security,
3. Manageable workloads,
4. Equality.

To this end, your support should take the form of allying with movements for industrial action and working in collaboration with the lecturers and students who are members of the UCU in order to achieve resolutions to their grievances.

Many of us students are discontented with our education - having endured the consistent disruptions of strikes in 2019, a pandemic, and now the further prospect of strikes. We must support our staff by calling for their proposals to be met by the university, not only to help them but also to help ourselves in securing an acceptable standard of education. Better teaching conditions = better learning conditions.

Without the support of the paying student body, the university will have no strong reason to regard the demands of its staff, hence we must be vocal if we are to support our committed tutors and return our studies to stability. If indeed you do claim to represent the student voice, then listen now and pledge to communicate our discontent as our union, that we might finally achieve something.

We agree with National Union of Students president Larissa Kennedy:
'Students have a rich history of standing shoulder to shoulder with university staff, who have seen their pensions, pay and conditions slashed in recent years. With vice chancellors' average total pay packets rising to £269,000 per year, it's clear employers can afford to resolve their dispute with UCU over staff pay, which has fallen by an average of 20 in real terms since 2009. Staff teaching conditions are student learning conditions, and we mustn't forget many postgraduate students on casualised teaching contracts will be striking. The onus for minimising disruption for students lies with university bosses: they must come back to the table to address the clear issues in how higher education is currently run.'

Yours sincerely,

The Students of Royal Holloway.