Features / University of Bristol
Lecturers teach students at the pub as part of university strikes
While the lecture halls and seminar rooms of the University of Bristol may have been empty, one pub most certainly was not.
On a usual Friday lunchtime, the Hope & Anchor might have been filled with the odd local grabbing a pint, but today it was privy to a different kind of clientele.
Walking away from the bustle of the Clifton Triangle and elbowing past the noisy swinging doors of the Jacob’s Wells Road pub, you would have struggled to find a seat.
is needed now More than ever
The Hope and Anchor was the chosen pub-come-pop-up-lecture theatre for the teach out – photo: Betty Woolerton
The eclectic mix of punters ebbed and flowed into the pub, some greeting friends and opening laptops, and others approaching the bar to buy pints of cider and beer.
Next to the bar, a well-used banner reading ‘students support the strike’ in bold black paint was proudly suspended underneath a chalkboard advertising the Hope & Anchor’s Indian street food menu from Naasto Basto.
When the clock struck one and the pub was teeming with dozens of people, the hubbub was hushed by a bartender and told to “buy your pints quietly because we are starting the talk”.
The speaker was Chris Rossdale, a lecturer in the School of Sociology, Politics & International Studies (also known as SPAIS) at the University of Bristol and a teacher of courses in rebellion, social movements and political resistance.
The audience were students invited to attend a ‘teach-out’, what the University and College Union (UCU) calls a teaching session outside the university structure “to help foster discussion, solidarity and rebellion”.
While some dodged out to smoke a quick cigarette, the majority of students listened avidly to Rossdale at the front, who gave a lecture entitled ‘University complicity in the arms trade’.
Clutching a crackly microphone, Rossdale spoke about the profound complicity and collaboration of the arms trade with British universities and ways in which students can challenge and resist it.
Friday marked the last day of industrial strike action, where university lecturers and support staff from 58 higher education institutions are on strike due to an ongoing row over shrinking pay and pensions, unmanageable workloads and precarious contracts.
An interdisciplinary programme of teach-outs have run in conjunction with in-person picketing on campus this week, on subjects as varied as decolonising philosophy, and direct action and the climate crisis.
One attendee of the teach out was Bella Blazwick-Noble, a third-year English literature student, who was not only interested in the topic explored in the lecture, but also “wanted to show solidarity with my lecturers who are striking”.
Main photo by Betty Woolerton
Read more: Bristol University staff and students stand in solidarity as strike begins
Listen to the latest Bristol 24/7 Behind the Headlines podcast:
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
