Sussex UCU votes for strike action

Last Wednesday 3 March, the University and College Union (UCU) at Sussex voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action in their fight to save jobs and services at the university.

Turnout totalled a record 80.9 per cent, the highest the union has ever received in a ballot.

The union said the unprecedented turnout was indicative of the strength of feeling among UCU members over the savage funding cuts and damaging job losses proposed.

Over three-quarters of staff who voted supported strike action, and more than 82 per cent agreed to action short of a strike.

Sussex UCU said it still hoped the dispute could be “resolved without any disruption.”

Paul Cecil, president of Sussex UCU, said: “UCU members have today delivered a clear mandate for industrial action at the University of Sussex. We thank our members for participating in such large numbers and reiterate our belief that a negotiated settlement is still possible if the university steps back from implementing its job-cut plans, votes to delay the decision, and considers our alternatives.”

University of Sussex Students’ Union (USSU) president, Tom Wills, offered a statement of support, declaring, “We are right behind Sussex staff and the principled stand they are taking in defence of their jobs and our education.”

“We will hold the university management responsible for the devastation that will be wrought on our education if they succeed in pushing through with their cuts proposals.

“Strike action by staff is the key to winning this battle and we will do everything we can to support it.”

A Sussex spokesman said the proposals were being consulted on and that no decisions would be made until the university’s council meets on 12 March.

He added: “We have been notified of the result of the ballot by UCU members. We have already made clear and repeat our position that ballots for industrial action are not the way in which the process will be influenced.”

UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, conceded that industrial action is always a last resort but insisted that the proposed job losses will “impact massively across the University of Sussex and result in a far worse experience for students.”

University calls police on students who protest outside Sussex House against university cuts

Last Wednesday 3 March at 12.30pm students occupied Sussex House for five hours in protest against proposed course cuts and job losses. Police in a convoy of vans were called onto campus to contain the occupation and the accompanying rally.

University management seek to reduce the budget for 2009/10 by £3m on a turnover of £160m, with additional savings of up to £5m in 2010/11. As a result, 115 staff across campus face redundancy. A statement from the occupation said: “The job cuts would eradicate the environmental science degree program, and significantly reduce the size of the English, history, and life science departments. The student advice service, the crèche, security services and catering staff also face savage cuts.”
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Universities “should cater for over-50s”

A recent Universities UK report has suggested that British universities must offer more courses suitable for people aged 50 and above.

The study, ‘Active Ageing and Universities’, proposes that as the baby boom generation fast approaches the age of retirement, there should be greater incentives offered to those in their twilight years to regain access to higher education.

The report supported its findings with the illuminating statistic that by 2026 around 20% of the British population will be over 65, while the number of part-time students over the age of 40 has increased by nearly 60% in the last decade.

Indeed, the most recent UCAS figures reveal a 63.4% increase in the number of mature student applicants for undergraduate courses.

The report stresses the importance of universities widening their participation agendas to incorporate all ages, and explains that such a move would be widely beneficial to higher education and British society as a whole.

Chief executive of Universities UK, Nicola Dandridge, insisted the notion that people stopped making a useful contribution to society once they reached the age of 60 or 65 was outdated.

“We are facing a situation where older people are living longer and healthier lives and have, as a consequence, a huge amount to contribute. Universities have a significant part to play in harnessing that contribution,” she said.

“Of course, proposals to support older people into universities must be considered in light of the current funding climate facing the sector. On the other hand, to ignore the potential contribution older people can make to our society and economy is short-sighted, and universities have a central role to play in supporting and reinforcing their contribution.”

In 2000, World War II refugee Bernard Herzberg became the oldest ever university graduate in the UK, when he completed a German Literature BA at the University of London at 90 years of age. He went on to complete an MA in 2005, refuting the belief that OAPs are too old to pursue academic study.

However, some of the views expressed on online forums seem less sympathetic towards the report. In light of the record number of applicants for university places this year, one person argued, “It is morally objectionable to allow graduates to take a second undergraduate degree when so many people are waiting for their first chance.”

Another bluntly stated: “I am not sure how much society will benefit from supporting a mature student who might drop dead right after graduation anyway.”

Mystery Oxbridge sex blogger

An Oxbridge student, who describes herself as “a closet nympho currently shagging my way through the half-term hump”, has set up an anonymous risqué online sex blog.

The student has recorded five blog entries within the space of five days under the title ‘Sex At Oxbridge’, detailing her sexual exploits while at university.

Her real identity, and whether she is an Oxford or Cambridge graduate or undergraduate, remains a closely guarded secret. But in her candid blog she discusses a one-night stand with a Blues rugby player, losing her virginity at 18, and the penis sizes of different nationalities.

“British men and German men are the best, and typically have the biggest penises,” she reveals.

Comparisons have inevitably been drawn with Belle de Jour, the author of the autobiographical “Diary of a London Call Girl”, which has attracted millions of readers worldwide and was adapted into a television series in 2007 starring Billie Piper.

However, while Belle eventually revealed herself – as Dr Brooke Magnanti, a specialist in informatics, epidemiology and forensic science at Sheffield University – last November, the Oxbridge blogger insists: “I have absolutely no intention of revealing my identity, mostly because in some cases that would involve revealing other people’s identity.

“I want to protect their privacy as much as I want to protect my own. Besides, my mum would kill me!”

Oxford University student denies racial slur

A student at Oxford University has denied claims that he shouted at an Israeli minister speaking at the Union, using the Arabic words, ‘Slaughter all Jews’.

A statement released on Wednesday from the deputy foreign minister of Israel, Danny Ayalon, said that the phrase was directed at him during protests at his appearance at the Oxford Union on Monday night of last week.
Conflicting articles from both Oxford Student newspapers continue to cause confusion, with ‘Cherwell’ describing the abuse as meaning, ‘Slaughter all Jews’. The ‘Oxford Student’, however, published an article on Thursday quoting student Noor Rashid, saying he was using a specific dialect of the Arabic tongue that few people there would have understood even if they had a grasp of the language. The phrase he claims to have used, ‘Khaybar ya Yahod’, commemorates a victory by Mohammed over a Jewish community in Khaybar, according to the Jewish Chronicle.
Mr Rashid insists the remark carried “absolutely no derogatory or secondary meanings. My version went: ‘Khaybar, O Jews, we will win’. As you can see, I made no reference to killing Jews.”
The statement from Mr Ayalon’s office, however, maintained that “Itbah Al Yahud” had been called out, which translates as a call to slaughter Jews.
Mr Rashid claims to recognize he may have been misunderstood: “There was a great deal of confusion… I do acknowledge that people may have misheard me and assume that I uttered something else – namely to ’slaughter the Jews’… something that I do not believe.
“I express the deepest regret if my remarks were misunderstood or misheard to mean anything that even comes close to encouraging the slaughter of innocents.”
The Oxford Union has launched an investigation condemning the protests and said: “One individual in particular appears to have made a directly anti-Semitic remark.”

Students set to film documentary about university cuts

Two Sussex students are filming a documentary about the proposed cuts at the university. Carl Salton-Cox, a first-year history and film student, and Kit Bradshaw, a politics student, want to examine the cuts from a human angle, looking at specific individuals and the feelings evoked by the management’s proposals, which would see the elimination of courses, services, and over 100 jobs.

The students intend to present a reasoned perspective on both sides of the cuts, for and against, rather than engaging in the sort of visual polemic that filmmakers like Michael Moore use in their films.

“We’re not trying to be particularly partisan or Marxist about it,” Salton-Cox said. “I’m a Marxist, but Kit is a Conservative, so we’re coming from different perspectives.”

The pair, both from Sidcup in Bexley, are childhood friends. They have made films before as teenagers, including a drama about sexuality and self-harm called “The Only Release.” Their second film, “Shoots Her,” won an award at the Rob Knox Film Festival, renamed in memoriam of the young actor who was stabbed to death in Bexley in 2008.

“We’ve never made a documentary before – our experience is with drama, so we’re going for more emotive because that’s how we construct a film,” Salton-Cox said. “But we know that costs have to be cut, and we want to be fair to both sides. If the management are right, the film should show that.”

Their plan for the film is to ask questions of students and staff and then present these questions to the senior management, juxtaposing the arguments in context with each other. However, the two students have had some difficulty speaking with the management, and say they have only recently received replies to their emails requesting interviews.

Many members of staff are hesitant to speak to them too, which Salton-Cox attributes to an “atmosphere of fear” on the campus.

“It’s weird—people in the history department used to be in the hallways chatting to each other. Now it’s just silence.”

The students are aware of the reluctance staff have about speaking out and have considered conducting private interviews, which would then be transcripted and voiced by actors in order to preserve the anonymity of staff concerned for their jobs.

The two undergraduates hope to present a well-rounded perspective on the cuts and the Stop the Cuts campaign, but worry that this will prove difficult with the management and staff unable or unwilling to be interviewed.

“We can’t be objective if the management won’t talk to us.”

UCU proceeds with ballot for strike action

The University and College Union (UCU) has formally initiated ballot proceedings to determine whether academic staff should strike in response to higher education funding cuts and looming job losses.

The outcome of the ballot will govern whether students’ lectures, seminars and workshops will be disrupted. The trade union for academic staff has 550 members at the University of Sussex.

The call to vote on strike action comes after UCU members voted in favour of industrial action at Leeds University earlier this month, where up to 700 members of staff face the risk of redundancy. Academic staff at Leeds are to hold three one-day strikes on the 25 February and the 2 and 4 March.

UCU Branch President at the University of Sussex, Paul Cecil, told the Badger that UCU “will continue in talks with the management in an effort to remove the current threat to jobs and avert any industrial action.

“We have to be clear though that the University plans threaten nearly 10% of academic posts plus many support posts, and we simply do not accept that the current excellent education that our colleagues provide can be sustained under such conditions. We note for instance that cuts in options for next year have already been notified to students in some at risk areas. Our plans address these key concerns of students, which is why it is so important that we reach agreement on an alternative to the draconian cuts that are currently proposed.”

The university has issued the following statement to the Badger: “The University has consulted, and is continuing to consult, with each of the three recognised trades unions – UCU, Unison and Unite – on the proposal for change, and that includes consultation with a view to reaching agreement on ways and means of avoiding the proposed redundancies, reducing their number and mitigating their impact.

“By making strategic changes, however difficult this may be, the University will be better placed to achieve a sustainable future in what are – and will continue to be for some time to come – very challenging times for higher education.”

Union blows cash on coach for seven students

The University of Sussex Students’ Union (USSU) recently lost an estimated £465 hiring a coach to transport students to the National Convention Against Fees and Cuts, the Badger has learned.

The USSU hired a 50-person coach to transport students to the event at University College London (UCL) on the 6 February. However, only seven people booked and paid for a place.

The cost of the coach is currently unknown as the USSU finance office has no record of the invoice. A Brighton coach hire company estimated the cost of the journey at £500.

The seven students on the coach were charged £5 for the return journey, meaning that the USSU lost around £465 overall.

The funding for the trip was granted by the Operations Committee, which approves all funding for campaigns and conferences. Of the six people sitting on the committee, four voted in favour and one abstained.

The minutes from the operations committee, 14 December 2009, record: “Tom Wills [USSU President] also asked that Ops [Operations Committee] approve him to book a coach to take students to the Convention, on the basis students would be charged for the transport in order to make the booking cost neutral for the Union. This proposal was approved with 4 votes in favour, and one abstention.”

Tom Wills also asked the committee for £100 towards the project, “to go towards the cost of publicity and organisation for the event.” This was also passed.

Patrick Rolfe, who is part of the Stop the Cuts campaign at the University of Sussex, reported to the Badger that he had a ‘verbal agreement’ with Tom Wills that he would pay for the remaining cost of the coach not covered by students’ tickets.

Rolfe added: “I took over organising it. It became my responsibility, so I’ll take the financial bullet. I’m sure that I’ll be able to recoup the costs.” Patrick is organising a fundraising event with bands and artists in order to raise the money. Rolfe was not asked to do this by anyone, and no formal agreement has been made.

On this subject the USSU has commented: “The student who organised the coach has agreed that the shortfall resulting from the poor turnout will be met by his campaign group which is independent of the Students’ Union. There will therefore be no cost to the Students’ Union.”

If the funds cannot be repaid then the financial loss to the union budget would be significant. The money to pay for the coach came from the Campaigns and Conferences budget, which is around £2000 for the entire year. Exact budgets are not available because the university has still not confirmed the USSU’s block grant for this year, which is likely to receive a 5 percent cut.

The students who did attend the UCL event appear to have found it to be a positive and useful experience.

One student commented: “It was a really great opportunity to link up with people from other university campaigns and coordinate national action, since these issues affect us all.”

Senior management read post-graduate’s private email

A postgraduate English student at the University of Sussex has revealed he felt “intimidated, bullied and compromised” by senior management after being called to a meeting to address a group email he sent out exclusively to fellow students in his role as student rep. The meeting was with Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research, Bob Allison, who had gained access to and read the email.
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USSU push for National Student Survey boycott

The University of Sussex Students’ Union (USSU) has urged all final year undergraduates to boycott the National Student Survey (NSS) in protest of the proposed cuts to jobs, courses and services at the university.
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