Link to this page: http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/433/5107
From The Socialist newspaper, 30 March 2006
University of Sussex: Save chemistry - sack the vice-chancellor!
THE VICE-chancellor of the University of Sussex, Alasdair Smith, announced last week that he intended to close the chemistry department, giving as his reasons the university's £4 million debt and that not enough people were applying to study chemistry.
Richard Mullin, University of Sussex Socialist Students
However, the chemistry department generates about half of the university's income from intellectual property rights so Smith appears to be killing a goose that lays golden eggs.
Furious lecturers also point out that the annual cost of the chemistry department - around £630,000 - is about the same as the cost of the 'vice-chancellor's office', a mysterious administrative department whose activities involve a 'branding team' and responsibility for 'corporate strategy'. The big cheese's own salary takes around a quarter of this amount.
The real reason Smith wants to close down chemistry is because the students receive between 20 and 25 hours' teaching a week, whereas many non-science students receive as little as two or three.
There have been two demonstrations, the latest outside the university senate, where the students' union president demanded Smith's resignation. Representatives of Sussex AUT branch also condemned the planned closure and cited support from three local MPs, the national media and figures in the academic community.
As a result, the cuts were put on hold but if the vice-chancellor subsequently presses ahead with the proposed closure the unions must organise strike action to defend jobs. Socialist Students have been pushing for a similarly militant approach among students. Some of our activists also distributed leaflets at an open day event to prospective students explaining the crisis at Sussex and countering the official university prospectus' glossy lies.
The student union is also mandated to call a student strike in response to the university's mismanagement. Next term we will press for this policy to be carried out.
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In The Socialist 30 March 2006:
Socialist Party NHS campaign
Call for NHS demo gets support
Huddersfield trust votes for cuts - but campaign gets stronger
Save jobs and beds at the Royal Free
Pensions
Britain - Over one million strike for pension rights...
'Time for a new working-class party'
International socialist news and analysis
France - millions march for job security
USA: Millions march for immigrant workers' rights
Ukraine's 'orange revolution' goes pear-shaped
Will ETA's strategy lead to Basque national rights?
Socialist Party review
Socialist Party campaigns
Why socialists oppose state funding of political parties
Local council services are still worth fighting for
Council elections: Great response in Lewisham
Stoke UNISON prepares for action against cuts
Strong support for minimum wage demand
Lambeth College students launch campaign against cuts
Save chemistry - sack the vice-chancellor!
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