Thread by @juliecupples79

I once worked at a university that is doing what the University of Leicester is doing now and can say the following with some authority

1. academic redundancy ruins people’s lives. It leads to mental health breakdown, hospital admissions and the need to take anti-depressants

2. it leads to a brain drain within the institution as even those not targeted try to move on if they can to escape the toxic work environment

3. it affects recruitment of new staff and students as who wants to work in an institution that treats staff so badly or no longer offers important areas of study

4. those that remain live in a state of existential dread as they anticipate the next round of restructuring given fall in student numbers and the reputational damage caused by the last round

5. productivity, collegiality and well-being at work all fall as emotional energy is increasingly invested into analysing the institution to assess one’s chance of survival and into the lateral surveillance of peers

6. institutional reputations that take years to build are destroyed in a few months and this angers not only existing staff and students but alumni too who see the value of their degrees diminished. Academics share stories and certain institutions become ones to avoid if possible

7. academic work is not like other professions, our labour market is global not local, so the next job is likely to be 100s of miles away and moving can be hard or impossible if you have a partner with a job or kids in high school or elderly parents that need care

8. in other words it is an unnecessary act of brutality inflicted on those targeted but it also constitutes an act of institutional self sabotage

9. if you are an external examiner at Leicester resign now. Another university is possible but only if we act collectively #BoycottLeicester

Read and weep at the idiocy of it all uculeicester.org.uk/ulsb16/shaping…

Just to be clear, I am in favour of job security for all workers. But academics train for at least 10 years and it is much harder to move jobs without moving house. And academic tenure means academic freedom and our society and democracy need that

At Leicester, academics have sacked not because their work is not needed but because they challenge mainstream thinking or do critical scholarship. Which I think is the point of the university - we are not I hope simply training students to reproduce the injustices of the world

Also universities are very much part of the "real world" and it is ludicrous to suggest otherwise. But a university education is not to survive the brutality of the real world but rather to gain the analytical skills to build a world based on compassion and social justice