Dear all,

The BFE committee met online today, and we discussed the proposed closures of music and music technology at Keele, and have sent the letter of objection (copied in plain text below (and attached in pdf form)) to the Vice-Chancellor Prof. Trevor McMillan ([log in to unmask]), the Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost Prof. Mark Ormerod ([log in to unmask]) and Dean of the FHSS Prof. Shane O’Neill ([log in to unmask]) of Keele Univeresity this evening.

I urge you to consider adding your voice to those in our community who are concerned at this astonishing development and write to lend your support to our colleagues at Keele, and their students.

yours sincerely,

Simon McKerrell (Chair, on behalf of the BFE Committee).




The British Forum for Ethnomusicology
11.12.2020
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Dear 	Vice-Chancellor,
Deputy Vice-Chancellor,					
Provost and Dean of FHSS, Keele University,

We, the committee of the British Forum for Ethnomusicology (BFE), write to you in astonishment at the recent announcement of plans to close all music and music technology degree programmes at Keele University. As the main United Kingdom subject association for ethnomusicology, we wish to object to this proposal and to express support for our fellow association member, Dr Fiorella Montero-Diaz, and her collagues at Keele.

Colleagues from across the UK ethnomusicology, musicology and creative practice communities have learned of this announcement with complete surprise, and a significant sense of alarm. Keele music department, and cognate research in music psychology, has been a long-term fixture in the higher education music studies community, and the research and teaching achievements that have emerged from your institution have been highly regarded for many decades. 

A number of current permanent research-active musicologists have expressed bewilderment and disappointment across our various institutions, and we do not believe that whatever the top line financial woes facing your institution, that this plan to close Keele music and music technology departments makes sense in any long-term vision for your institution, or its reputation within UK higher education. Indeed, we believe that strategic decisions of this nature, at this point in a global pandemic is unwise, unfair and institutionally deleterious.

We value Keele’s presence in the higher education music community, and we are particularly concerned that these plans to narrow Keele’s offer will impact the current and future flourishing of ethnomusicology in the United Kingdom. We urge you to reconsider, and offer our help and advice if you wish to consult us.

yours sincerely,

The Committee of the British Forum for Ethnomusicology:

Dr Ruard Absaroka
Professor Amanda Bayley
Dr Raquel Campos 
Dr Alexander Cannon
Dr Morgan Davies
Mr Matthew Dicken
Dr Lea Hagmann
Dr Matthew Machin-Autenrieth
Dr Simon McKerrell
Dr Stephen Wilford
Dr David Wong





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