Dear President & Principal Professor Shitij Kapur,

I hope you’re well. I am writing to you because, as a student of KCL, I am deeply concerned about the current working conditions of our staff. During the pandemic, KCL staff worked tirelessly to keep my education going and to move teaching and learning online.

But it does not seem that KCL senior management acknowledges and appreciates their efforts. Even if it recognises that workloads are much above the contractually defined ones, KCL senior management it is supporting employers’ attempts to cut their pensions by at least 25% and a 16% real term decline in their pay since 2008, 

I appreciate KCL’s focus and emphasis on combatting inequality and its cutting edge research on these matters. KCL is committed to race equality and gender equality. And yet, KCL does not seem to follow the statements and research agenda at its own institution. In material terms, the gender pay gap is still 17.1% and the ethnicity gap is 20%. I ask the university to practice what it preaches. It should eradicate these pay gaps right now.

Student learning conditions are teachers’ working conditions. Inequalities among staff are reflected in significant students’ attainment gaps at King’s. The increase in workloads means that KCL staff have less time to engage with my studies. The fact that a lot of my teachers’ contracts are short-term only adds needless stress to their work.

Given this increasing precarity of the academic profession, and unacceptable inequalities, I am deeply concerned about the quality of education for future years.

When staff and students complain about this discrimination at work, they should be congratulated. Instead, the university condemns the actions taken by staff when the university leaves them no other choice.

This decision by the university has devastating consequences to my education and I demand that the university reverses the cuts and the increases in workloads, and eradicates the pay gaps.

We all want to attend our classes after one and half years of pandemic. Our lecturers and professors love teaching us.

We demand KCL senior management plays a part too.

Kind Regards,