Since February 20th, students from Goldsmiths University have maintained a continuous occupation of one of the university buildings, the Professor Stuart Hall Building. The occupation was initiated in response to the university’s complicity and silence regarding the ongoing genocide in Gaza, as well as its investment in an Israeli company. The students have vowed to remain in the building until the university management addresses their demands. In this Q&A, we spoke with Starr Thomas, a second-year drama student at Goldsmiths, to discuss the progress and dynamics of the ongoing cause.
How long have you been here for?
I’ve been here for a month on Wednesday. Before, I was staying here five days and taking two days off to sleep at home, but I’m doing it full time now and I’ve found I’ve got used to it.
What is life like here a month in?
Being able to attune to constantly being around people who want the same things and have the same morals feels good. Doing mundane tasks like showering and cooking and even making a cup of tea in an open space like the Professor Stuart Hall Building with 20 other people and sleeping in a lecture theatre on a blowup mattress; It’s honestly ideal for me as everything I do is usually community based anyway. I find it funny that I’m paying rent elsewhere to just be living at uni, but the building essentially feels like home for me now.
You had a meeting last week with the management to discuss the demands. How did it go?
It was interesting. On our end, we were really prepared and had done a lot of research. We were able to tell them where their money is going and what they are doing. They were really surprised, and I think it really caught them off guard. A lot of it was them being really defensive trying to cover for themselves, and not really giving proper answers. They verbally agreed to sign stuff, but in writing they’ve given us nothing. And we aren’t planning on leaving until it’s set in stone, so I’m not sure how much longer we will be here for..
What have you learnt from this situation?
That everything runs better when it’s backed by a community and research. It’s not really something I’ve learnt but it’s constantly being reaffirmed for me. Without the student community at Goldsmiths, SMT would still be running business as usual and wouldn’t have batted an eyelid to what they are doing. I think at the beginning they didn’t have any idea why we were actually here, and they are slowly coming to realise that we aren’t stupid.
I think I’ve reflected on the fact that there’s strength in the smaller things too. No matter how insignificant you think the battle is, it’s absolutely worth fighting. It’s about winning the smaller ones in the face of something so grand. Even though there’s always a ‘grand scheme of things’, a drop in the ocean is still a drop at the end of the day.
For people that don’t know, what can they do to get involved and help out?
Our Instagram page posts updates regularly, so that’s a good thing to stay in the loop with. There’s always rallies or events like teach-ins and film screenings happening at the moment. The occupation is also open for anyone who’d like to sleep over, and hot meals are provided.