A UCL undergraduate has challenged Provost Malcolm Grant’s Campaign for UCL – and the rebranding and restructuring of College now in progress – by launching an ‘Alternative Campaign for UCL’.
Graham Kirby said he was launching the campaign because he disagreed profoundly with the direction of UCL’s future and he wanted to give students the power to help determine it. “As top-up fees are being introduced, students are being seen increasingly as stakeholders. All our reputations lie on the successful prestige of UCL. However, while we have the most to lose, we are given no say in UCL’s future”.
Kirby is particularly unhappy about the new UCL logo – already mocked by the AUT and London Student - and the Provost’s lack of accountability. Explaining his aims, he said: “At the core of the campaign is asking the Provost to reconsider his decision to rebrand the College; asking him to meet students and present his ideas, and put them forward for democratic discussion”. He objected to the “corporate management spirit” of the new logo, concerns also reflected in our article on the subject in this issue.
Kirby, 27, a third-year politics student at SSEES, appears to have a small following at the moment, but his plans are big: he wants to ask the Provost to reconsider his decision to rebrand College; ask him to meet students and present their ideas, including a new logo (bottle of Bollinger champagne for the winner); and put them forward for democratic discussion – taking power away from the Provost.
Kirby did not shy away from the last point: “Scottish universities have elected figures, elected by the students and graduates, who have an influential role in decisions, and I’m calling on UCL to adopt the same role”. Challenged that he didn’t know what he was talking about, he admitted: “OK, the Provost does know more about higher education; however, what I’m asking is for the Provost to treat us like adults, with all the facts before us.”
Kirby insisted that students would be encouraged to participate in the campaign since their careers were at stake. “Every one of us will have ‘UCL’ next to our names for the rest of their lives. That can either be a millstone – if we’re apathetic – or a blessing.” He was anxious to present himself as a friend to the Provost and praised the Campaign for UCL for its ambition, but finished with an appeal: “One can’t make decisions from an ivory tower. If the Provost has confidence in his ideas, let him come forward and debate them.”