UCL student fined £1000 for chalking

A student from University College London has been fined £1010 for writing a protest slogan in chalk on the building that houses the office of the university’s Vice-Chancellor.

Konstancja Duff, 25, was arrested last July on a protest against the outsourcing of university employees’ contracts after writing “sick pay, holidays, pensions now” in chalk on Senate House, which houses most of the university’s administrative staff.

Duff, who had denied the charges, was found guilty of criminal damage at Highbury Magistrates’ Court and received a three-month conditional discharge and was ordered to pay over £800 to cover the cost of repairs to the stone, as well as £200 in legal fees.

Daniel Cooper, Vice-President of the University of London Union, said: “Shame on the management of the University of London. They instructed the arrest, and have carried through with this prosecution for one reason: to ward off and silence any effective opposition to the university’s discredited plans for staff and students. It shows that the university have lost the argument.”

Cooper made it clear that having condemned the original arrest as “a disgrace”, the ULU would be contributing to the payment of Duff’s fine.

In a statement released after the initial arrest of Duff, the University College London Union claimed that the police had used “disproportionate force (violence)” and accused the university of deliberate intimidation.

“Student unions and universities should be safe spaces for students, where we are free to critique management and the status quo without fear of police violence. This is a clear example of how the presence of the police, and university management, on campus is contrary to this.”

Following the incident the University of London banned student protests and warned students would face prosecution if they protested in certain areas of the campus, stating the university was “no longer willing to tolerate demonstrations”.

Duff was also found not guilty of assaulting two police officers during the arrest.

The University of London declined to comment on the guilty verdict.