A letter to the Times HES seems like a good idea to me, although since  
i am resident in usa i have no idea if this is taken as seriously as  
it once was.  i have still not received a reply to the letter i wrote  
on jills behalf and was interested in the bureaucratic gobbledegook  
response that was already sent out by exeter....best to all...  
Professor David A. Scott

> Dear All,
> Since the last post, SALON have published a 'correction' from Exeter  
> to the previous item:
>
>  
> Feedback
>
> Exeter University has asked that the following corrective statement  
> be published in Salon in respect of the report that appeared in the  
> last issue, headed ‘Leading archaeological metallurgist has post  
> downgraded’.
>
> ‘The University of Exeter would like to make clear that Dr Juleff  
> was not demoted or downgraded; indeed, the University of Exeter has  
> no mechanism by which staff can be “demoted”. However, it does, on  
> occasion, appoint staff to temporary academic contracts with further  
> employment linked to specific targets. In such cases, the targets,  
> and the processes of ascertaining whether these targets have been  
> achieved, are mutually agreed between employer and employee. As is  
> the case with probation, where the targets are not achieved, the  
> employer has the right not to extend the contract.’
>
> I've also had a reply to my letter to the Vice-Chancellor  
> (presumably others have had similar replies?), including the  
> sentence 'Following the decision not to promote her, Dr Juleff has  
> been excused all teaching duties this year to allow her to dedicate  
> her time exclusively to her research'. And Gill has now been told by  
> her department that as a teaching fellow her work will not be  
> included in the REF. 
>  So Gill hasn't been demoted - she has been dis-promoted to a O.3  
> Teaching Fellow, who is excused all teaching in order to do research  
> that is excluded from the REF because she is now just a Teaching  
> Fellow!  Does that make her an unperson?  And is this out of Kafka  
> or George Orwell?  And Gill has been at Exeter for nearly ten years,  
> and been included in two RAEs - not a demotion?, and how does  
> anything akin to 'probation' apply?
> Seriously, this is horrific, and utterly unfair to one of the best  
> researchers in our subject  - and the letters of objection from the  
> lines of David Killick and Phillippe Dillman make it quite clear  
> that her work on Sri Lanka is not just of 'local importance'.
> I'd hoped Exeter would realise they'd made a mistake, and reverse  
> their decision, but clearly that isn't going to happen.  I don't  
> think we should let matters rest - this is too important for Gill,  
> for our subject (especially in Britain, where there are so few  
> university archaeo-metallurgists), and seemingly for academics  
> generally if this sort of use of the assessment system is allowed to  
> grow unchallenged.  Would the best way forward be a letter, or even  
> an article, to either the Times or the Guardian Higher Education  
> Supplements, from several leading international professors and  
> experts (David Killick, Phillipe Dillman, and I think several others  
> from UK and elsewhere have also written to Exeter)?  That would  
> automatically give the lie to the assessment that Gill's work is  
> only of 'local importance', and I think it would be more effective  
> than a letter or petition signed by the rest of us.
> It's also possible that the wider publicity might flush out some of  
> the assessors - from what we've seen here, I do wonder if they  
> actually knew how their assessments were going to be used, and  
> whether they will be happy about it.
> Let's not give up!
> David Cranstone
>
>
> --- On Tue, 4/5/10, DILLMANN Philippe <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>
> From: DILLMANN Philippe <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: Please support Gill Juleff
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date: Tuesday, 4 May, 2010, 18:33
>
>
> Dear list
>
> I had the opportunity to serve the cause in France ! I was contacted 
> by a journalist of the French scientific magazine "la recherche" to 
> give my opinion the "Juley" affair. I try to transmit in French our 
> anger.
>
> Just to inform you that the affair is now crossing the channel !
>
> Yours
>
> Philippe
>
>
> Le 3 mai 2010 à 18:59, "Dave Killick" <[log in to unmask]> a 
> écrit :
>
>> Thanks to all who have written to the Vice-Chancellor at Exeter to 
>> protest Gill's demotion. The appeal had been spread further via the 
>> British Women Archaeologists listserv, the South Asian archaeology 
>> listserv and the British Archaeological Jobs resource listserv.
>> There was also a short piece on this in the Society of Antiquaries 
>> of London Online Newsletter (http://www.sal.org.uk/salon/
>> #section15). This contains a link to a page about Gill's Exmoor 
>> project on the Exeter Archaeology web site - and if you go to the 
>> Exeter Archaeology home page you will find in the upper right hand 
>> corner a link to a page about her current project in India.
>>
>> I have heard from a couple of people with contacts inside Exeter 
>> admin that this campaign has caused both anger and embarrassment. I 
>> hope that the pressure on them can be sustained.
>