“Academics at Liverpool University have threatened strike action if management push through proposals to axe its politics, philosophy and probability departments in what appears to be the first casualty of poor scores in December’s national exercise to judge research quality. A meeting of the University and College Union today voted to oppose the closures and ‘prepare for possible industrial action’ including a boycott of the university’s procedure for making staff redundant or changing their contracts from research to teaching-only. Local Labour MP, Peter Kilfoyle, lodged an early day motion in parliament condemning the cuts, while John Pugh, Liberal Democrat MP for Southport and alumnus of the university, said the cuts were ‘deeply troubling’ …” (more)
[Anthea Lipsett, Guardian, 10 March]