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Islington Tribune - by TOM FOOT
Published: 6 February 2009

Drop case against lecturer, university told

UNION officials are calling for senior management at crisis-torn London Metropolitan University to halt its “intimidation” of a senior lecturer ahead of massive job cuts at the Holloway campus.
Dr Amanda Sackur, a lecturer in African politics and colonial studies who also chairs London Met’s University College Union (UCU), is accused of “serious misconduct” after she attended a campaign meeting in Nottingham Trent during “office hours”. UCU officials say the implications of her upcoming full disciplinary hearing were “immense” at a time when London Met is proposing mass redundancies.
Mark Campbell, UCU co-ordinator at London Met, said: “They are totally unjustified and appear designed to intimidate or worse, force her out of her job for steadfastly representing her colleagues at a time when the university is facing the gravest financial crisis in its history. We call upon the vice-chancellor, management and governors of the university to act immediately to withdraw the proceedings against Dr Sackur, work with the recognised trade unions in facing the current crisis, and abandon the contemplated large-scale compulsory redundancies that, if implemented, will place in serious jeopardy both the education of current students and the existence of the institution.”
London Met has been told to repay £38million in government funding it wrongly claimed over three years. It follows an audit by the Higher Education Funding Council England. The university intends to claw back some of £38m by cutting up to 500 jobs.
A university spokesman declined to comment on Dr Sackur’s case. A petition calling on the university to withdraw the proceedings and abandon its redundancy plan is posted at www.petitiononline.com/defendas/petition.html

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