Author: LSU Media

Volunteer writer Maciek Anielski explains the actions of social media company Twitter when banning the outgoing US President’s account and what this means for the future. On Friday the 8th January, Twitter permanently suspended the @realDonaldTrump account, two days after the storming of the Capital building by his supporters. In an official statement, twitter cited their Glorification of Violence policy as the reason for Donald Trump’s suspension. They specifically referred to two tweets: The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They…

The University and College Union yesterday threatened industrial action to prevent what they call an “unsafe campus return” this academic year. University lecturers have told the Government that they will not resume face-to-face teaching this academic year, and that any attempt by the government or vice-chancellors to reopen campuses in February will fail. The Union has alarmingly threatened to ballot nationally for industrial action for the fourth time in three years, this time over any potential student return to campus this academic year. In a statement, they said that they will ballot their members to strike against the resumption of…

Volunteer writer Leah Langley gives a rundown of the events of the 6th January in Washington, at the Capitol Building On January 6th, the world was captured by the events that unfolded at the U.S. Capitol building. Rioters managed to force their way into the House Chamber and breach the seat of the U.S. democracy for the first time since the 1812 War. The rioters were made up of a mob of Donald Trump supporters who were attempting to overturn his 2020 Presidential Election defeat by disrupting the Electoral College vote count. The mob were in the building for hours,…

Your concerns around tuition fees, no detriment policies, and rent freezes (amongst others) are not falling on deaf ears, but now your Executive need two things from you.  In March 2020 I, as Welfare & Diversity Executive Officer, was one of five members of last year’s Executive working during the first national lockdown. It was a difficult time for everybody, not least for the Students’ Union; an organisation that had historically been so dependent on its night-time entertainment as a source of income. Then, the same concerns that are being raised now were being aired by last year’s cohorts. As…

More than 3000 people have signed a petition organised by a student group to “partially refund Loughborough University Tuition Fees” over concerns that COVID-19 has reduced the quality of teaching. The petition follows others across the country calling for similar measures to be put in place, including a petition on the UK Parliament website that is calling for the Government to reduce fees to £3000 this year, which has been signed by over 375,000 people. The students creating the petition, as the ‘Loughborough Scenes’ group, are asking to be “compensated for the high level of tuition that we agreed to…

Following the announcement on Monday by Boris Johnson that England will be going into national lockdown, Loughborough Students’ Union has released an update on what they are providing to students. In a statement by Matt Youngs, Union President, the “majority” of the “Union building” will be “closed” however the Piazza will remain open as a “dedicated study space” for those who are in Loughborough from 9am-5pm, Monday-Friday. The Union Shop and the Purple Onion will remain open in order to provide essentials to those on campus, as well as the continuing operation of the ‘Click and Collect’ service. Mr. Youngs…

In an email to students, Loughborough University have told students they “should not” return to Loughborough until “mid-February at the earliest.” This follows the Prime Minister’s announcement on Monday that England will be returning to a full national lockdown. The University have advised that you should only return to Loughborough before then if you: Have already arranged international travel to the UK, Do not have adequate space/facilities at home to study or undertake examinations, Consider that your mental health would be negatively affected if you remain home, Are part of an elite sport performance pathway. They also advised that whilst…

Following Boris Johnson’s announcement last night, Label has investigated what this means for university students across the country. The Prime Minister yesterday announced that England is to return to a national lockdown similar to the one in March, and the stay at home order has returned. University students across the country went to Twitter to show their dismay and worry about the lack of clarity. if they’re gonna cancel GCSE and A level exams they need to address what’s happening with university assessments. i’m not paying £9k+ a year only to be so disadvantaged by national circumstance that im not able to…

Volunteer writer, David Owens, speaks about the concerns many students have in regards to the University’s Safety Nets. Students have been left concerned by the University’s approach to calculating degree classifications following the publication of the Loughborough Safety Net 2020/21. On Thursday 10th December, Rachel Thompson, Loughborough University’s Pro-Vice Chancellor for Teaching, emailed students to provide further information about the arrangements for study and assessments after the Christmas break. Amongst other key details about examinations, a detailed explanation of the Loughborough Safety Nets for 2020/21 was provided. In theory, the safety nets are designed to ‘ensure students are not disadvantaged…

Imago, a Loughborough University subsidiary company that delivers “conferences and events” at Loughborough, has been found to have failed to pay their staff minimum wage, along with 139 other companies, the Government has announced. The investigation took place between 2016 and 2018 in which these 139 companies failed to pay £6.7 million to over 95,000 workers in total, in what the government is calling a “flagrant breach of employment law”. Imago was found to have failed to pay £6,319.05 to 101 workers during this period, and have been fined as a result. Paul Scully, the Business Minister said: “Paying the…