Sussex Not For Sale

Sussex Not for Sale has been one of the most important and popular campaigns to take place at Sussex in many years. We should not be surprised that the Vice-Chancellor has been closed to criticism of his ideologically driven restructuring. If we learn from this experience, the campaign will return even stronger in the new academic year.

On the last day of term, we protested outside University Senate to say 'no' to the Vice-Chancellor's plans for our university. Inside the meeting, our concerns were voiced by student and staff representatives. But the Vice-Chancellor isn't listening.

This Friday, the proposals will go before University Council, the very highest governing body of the university, for approval. The Vice-Chancellor's group is trying to whitewash our demands by telling Council that Senate approved the plans [1] and that our concerns have been dealt with in a new version of the White Paper [2]. As any of the staff and students who sit on Senate could tell you, this is not the case. The new version of the White Paper contains minor changes and a new 'risk assessment' section which makes it even more obvious that no adequate risk assessment has been done.

We must not allow the Vice-Chancellor to gloss over the problems with his proposals when Council meets on Friday. Most students are away for the Easter holidays, so it is crucial that as many of us who are around as possible turn up to demonstrate outside Council at 9.30am on Friday.

Hope to see you on Friday!

Thanks to Daisy for these pictures.

Kees van der Pijl, Professor of International Relations, defends intellectual pluralism at the University of Sussex.

Tom Wills The Badger Monday 25 February 2008

• Students and staff rally against University reforms

Over 160 students and staff rallied against proposed University reforms in a mass meeting last week. Speakers from across the university community said the changes threatened Sussex’s long-standing tradition of unique, critical approaches to teaching and research, echoing concerns reported in recent issues of The Badger.

Tom Wills The Badger Monday 11 February 2008

• Bosses announce second reorganisation in 5 years
• Some academics fear more central control
• Uncertainty ‘very damaging to morale’

A growing number of staff are expressing concern over plans to restructure the University. Some faculty fear the changes will lead to more managerial power over research and teaching agendas, while some support staff feel left out of the loop on changes which will affect their working conditions. A number of staff have spoken to The Badger on condition of anonymity. One member of support staff said, “The uncertainty caused by the way the restructuring has been managed has been very damaging to morale amongst faculty and support staff. For around two years we have been receiving tidbits of information, through both official and unofficial channels, about what may be happening. Support staff are often the last people to be told what’s going on.”