Industrial Action, Climate and Israel-Palestine: The First Semester at King’s

The start of the 2023-24 academic year has brought a wealth of News stories to King’s College London (KCL). Here is a selection of some of the most important topics that Roar has covered in the first semester.

The year began with the KCL branch of the University and College Union (KCL UCU) calling off its strike action in the first week of teaching. Following their successful resolution of local disputes with university management, the KCL UCU stated its dissatisfaction with the national UCU organisation was its reason for not participating in the five-day strike. The KCL UCU Branch President at the time, Ewan McGaughey, is now running for General Secretary of the national UCU against incumbent Jo Grady.

Meanwhile, the university released its Environmental Sustainability Report, in which it announced that it would be dropping its commitment to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2025 and pushing back the goal to 2030.

Roar also investigated the ‘King’s Student’ app, discovering that it cost the university £279,412 to start up and run in its first year. However, the FOI request also revealed that the app had averaged under 2,000 uses per day in term time and that the use had steadily declined over the year.

Following the outbreak of the ongoing violence in the Gaza Strip, it was reported that Dr Maisara Alrayyes, an alumnus of King’s, had been killed in an Israeli airstrike that hit his home in Gaza on 7 November. KCL students and staff members took part in the National Student Walkout for Ceasefire in Gaza two days later. Students and staff gathered outside the Strand building to protest King’s partnerships with Israeli organisations and what organisers see as the weakness of its public statements.

Roar will continue to keep students updated on the latest news at King’s. To read the full articles, and more stories from this semester at King’s, visit roarnews.co.uk