¹û¶³Ó°Ôº

Dear all 

It is now over two months since the encampment in the Quad began, and since then I have written several times to update you on the situation on campus and to . Members of my team have also had conversations with representatives of the protesters to understand their concerns and try to find common ground, as well as with others across our community who are affected by the protest.ÌýÌý

Like others around the world, our community has been shaken by the conflict in Israel and Gaza. We have heard from many of you the deep pain being felt, and we are taking steps in response. This includes making a 3-year commitment to offering new ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº Humanitarian Scholarships for students fleeing conflict to study a full-time Master’s degree programme at ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº.  We are also working in partnership with the who, in line with their support to at-risk academics globally, are developing further plans to support Palestinian academics. 

As I have always said, at a time that is difficult and distressing for many people, our focus is on supporting everyone affected by the conflict in Israel and Gaza to the best of our ability. Many teams across the university have been working hard to provide this support. In our own community, this has included supporting those engaging in our services directly, providing specialised emotional and practical help through Psychological First Aid, running drop-in sessions and giving extenuating circumstances and adjustments for those struggling with the impact on their work, plus valuable dialogue through our staff networks, student societies and groups.

Now, as we look to the start of next term, we have been considering the impact of the ongoing occupation of the Quad on the wider university community. 

The Quad is ¹û¶³Ó°Ôºâ€™s ‘living room’, the space that is most recognisably ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº, and it needs to be a place that is open, welcoming and useable for everyone. It is also the venue for some of our most important events, particularly at the start of the new academic year, when it hosts a range of Welcome Week activities that give new students an important introduction to their new life at ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº. The scale of these activities means that we have no alternative venue for them if the Quad is not available. The importance of these activities for new students, many of whom are leaving home for the first time and rely on Welcome Week events to make connections and start to feel at home at ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº, means that they cannot and must not be cancelled or curtailed. In the autumn, works will also commence to update and prepare the Quad for our bicentenary celebrations and access will be needed to the areas currently occupied by the protest. 

Because of this, informal conversations with the protesters have recently been held to try to find a mutually agreeable way for the protest in the Quad to end. We continue to hope that they will leave the Quad and find other avenues through which to exercise their legitimate right to protest peacefully.ÌýÌý

Formal notice to vacate the Main Quad 

Today, we have formally advised the protestors that we intend to follow the course of action taken by many other UK universities with similar protests in place and apply for a court order to remove them if they do not choose to go of their own volition. This is not a decision we have taken lightly. We will always uphold the right to freedom of speech. But we must also gain access to the Quad for activities that are so important to the life of the university.  In particular, we must welcome our new students to ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº in a way that equips them to make the very best of their time here.ÌýÌý

I know that there is a wide variety of opinions and experiences in relation to this issue across our community and, as ever, I welcome your comments to president.provost@ucl.ac.uk. All our specialised support services are available as usual throughout the summer months for all staff and students, a reminder of how to access them is here.ÌýÌý

Dr Michael Spence 

¹û¶³Ó°Ôº President & Provost