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For the better

4:57pm Friday 12th March 2010 in


Like Margaret Brown (Letters, March 11), I too had a wonderful time at the University of Sussex. Coming to study at Sussex was a pivotal moment in my life, as it has been in the lives of thousands of students.

I am very privileged now to be the University’s chairman and I have to put Margaret, and a number of others, right on a few myths that have surfaced around the proposals currently under consultation with the staff.

Sussex will continue to teach a broad undergraduate programme in history from 1600 onwards. We have notable areas of research strength in Intellectual History, Modern British History, 20th Century European History and the History Of Science. All of this will continue unchanged by the proposal. At the same time, we have taken the opportunity to build up and introduce a major new research and teaching concentration in American History.

The proposal before the staff is about refocusing the university on its strengths.

These are not proposals dreamt up by a bunch of management consultants but developed by our leading academics at Sussex. We are strengthening the university by removing areas of weakness within disciplines where we can neither recruit enough undergraduates nor win enough funded research.

Frankly, we are proposing academic changes that should have been made several years ago and we hope to emerge from this process stronger, with Sussex’s values intact and its curiosity as vibrant as ever.

As a university, we want to change the world. We do this by recruiting and educating students so they can make a difference and funding research that affects both individuals and communities in positive ways.

There is bound to be vocal opposition to change from some. However, most of the university community, while recognising this is a painful process, know these decisions are long overdue.

Simon Fanshawe
Sussex Alumnus 1976-78 and Chair of The University Council

Comments(3)

Ellie Hristova says...
11:54am Sat 13 Mar 10

Here are some facts about the American Studies department that was closed down that everyone should be aware of when reading the above semi-truths:

"we have taken the opportunity to build up and introduce a major new research and teaching concentration in American History" - in the mean time the American Studies Department has been closed down, impacting on the student experience of all American Studies students. The American studies department at Sussex was the best in the country with constant research and publications BEFORE management closed the department down and separated the staff into either the english or history departments.

The majoriy of the university community does want change, but NOT the one proposed by the current management.

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a75 says...
5:12pm Sat 13 Mar 10

What SF says is just not true. I'm sure he means well but many staff and students who work on campus on a day to day basis can tell him what he describes is not the case. Barely any members of staff or student have any confidence any more in the management, including very moderate, conservative and apolitical people. The managers have tried to bypass the main university body, Senate by not allowing it to vote on the proposals. They have hidden the documents making the basis for the cuts for several months. They have sent in riot police to quell peaceful protest and sent threatening letters to staff about what will happen if they go on strike. The union and many departments have made good alternative proposals for making cuts and new changes for the future. They have not had a militant anti-cuts agenda. Simon Fanshawe should try walking about the campus and talking to staff and students. he will see the situation is not has he has been told. The management have lost £3m in investments in an Icelandic bank and created 12 new managerial posts on 6 figure salaries. 115 staff are being sacked to pay for this new spending. These proposals have not been thought out by leading academics. Where does Fanshawe get his information from? They have been devised by a small number of highly paid managers brought in from outside who have never been teachers at the university. Morale and disaffection is at an all time low. there is nothing constructive and positive about these changes. The Conservative council and Conservative papers such as the Mail and Times have opposed them, not to mention recently the three MPs for the city. There are almost daily demonstrations on the campus now.

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A Lecturer says...
12:37pm Mon 15 Mar 10

Mr Fanshawe should know that MOST of the University academics and MOST of the University community do NOT agree with these decisions. This is why in a vote the biggest ever turn out of the lecturer's Union has overwhelmingly voted to oppose these proposals.
Mr. Fanshawe should be ashamed of his misleading statements.
All available evidence clearly demonstrates the majority of the University (including senior academics) "know these decisions are long overdue" or agree with them.
On Mr Fanshawe's web site he claims he has "exceptional skills of presentation, chairing and strategic thinking"
Where is the evidence for anything he says?
Stop playing with the facts Mr Fanshawe it is frightening enough that you have a position of power over hundreds of academics and thousands of students lives without you being so detached with what is happenning at the University.

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