This is the letter I just sent to Professor Stuart Croft about the current USS strike.
Professor Stuart Croft
Vice-Chancellor and President
University of Warwick
Dear Stuart,
I hope this finds you well.
I am writing with regard to the ongoing strike action in which I am taking part.
I am writing to you in your capacity as Vice-Chancellor and President of our University, but also in recognition and appreciation of the constructive role you have been playing in the debate over the future of USS.
You are undoubtedly aware of the strength of feeling, of the frustration, and indeed anger elicited by the agreement proposed by UUK and UCU under the auspices of ACAS. There are several reasons why I spoke and voted against this deal at the meeting organized yesterday on campus. I explained them to my students this morning. I am sure you are familiar with all the objections raised by colleagues across campus and up and down the country. There is certainly little need for me to reiterate them.
I hope you will nonetheless allow me to stress a few points of critical importance. We engaged in strike action with great reluctance, fully aware of the costs we would bear personally and mindful of the impact it could have on our students. We continue to protest with great resolve, for this crisis was forced upon us and our students by UUK’s poor handling of the situation. I can assure you that I would much rather be teaching history than striking, demonstrating, and reading about the intricacies of pension policy!
I, like my colleagues on strike, resent and reject the notion that we do not have our students’ best interests at heart. UUK’s continuing attempts to pit us against them and to question our commitment to their education do little to hasten the resolution of this dispute.
It is clear to me and to many colleagues that UUK and UCU will not find a satisfactory and lasting agreement until the valuation of USS can command the confidence of academic and administrative staff across the sector. We cannot accept transitional arrangements, let alone a new regime, based on a valuation which has now lost all credibility. I understand that USS and UUK are operating under the deadline imposed by the Pensions Regulator, but the strike is unlikely to be suspended until confidence has been restored in the valuation process.
May I therefore respectfully suggest that you explore the possibility of convening an extraordinary Warwick Commission on the state and future of USS? I do not underestimate the political sensitivities and practical difficulties of such an initiative. However I believe it would be a good way to ensure that the debate and potential reform of USS are driven by an immediate, independent, and critical review of the evidence and of all available options.
Finally, I was hoping you would be able to impress upon your fellow Vice-Chancellors the damage that the current crisis is causing to the reputation of British universities and to their capacity to retain and attract staff. For the best part of two decades, British universities have been able to attract excellent teaching, research, and administrative staff. The degree of internationalization they are rightly proud of is testament to the comparative advantage they have long enjoyed over their continental European counterparts in particular.
This advantage has been significantly eroded since 2010 as a result of the financial crisis and of the policy of the Coalition and Conservative governments.
The income of academic staff has been steadily falling in real terms since 2010 and the current and future inflationary pressures will only worsen our personal financial positions. The Government’s commitment to the marketization of higher education is also having a direct impact on staff workload and working conditions, as it devalues our roles and missions as educators, scholars, and scientists. The multiplication of costly evaluation exercises has done precious little to inform students and taxpayers of the quality of research and tuition delivered by our institutions. The undeniable excellence of British universities has arguably been achieved and maintained in spite of – but not thanks to – the dominant managerial obsession with processes and metrics.
With the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union, our universities and research organizations now face a series of critical challenges. As I wrote in our previous exchange, I know and I am thankful for the efforts you are making to ensure our University is ready to deal with the impending shock of Brexit. I am particularly grateful for the personal and institutional solidarity you expressed to EU citizens.
The dispute over USS therefore intervenes in a context defined by the end of freedom of movement, our loss of access to EU funding, the financial and institutional evisceration of the research councils, the devaluation of the Pound, and the continuing deterioration of public services and quality of life in the UK. Should UUK continue to insist on a drastic reduction of our pension entitlement, many colleagues – including many British citizens – will seriously question the opportunity to stay in the UK, at a time when the economic and professional environment is rapidly improving on the Continent. It truly pains me to write this, but I feel it is my responsibility to do so.
I have made my home in this country and I owe a massive intellectual and professional debt to British colleagues and British institutions. I am immensely proud of my colleagues in the Department of History. I know their talent and their dedication to teaching and scholarship and I am truly humbled to be working alongside them.
In innumerable conversations with colleagues across campus, before and during the strike, I heard the pride we take in the education we provide here at Warwick; the pride we take in the intellectual, professional, and personal development of our students; the pride we take in their current and future achievements.
It is high time the UUK and USS leadership recognized that our first loyalty goes to our students and our colleagues. It is high time they stopped questioning our unwavering commitment to our students’ education. It is high time they recognized the damage the current dispute is causing to higher education in Britain and faced up to their responsibility in bringing it out.
I am therefore calling upon you as our Vice-Chancellor and President, as a senior colleague, as a scholar and educator, to impress upon the leadership of UUK and USS the imperious necessity for them to rebuild our confidence in their capacity to lead the sector. For we – academics, administrators, students – are the university. For they no longer speak on our behalf.
Thank you very much for reading what was never intended to be such a long message!
Apologetically and respectfully, I remain,
Yours sincerely,
Pierre Purseigle
