We caught up with the Vice Chancellor of the University of Manchester, Duncan Ivison, after the Reclaim the Night 2024 march on November 21.
Professor Ivison marched alongside student demonstrators, attempting to blend into the crowd, as he informed reporters from The Mancunion, but often giving himself away due to his noticeable Manchester purple University of Manchester branded umbrella. Few people recognised the Vice Chancellor, dressed down in a waterproof jacket to battle the freezing sleet.
It seemed clear that Ivison has been making a concerted effort to involve himself in student activism. In the week prior, Ivison was involved in a football match between the Students’ Union's Executive Officers and the Senior Leadership Team. Turning out in the sleet and snow displayed a dedication and curiosity that many students would find unfamiliar from University senior leadership.
When describing his participation in the event, Ivison stated he was there as both “a member of the University, of course, and as an individual”. This made it unclear as to whether the University of Manchester fully endorsed the marches’ three claims or merely the right for student protest. Ivison did not appear to engage with any of the chants going on around him as he walked along Oxford Road, nor did he clap after the speeches at the Great Northern.
Comparatively, previous Vice-Chancellor Nancy Rothwell did not attend Reclaim the Night during her tenure. Ivison’s attendance marks a stark difference from his predecessor's attitude towards the student demonstration.
Q: Why did you decide to attend the event this evening?
Explaining his reasoning for attending, Ivison emphasised his commitment to making sure Manchester was “safe for all of its citizens”, particularly ensuring safety for “all our students”.
“I wanted to support the Student Unions’ objectives, which I think are really important and terrific”. The Student Executive team has regular meetings with Ivison to lobby him for change regarding pressing student issues. He seemed keen to attend as the “Students’ Union want the leadership team of the University to be a part of it”, explaining that “we were really happy to support it”.
Q: What does reclaiming the night mean to you? Did the speeches resonate?
“I think what it means to me is the community making a statement about making the city safe for all of its citizens”. One of this year's key aims, as outlined on the Students’ Union website, is focused on ensuring safe travel for workers and students. Additionally, this year's march prioritised an intersectional perspective on feminism, featuring the inclusion of trans people in the women’s night-time safety charter.
Ivison acknowledged that the march is a “really important statement to make, and you have to do that every year, you can't take that for granted. And yeah I think the speeches touched on all the different issues that we face in keeping the city safe”.
Q: What does Reclaim the Night mean to the University?
Ivison asserted to this question that “We can’t be complacent - [w]e always have to think of ways in which we can make sure all of our students, local students, domestic students, international students - students whatever their background, whatever their beliefs, whatever their sexuality or gender - feel safe not just on the campus but in the city”. He was keen to note that he believed that these issues were a community effort, expressing the sentiment that ensuring student safety was “something we have to work together on”.
Q: The University is hugely influential in the city. When we spoke to society leaders earlier today, they said they would like to see more action from the University. What action are you taking to ensure the safety of students in the city and on campus?
The University of Manchester has huge power within the city, and Professor Ivison often has opportunities to meet with local government. When interviewed by The Mancunion, student leaders expressed their hope that Ivison would use this influence to further progress discussions on some of the political aims. When questioned on how he might use this influence, he informed us that “we [the University] work really closely with the Students’ Union on the campaigns they are running with the city. We meet regularly, I meet them regularly, along with other university leaders”. He outlined how attending these sorts of meetings with “city leadership and the combined authority leadership” often focuses on “how we can make the city a better experience for our students”.
“We are already working with the Students’ Union on these issues and we are happy to keep doing so”.
Q: So what action is being taken?
Delving further into the University’s plans to tackle the issues raised by students at the Reclaim the Night march, we pushed to get a concrete answer on direct plans for action.
“The campaign that sits behind the march is one that we really strongly support. So I will raise that with the city leadership when we meet them. There's a whole range of issues we’re thinking about in terms of how the campus operates and how we work with the city on making it a better and safer place”. He quickly solidified this claim further by stating that “certainly the things that people raised on the march tonight are things we will take forward with the city”.
Q: Will you commit to publicly endorsing the aims of Reclaim such as the ‘Get Me Home Safely’ scheme? Will you lobby for it in conversation with Andy Burnham or the local council?
Ivison chose his words very carefully when he answered “Yeah, I’m very happy to commit to raising them”. Whilst it is positive that these will become a part of his conversations with Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, there was not a clearly defined commitment to endorsing the three key aims of the march: “They are really important goals, and I think they are ones we should all work together to try and implement”.
Q: Is it hypocritical for senior leadership to be engaging in and actively supporting student demonstrations like this after stating that the University is not a political institution?
As our interview continued Ivison’s answers became more blunt and succinct:
“Hmmm… [pause] - no I don’t think it’s contradictory at all”.
Q: How come?
“Well because I don’t think trying to make this city and our campus safe is a politically partisan thing to want to do”.
Q: Even though it is a feminist cause?
Ivison seemed to simultaneously agree, stating “Sure it is a feminist cause”, but also stating that “it’s a cause that’s… part of supporting all kinds of different people”. Reclaim the Night is touted as a feminist event, featuring speakers from several feminist societies and an emphasis on women’s liberation.
Q: But it is a political event?
Ivison seemed nonplussed by this question, answering with “Sure, I mean that’s fine - people can describe it in all sorts of different ways”. He went on to avoid directly discussing the subject, simply stating “I’m here to support the goals that motivated the march and the Students’ Union campaign”.
Q: Can you comment on why, during the speeches and the march, you didn’t engage in any of the chants or clapping?
Despite the march being rather raucous, featuring chants, whooping, and applause, Ivison's interaction with the event started and ended with being present for it. “I think people can participate in the march in all kinds of different ways”, Ivison stated, before explaining that his participation in the march simply included “joining”.
He underscored this by asserting “Some people can clap, some people shout, some people dance, I walked with the march”.
Q: Do you think the university’s support of this event is hypocritical, given how recent on-campus protests have been dealt with?
Ivison responded to this question with a resounding “No, I don’t think so”, but failed to give a proper response to the question in his follow-up statement, which emphasised the difficulty of balancing “the right to protest” with “the rights of the people who want to protest”. He was intent on repeating this notion, finishing upon stating that “it’s always [about] trying to get that balance right”.
Professor Ivison seemed eager to escape the cold after our interview ended.
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