Students at the University of Sheffield occupied the Hicks Building in solidarity of the University College Union (UCU) strikes and alleged arms company links.
This comes a month after the Sheffield Action Group occupied the Diamond for a week to call out the University’s ties to arms companies.
Last night, a group of student protestors named Sheffield Action Group entered the Hicks building on the city centre campus and declared an occupation to “kick arms companies off campus”, alongside supporting striking staff.
Protestors chose to leave the building hours after entering, believing they achieved their aim with the closure.
One of the student occupiers, who asked not to be named, said: “We are here to demand dignity and better conditions for their staff, a struggle which has been fought for by the whole University community for years.“
Sheffield Action Group demand that the University cuts ties with the arms companies and call for the requirements of the UCU strike, asking for better pay, conditions, job security and pension security to be met.
Shortly after entry, University of Sheffield security services allegedly locked the double doors at either end of the corridor the students were occupying, even though these are the only exits available to the students and are also clearly marked as fire exits.
Although security from the University claim the doors could have been unlocked in an event of a fire, the protesters argue the law clearly states the exits must not be locked in the first place, and the people requiring evacuation should be able to open them.
Addressing the criticism students should not be disrupted, another one of the occupiers said: “We feel that the disruption caused everyday to staff by poor pay, conditions and job security, and to students of inadequate mental health support, a marketised education system and the cost of living crisis, is far more disruptive to student education than an occasional occupation.”
After leaving, the group went onto disrupt the university careers fair.
A University of Sheffield spokesperson, said: “Our priority is to minimise disruption for students as much as possible, so our security team worked to contain the occupiers in one area of the building. There were members of security at the doors at all times and the occupiers were free to leave the building at any time.”
