-----Original Message-----
From: The Area Studies Network List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Wilkinson, C.
Sent: 11 November 2009 10:38
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [AREA-STUDIES-NETWORK] URGENT: Closure of Sociology at University of Birmingham
Please circulate as widely as possible.
It was announced yesterday evening that the University of Birmingham
intends to close the Department of Sociology, resulting in
redundancies for both academic and support staff, as well as an
inevitable reduction in course provision. Further details are provided
below, or can be found at www.keepsociologyatbirmingham.com
If anyone wishes to sign the petition or otherwise raise concerns over
this short-sighted decision before November 26, support for our
colleagues will be very welcome.
With thanks and best wishes,
Claire
--
Claire Wilkinson
Lecturer in Russian
Centre for Russian & East European Studies
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
---------- Forwarded message ----------
*From:* Yvonne Jacobs
*Sent:* 10 November 2009 19:47
*To:* CREES ALL; Business School All; Education All; G & S All; Social
Policy All
*Subject:* URGENT: CLOSURE OF SOCIOLOGY
*Importance:* High
*An urgent message from staff in the Department of Sociology*
Dear Colleagues,
Following a Review of the Sociology Department that was first proposed
18 months ago, the Head of the College of Social Sciences is seeking
through the College Executive Board to close the Department. One of
our degree programmes (Media, Culture and Society) will be closed
altogether, and the other (Sociology) 'transferred' to Social Policy
with just 3 staff retained and the rest (14 academics and 2 out of 3
support staff) made redundant.
We are asking you to join us, our students, and colleagues in the
wider academic community in fighting this unwarranted closure
proposal: it is based on a deeply flawed review process and evidence
base. We suggest the decision brings to a head problems in the College
arising from a total lack of strategy for Birmingham social science,
and an out of control College management that is a threat to academic
integrity and the reputation of the University.
The reasons for the Review were never adequately explained: at
different times it was said to be about finances, or research
performance, or student recruitment. At the outset, we welcomed the
opportunity to engage constructively and collegially in the Review
Process to develop strategies for the Department, but this opportunity
was systematically denied to us. Incredibly, no staff or students from
the Department were invited onto the Review Group, and we were never
told how the Department's submissions to the Group were being used. In
addition, the External Advisors appointed to the Review - two very
senior British Sociologists - have gone on record as saying they were
marginalised from the process. We were not even allowed to see the
Review report itself until it had passed through the College Board,
and the Head of College announced his decision verbally to Department
staff.
As many of you will know, the present Department was established in
2004 following another previous closure in 2002. Predominantly early
career staff were recruited to what was heralded as a 10- year project
to re-establish Sociology at Birmingham. The fact that this strategy
would likely lead to a modest RAE 2008 result was explicitly
recognised, although the Department went on to submit the highest
proportion of staff into the RAE of any unit in the University. The
Chair of a Strategic Review of the Department undertaken in 2004,
Professor Judith Petts (current PVC Research and Knowledge Transfer)
stated that: "/the University needs to recognise that the outcome of
2008 may be modest relative to the leading departments. The panel
cannot emphasis strongly enough that should this be the case, the
University must hold its nerve and continue to support the
department./"
The Department's two undergraduate programmes are ranked 4^th
(Sociology) and 5^th (MCS) in /The Guardian's /national league tables.
Feedback from students and external examiners, degree results and
relations between students and staff are all excellent. College
mismanagement of undergraduate recruitment in the current academic
year* *led to over-recruitment in some areas and cut backs in others;
this has not been explained. We are particularly upset that, having
ignored student interests throughout the process, College managers
have now wasted no time in launching a PR offensive on students,
writing and arranging 'briefings' to assure them that their degrees
will be 'unaffected'.
In short, as a result of a botched Review and a College management
determined to look 'tough', committed, predominantly early career
academics and support staff are to be made redundant in a frozen jobs
market. The education of a diverse body of students will be severely
harmed and the reputation of social sciences at Birmingham further
damaged.
We believe that we are the first on the line in what will be a series
of similarly aggressive Reviews of Departments.
We urge you to support our call to the University Senate (18 November)
and Council (26 November) to:
/1) Reject the proposals of the College of Social Sciences Executive
Board as being based on a flawed review process and evidence base./
/2) Institute a new, transparent review of Sociology that includes all
stakeholders, lifts the threat of redundancies and addresses the
institution's wider strategy for the social sciences./
*Sign the Petition at:*
*http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/keepsociologyatbirmingham/*
*For more information and copies of review documents and our responses
see the link below. We're working to get the site up and running over
the next 24 hours and will be updating it as this situation unfolds:*
*http://www.keepsociologyatbirmingham.com*
Signed,
*Ross Abbinnett*
*Gezim Alpion*
*Louise Brown*
*Shelley Budgeon*
*Sin Yi Cheung*
*Justin Cruickshank*
*Jonathan Fish*
*Emma Foster*
*Andrew Knops*
*Will Leggett*
*Jose Lingna Nafafe*
*John Lynch*
*Mairtin Mac an Ghaill*
*Giovanni Porfido*
*Alex Smith*
*David Toke*
*Dan Whisker*
Yvonne Jacobs
Department of Sociology
Room 1249, 12th Floor Muirhead Tower
University of Birmingham
B15 2TT
0121 414 3307
Fax 0121 414 6061
email [log in to unmask]
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