News and Investigations
The Cheese Grater’s investigations team works hard to provide you with the latest stories about UCL and the Union. We shine a light on the realities of life at UCL, covering everything from the inanities of student politics to how the Machiavellian manoeuvres of UCL management impact daily life on campus.
85 posts
Will the Eugenics Inquiry learn from past mistakes?
At a town hall meeting on 1 March, students and staff came together to debate and testify to UCL’s complex relationship with eugenics and scientific racism. Last year’s revelations about…
UCLove plagued by suicide threats
Content warning: mentions of suicide, depression, anxiety, self-harm and eating disorders, but no detailed or graphic descriptions. Although UCLove was created as a space for calling out library crushes, it…
Academics against outsourcing boycott Senate House
Campaigners from the Independent Workers of Great Britain (IWGB) are stepping up efforts to end outsourcing at the University of London (UoL). They are calling for a boycott of events…
Election balls
Adverts on social media, a ball pit in South Cloisters, and a promise of £500 to the society with the highest percentage of voting members were not enough to boost…
Union Council bans iPads for sabbatical elections
Voting opened today in elections for Union sabbatical and part-time officers. This year will be the first in which campaigners are forbidden from approaching students with electronic devices and encouraging…
A brief history of Eugenics
UCL is finally facing up to its past. An inquiry has been convened to investigate UCL’s history of eugenics and make recommendations as to how to best confront it. The Provost…
Academics oppose GRA reform
‘Academic Freedom’ or something more? Six UCL academics were among the signatories of an October 2018 letter published in The Guardian. They expressed reservations about proposed changes to the Gender…
UCL shifts blame for unpaid security staff
Last November, UCL switched security contractors from CIS to Axis. The roster of security officers at UCL has changed little, but the messy transition has caused them huge problems. Holiday…
UCL may adopt IHRA definition rejected by Students’ Union
At a heated Union members’ meeting on Monday 21 January, students voted by a margin of 212 to 78 to reject the adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)…
Has scrapping hardship bursary disadvantaged UCL’s worst-off students?
In a year when UCL accommodations are less accessible to the most financially insecure students due to the scrapping of the Accommodation Bursary and Hardship Fund, UCL now appears to…