Gomez show Brighton they’re back with a bang

It’s been a while since we last had Gomez here in Brighton.  The release of their new album A New Tide in March and their seemingly stealthy presence in the British music scene over the last few years gave me reason to wonder: would they would still live up to their one time Mercury Music Prize status?
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Weezer – Raditude (DGC)

Raditude is Weezer’s seventh studio album and arguably one of their best. When I think of Weezer I think of a quirky pop-punk band from the States behind songs such as Buddy Holly and Hash Pipe.  To a certain extent, this carries on into their latest album.

After 15 years sometimes it’s hard to keep that fresh sound, but right from the opening chords of (If You’re Wondering If I Want To) I Want You To, there is a fresh, up-beat and somewhat funky feel which draws you in. This then develops into more guitar led tracks like Let It All Hang Out and In The Mall.

It seems that Weezer have tried to draw influence from as many genres as possible. There are Hindi instruments and vocals on Love is the Answer, and use of synth and electro-pop on Can’t Stop Partying – a track which also includes Lil Wayne.

All of this combines to make an album that you find yourself singing along to after the first listen. This album is a must for any Weezer fan or anyone remotely interested in this genre.  They may have lost some of their edginess but this is still Weezer and they are still rocking out.

Brighton binmen on strike

Racism in higher education

Sussex student scoops top journalism award

An open letter from Sussex School of English Students

We, the students of the School of English, wholeheartedly oppose the University Management’s proposals to make sweeping redundancies across campus – this includes academic staff, but also library and IT staff, lab technicians, caterers, porters and those involved in Student Support Services.

We express our solidarity with those whose jobs are under threat and all those fighting cuts to services across the public sector.

The University Management’s proposals are short-sighted; we believe there is opportunity for ‘sustainable development’ in the School of English and that management has not considered all alternatives before resorting to the threat of redundancies.

These proposals threaten the integrity and reputation of the School, which until now has had a long-standing commitment to high-level research in the areas of psychoanalysis, comparative literature, modern philosophy, critical theory, and European studies. The proposed cuts, and changes in “focus” for the department, would add to the increasing marginalisation of the humanities on a national scale, but also pose a particular threat to the reputation of Sussex University, an institution famous for its excellence in the arts and humanities.

Sussex’s strong reputation for interdisciplinarity is what gives English at Sussex its identity, what attracted many of us to study here, and what continues to make our course stand out from others during the application process. The dismissal of all experts in European Literature threatens this.

We have the following list of demands and statements specifically with regard to the School of English:

- We demand that the University Senior Management acknowledge the wide scale student opposition within the School of English to the proposed redundancies in their public statements and publicity.

- We demand that further research be done into the alternatives that exist for ‘sustainable development’ within the School of English, and expect complete transparency regarding the research already carried out.

- Redundancies should be a last, not a first, resort.

- We recognise that management’s formula: ‘fewer staff, more students’ will be detrimental to the quality of teaching that staff are able to provide. In addition to the proposed five staff redundancies, we note a further three positions will not be renewed. This will increase the student to staff ratio and reduce tutors’ capacity to teach at a high standard. Forcing teaching staff to take on heavier workloads and admin. work must erode the quality of education available in the School of English.

- We demand to know how these cuts will affect the future provision of specialist courses taught by specialist tutors; we demand greater access to information regarding the effects the cuts will have on the School and its courses, and greater transparency in the plans for the future development of the School.

- ‘Student experience’ is about more than questionnaires and computer surveys; education should not be left at the mercy of market forces or be turned into an instrument of business. We are against Schools being run on business models that stand for self-accreditation, job-suitable degrees, and business approved research.

- We absolutely oppose the exploitation of international students as a source of revenue, and oppose the university management’s plans to limit the support services available for their studies.

- We strongly condemn the lack of discourse and consultation by the university with the academics of the school before formulating the proposals. Such decisions should come from within, not from the top down.

- We demand that the University Senior Management team should work to regain the trust of the students by expressing their personal opposition to government policy on higher education, and to embody the principles of the wider community at Sussex by taking an immediate pay cut.

As a first step, we propose:

- Unequivocally supporting any calls for strike action, should the UCU deem it necessary to take such action.

- Contacting press, alumni, local MPs, and prospective students, here and overseas, to expose the management’s policy as lacking integrity, foresight, and compassion.

- Doing whatever we can to protect the staff and standards of education threatened by these proposals.

Sussex School of English Students Against the Cuts, December 2009.

Unisex axed

The University of Sussex sexual advice service, Unisex, is to be closed down as part of the University’s scheme to save money.

Unisex, which currently costs the University around £40,000 a year, offers a number of services to students, including free contraception, advice on how to deal with problems such as unwanted pregnancy, and Chlamydia testing.
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Management obstructs ‘Stop the Cuts’ meetings

In an alleged attempt by University management to prevent ‘Stop the Cuts’ campaign meetings, all large lecture theatres and seminar rooms were booked up last week by the University at every available slot until Christmas.

On the morning of the 27th November, a Stop the Cuts representative was telephoned by University administration staff and informed that their forthcoming meeting had been moved to the Russell Building. The reason given at the time was that all other large rooms on campus had been scheduled for ‘equipment checks’.

In the week commencing 29th November, the University’s 15 largest meeting rooms were booked for a total of 200 hours, all due to ‘equipment checks’. Stop the Cuts responded with incredulity at the assertion that all larger rooms had to be booked at all times for the remaining period of term.

Initial enquiries made to the Room Bookings Office about the nature of the equipment checks were met with the response that there were to be electrical checks by the Portable Appliance Testing (PAT) team, in line with legal requirements for employers to ensure the safety of electrical goods. One student contacted the PAT team, only to find that they had no knowledge of any electrical checks of such a nature.

When questioned on this, Academic Registrar, Owen Richards, the man responsible for booking the rooms in question, stated that the rooms were, in fact, booked for security reasons. Booked rooms were to be released as soon as security checks had been completed.

Head of Security, Roger Morgan, when asked to confirm the information provided by Richards, insisted that he had not requested any room bookings and as such would not be releasing any rooms as security checks were completed.

Owen Richards has since told The Badger that this situation was the result of an over-zealous interpretation of his requests to make the rooms available for the Security team.

Faculty speak out against the cuts

A selection of the overwhelming number of responses we have received…

“The VC, Michael Farthing, came to Sussex two years ago on a ticket of growth and expansion. Now he is imposing the most savage set of cuts in the history of the University. In the eyes of most faculty and staff, he is completely discredited.”
Philosophy Tutor; Anon.

“I have no confidence in the current management strategy as a way of reducing costs and developing the University. At best, it will create an atmosphere of despair and disillusionment, which will negatively affect research, teaching, and administration.
Redundancies do not appear to have been dished out simply on the basis of individual performance, but are clearly connected to the University’s ‘development plans’. As such, none of us can be certain that in a few months, under the excuse of yet another financial crisis in the University, we would not be told that our research or teaching does not fit any longer with existing or future priorities.
I do not want to live and work under such a state of fear and anxiety, nor do I want to relinquish my intellectual freedom in order to keep my job. To put it simply, I believe that my future in the University depends directly on stopping all redundancies now.”
Global Studies Tutor; Anon.

“The English department has traditionally been not only the flagship department, but the cash cow producing a surplus income over the last five years, which has subsidised other factions of the University. Why is it that the first time we go into deficit, the result is job cuts in our department? Had we [the English department] been allowed to keep the surpluses that we have produced over the years – i.e. run to our budget – we would be in a very different position now.”
English Tutor; Anon.

“Perhaps the salaries of Senior Management should be reduced to save many members of staff in the firing line?”
Informatics Tutor; Anon.

“I would like to say how saddened I am by the proposed job cuts within Student Support. The Student Advisors and Student Support Coordinators are an extremely dedicated team who are committed to helping students during their time at Sussex.
The Student Advisors work with students who have a wide range of often complex support needs. These students are greatly valued and they deserve a robust support network to help them with any difficulties they encounter.
The drastic reduction in Student Advisors will have a detrimental affect on the ’student experience’ of many of our students. Student well-being should be a paramount concern of all members of University staff.”
Student Support Coordinator; Anon.

Hundreds of angry students storm Bramber House

On Thursday 3rd December, hundreds of outraged students stormed Bramber House for the second time this term. The demonstration highlighted the way in which senior managers at the University of Sussex have fundamentally underestimated student and staff anger regarding the proposed cuts to the University’s educational and support services.

By 10 am, almost 500 students and staff had gathered outside the doors of Bramber House, where an emergency meeting of Senate was taking place. Senate is the highest academic decision making body at the University, featuring members of academic staff. The meeting was chaired by the Vice-Chancellor, Michael Farthing, the man responsible for the drastic cuts proposals.

Protesting students and staff carried banners and pickets in an act of resistance against the cuts and in solidarity with those who have been affected. Students shouted slogans such as: “You Say Cut Back, We Say Fight Back”, and “No Ifs, No Buts, No Education Cuts.”

While gathered outside Bramber House, many students spoke out against the proposed cuts, including University of Sussex Students’ Union (USSU) officers, and students from the schools of English, Informatics, Life Sciences, and Engineering. Paul Cecil, President of the Sussex University College Union (UCU), and an international MA student, Tabitha Rohrer, also spoke.

Rohrer spoke of “an administration of senior managers on bloated salaries, who have increasingly cut students, staff, and the Union out of the decision making process in order to facilitate their short-sighted and ineffective strategies.

“This mismanagement is unacceptable, and speaking as someone who has paid ten thousand pounds to be here, I am outraged that people such as Michael Farthing have essentially lied to me about what kind of an institution I was coming to”, she said.

In high spirits, students decided to storm Bramber House in an attempt to make their voices heard, while chanting, “Michael Farthing, Shame on You” and, “There’s only one redundancy we want to see, Michael Farthing, Sussex VC”.

Eventually students managed to get into the corridor outside the room in which the Senate meeting was taking place. They remained there until the University called the police to quell the protest at around 11 am. Upon arrival of the police, the protesters left peacefully.

Owen Richards, the Academic Registrar, told The Badger of his experience of the demonstration from within the meeting room, “It went beyond free speech and making your point, it was pretty scary being in that room. The internal stud walls were literally bowing inwards with people using objects to smash up the walls and doors. It was terrible.”

It is unclear which objects Richards was referring to. Two reporters from The Badger who witnessed the protest confirmed that no objects were used. There was no damage to Bramber House following the demonstration.

The meeting of Senate was called on the premise that it would give student and staff representatives the chance to discuss management’s proposals for the 115 redundancies across the University. In the meeting, an academic member of the Senate directly asked the Vice-Chancellor to allow a vote to measure Senate support of the proposals. Farthing refused.

Tom Wills, President of USSU, who also attended the meeting, said: “It is a disgrace that the Vice-Chancellor refused to allow a vote in the meeting to measure Senate’s support for the redundancy proposals. This shows that senior management are well aware that their proposals have no support among staff or students, but are intent on pushing them through regardless.”

Wills added, “Today’s fantastic demonstration can only be the start of a determined campaign. Over the next three months we need to use every tactic at our disposal to put pressure on University management. We need consultation on our terms, not on theirs. We need to show management that they ignore the voices of students and staff at their peril.

“They know we have the power to stop these cuts – let’s use it.”