The scandal over university vice-chancellors’ pay (Oxford vice-chancellor denies rising salary is linked to tuition fees, 6 September) is not an aberration, but a systemic feature of our university sector which is now riddled with neoliberal market values. At Leeds University, our management is trying to introduce new grounds for sacking staff, using the catch-all justification of “some other substantial reason” for dismissal. They have stated that this could be used for reasons of “third party pressure”.
A fundamental presupposition of academic endeavour is the freedom to propose and test new or controversial ideas and theories without the fear of losing one’s job. Imagine the effect on research at Leeds if staff at the cutting edge have to look over their shoulders under pressure from a multinational corporation because their research findings may undermine its financial interests.
Universities are also plagued by casual employment contracts and, like the McDonald’s workers who recently went on strike (Report, 4 September), academic and related staff at Leeds University are taking industrial action to protect the academic profession from the consequences of neoliberalism.
Lesley McGorrigan
Prof Raymond Bush
Prof James Dickins
Prof Steven French
Prof Jane Holgate
Prof Matthew Kieran
Prof Jane Plastow
Prof Malcolm Povey
Prof John Rodgers
Prof Paul Routledge
Emeritus Prof Malcolm Sawyer
Prof Pekka Väyrynen
Prof Janet Watson
Dr Victor Dura-VilaDr Alaric Hall
Dr Ulrike Heuer
Dr Johanna Stiebert
Dr Adrian Wilson
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