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Lecturers to boycott cash-crisis university
CASH-strapped London Metropolitan this week became the first university to face a mass academic boycott.
Lecturers across the country have been asked not to apply for jobs at the Holloway Road university, to avoid speaking at conferences or lectures there, to refuse to write for its academic journals and not to work as its external examiners.
Unions have introduced the unprecedented “greylist” – a form of academic boycott – in a bid to halt plans they say will cut the equivalent of 550 full-time jobs, a quarter of the university’s workforce. But London Met claims the number of posts to be axed is smaller than originally planned.
The cuts are part of an emergency rescue plan devised to help the university climb out of a financial black hole created when it emerged that it had claimed more than £34million for students who had dropped out of their courses early.
Sally Hunt, general secretary of lecturers union University and College Union, wrote to members on Tuesday telling them of the London Met “greylist”. She said: “This is the most serious sanction available to us and will be the first time in UCU’s history that greylisting has been formally implemented rather then threatened.”
Unions have been trying to convince the university to halt any redundancy plans until an investigation into London Met’s finances is finished.
But they have so far been unsuccessful and the first 50 redundancies are imminent. Ms Hunt said: “The situation is unprecedented. We cannot stand back and allow this university to be destroyed.”
One lecturer, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Tribune this week: “If it makes them stand up and take notice then it’s good but the boycott is a double-edged sword. If external examiners take this seriously it’s going to make everything very disruptive.”
A university spokesman said: “We will manage any impact of the greylisting and ensure above all that the quality of the education we deliver to students does not suffer in any way.” Estimated job losses were fewer than 200, he added. The university had identified non-staff savings of about £5.2million, which safeguarded 100 jobs.
The spokesman said: “The estimated number of compulsory redundancies is now less than originally anticipated and might reduce still further.” |
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