There has been some new developments in the whole 'cuts' saga. Or 'Cutgate', or King's Choppage London.....need to find a good name.
Anyway on Friday, the Humanities course reps had their meeting. From a source (a course rep) it was very inconclusive and in his words ' the college singing from the same song sheet'. I wish they would actually engage with the course reps with this issue, and realise the strength of feeling.
Sorry, this is only a quick post but there's also some useful information for those who want to follow this more. Firstly, there's another blog operating which is pretty good too, though very campaigned focused.
http://nocutsatkings.blogspot.com/2010/02/statement-on-staff-and-student.html
This is pretty comprehensive, though it seems to be alligned with the 'Campaign Against fees'.
This itself isn't bad, but I wish people saw this as a standalone issue. Oh well....
Finally, there's a free debate between the Higher Education representatives from the main 3 parties on the 24th Feb. Venue details and ticket registration available here.
https://www.eventbrite.com/register?orderid=9392344756&eid=559154446
Toodles,
Craig
Monday 15 February 2010
Monday 8 February 2010
KCLS 'where are' U?
As someone who was part of KCLSU 'back in the day', I understand it takes a while to set a proper response, and before today I was actually worried about what they were actually doing to represent the interests of the students when dealing with the cutbacks.
After all, uni is about the students first.....
Anyway, it seems that they've finally got it together and have got some pretty encouraging meetings and plans for how they are going to respond to the cuts. Taken from an open letter on the KCLSU website (link below paragraph for full text) they are meeting with course reps from the humanities on 12 Feb. 2 sabb's also attended Academic Board, where student concerns were voiced.
(link http://www.kclsu.org/news.asp?itemid=2041&itemTitle=Arts+%26+Humanities+Cuts§ion=24§ionTitle=News)
The next thing that i've been told (thanks to KCLSU campaigns for this) is that the next Student Council meeting will be on the 8th March (Saffra) and Principal Trainor (aka: the big dog) will be attending. I've been invited and want as many of you to come along as well, as if lots of student, past and present, can voice their concerns, he'll realise the strength of feeling.
Obviously it's still early days yet, and yes, diplomacy is the name of the game, but I think KCLSU need to be a bit more in tune with some of the anger which their members have. The facebook campaigns (which should be more unified, but i'll get to that in a later post) are very emotive.
I've heard good things coming out of ULU (sad to say, but they're voices are mostly ignored) and London Student, so KCLSU should get their criticism out there a bit more.
Should the union be more vocal? Yes, sometimes directness is alot better than dealing in such a diplomatic way. The union have the ability to affect policy and safeguard student interests more than any other group. The vast majority of students oppose cuts, so please KCLSU, show your hand a bit more.....
After all, uni is about the students first.....
Anyway, it seems that they've finally got it together and have got some pretty encouraging meetings and plans for how they are going to respond to the cuts. Taken from an open letter on the KCLSU website (link below paragraph for full text) they are meeting with course reps from the humanities on 12 Feb. 2 sabb's also attended Academic Board, where student concerns were voiced.
(link http://www.kclsu.org/news.asp?itemid=2041&itemTitle=Arts+%26+Humanities+Cuts§ion=24§ionTitle=News)
The next thing that i've been told (thanks to KCLSU campaigns for this) is that the next Student Council meeting will be on the 8th March (Saffra) and Principal Trainor (aka: the big dog) will be attending. I've been invited and want as many of you to come along as well, as if lots of student, past and present, can voice their concerns, he'll realise the strength of feeling.
Obviously it's still early days yet, and yes, diplomacy is the name of the game, but I think KCLSU need to be a bit more in tune with some of the anger which their members have. The facebook campaigns (which should be more unified, but i'll get to that in a later post) are very emotive.
I've heard good things coming out of ULU (sad to say, but they're voices are mostly ignored) and London Student, so KCLSU should get their criticism out there a bit more.
Should the union be more vocal? Yes, sometimes directness is alot better than dealing in such a diplomatic way. The union have the ability to affect policy and safeguard student interests more than any other group. The vast majority of students oppose cuts, so please KCLSU, show your hand a bit more.....
Official response from KCL
Welcome comrades,
this is the blog that I am running to try and co-ordinate and publicise the horrific cuts at King's.
For my first post, after writing to the college, I have just received an official email from the college about the cuts, from the Deputy Director of the Alumni office. Here it is:
''Dear Mr Melson
Thank you for your email to Professo rs Trainor and Palmowski. As you are a former student of the College, they have asked me to reply on their behalf. Like almost every other higher education institution in the UK, King’s finds itself in the unwelcome position of having to take steps to respond to severe cuts in government funding. If we are to continue towards our goal of building an outstanding university institution, comparable in all respects with the very best in the world, we must make very difficult decisions to ensure we can weather the storm.
All of our Schools, including the School of Arts and Humanities, in which Palaeography is based, have had to identify cost reductions in order to ensure the financial and academic sustainability of the College and to enable us to invest strategically. The proposals announced last week mark the start of a detailed consultation process with our fellow academics about how best to re-focus our research and teaching to build an even stronger School of Arts and Humanities. While I do understand the issues you have raised in relation to Palaeography, it is also the case that, under the proposals, the School of Arts and Humanities would continue to offer outstanding expertise in Medieval History and Medieval Studies indeed, under the proposals we are considering bringing our strengths on the medieval period in East and West much more closely together.
Please be assured that we are fully conscious of the contributions which we have made, through the current postholder, to the field of Palaeography. I do hope you understand that I cannot comment on specific details, particularly at this time when we are in the process of consulting with colleagues.
Thank you again for your enquiry and support of King's. Best wishes in your important work.
Yours sincerel y,
Jennifer Garner
Deputy Director
Alumni and Development Office''
All very interesting. Whilst very jargony and press office like, still doesn't address the whole issue....And yes, the college was probably forced by erm 'Lord' Mandleson to cut back, other options should be looked at.
Discuss....
Craig Melson
this is the blog that I am running to try and co-ordinate and publicise the horrific cuts at King's.
For my first post, after writing to the college, I have just received an official email from the college about the cuts, from the Deputy Director of the Alumni office. Here it is:
''Dear Mr Melson
Thank you for your email to Professo rs Trainor and Palmowski. As you are a former student of the College, they have asked me to reply on their behalf. Like almost every other higher education institution in the UK, King’s finds itself in the unwelcome position of having to take steps to respond to severe cuts in government funding. If we are to continue towards our goal of building an outstanding university institution, comparable in all respects with the very best in the world, we must make very difficult decisions to ensure we can weather the storm.
All of our Schools, including the School of Arts and Humanities, in which Palaeography is based, have had to identify cost reductions in order to ensure the financial and academic sustainability of the College and to enable us to invest strategically. The proposals announced last week mark the start of a detailed consultation process with our fellow academics about how best to re-focus our research and teaching to build an even stronger School of Arts and Humanities. While I do understand the issues you have raised in relation to Palaeography, it is also the case that, under the proposals, the School of Arts and Humanities would continue to offer outstanding expertise in Medieval History and Medieval Studies indeed, under the proposals we are considering bringing our strengths on the medieval period in East and West much more closely together.
Please be assured that we are fully conscious of the contributions which we have made, through the current postholder, to the field of Palaeography. I do hope you understand that I cannot comment on specific details, particularly at this time when we are in the process of consulting with colleagues.
Thank you again for your enquiry and support of King's. Best wishes in your important work.
Yours sincerel y,
Jennifer Garner
Deputy Director
Alumni and Development Office''
All very interesting. Whilst very jargony and press office like, still doesn't address the whole issue....And yes, the college was probably forced by erm 'Lord' Mandleson to cut back, other options should be looked at.
Discuss....
Craig Melson
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