Keep Sociology at Birmingham

The BSA President and Chair invite members, as individuals, to support their colleagues by signing the petition against the closure of the Department of Sociology at Birmingham.

SIGN THE PETITION TO KEEP SOCIOLOGY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/keepsociologyatbirmingham

 

READ THE CAMPAIGN WEBSITE FOR MORE INFORMATION:

http://www.keepsociologyatbirmingham.com

In 2002, despite wide spread condemnation and protest, the University of Birmingham decided to close the Department of Cultural Studies and Sociology.  Subsequent to the closure a new Department of Sociology was re-opened in 2004 with a long term view to developing Sociology at Birmingham – staff were told that the University had a 10-year ‘strategy for success’. Following a recent review of this department’s teaching and research activities, the Head of the College of Social Sciences, Professor Edward Peck, is recommending to Senate and Council that the University should once again close Sociology (and its associated Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Culture)

 

The Department is not in deficit and its programmes are popular with students – for example, its undergraduate degree in Sociology is ranked 4^th out of 84 in the Guardian league tables, while its undergraduate degree in Media, Culture and Society is ranked 5^th out of 79. When the Department was established in 2004 the Chair of the group that reviewed its research strategy, Professor Judith Petts (now PVC in charge of Research and Knowledge Transfer), wrote that,

“the University needs to recognise that the outcome of 2008 may be modest relative to the leading departments. The panel cannot emphasise strongly enough that should this be the case, the University must hold its nerve and continue to support the department.”

Indeed, 13 out of the 18 members of staff submitted were in their first RAE. The department has also provided evidence that, once ‘selectivity’ is taken into account (that is, the number of eligible staff submitted), the performance of Sociology is on a par with other Departments in the College. For example, all staff in Sociology were selected for submission in the RAE, while other departments had proportionately much less.

The review recommendations include transfer of the sociology degree to the School of Social Policy, with severely reduced entry, along with redundancies which will substantially decrease the number of staff employed to deliver existing degree programmes and carry out sociological research. The report recommends retaining 3 members of staff from the department (reduced from 16 full-time staff and 3 full-time Research Fellows a year ago when the review was first proposed). In contradiction of University ordinances and the protocol for previous reviews, no staff redeployments are being offered to staff.

Members of the department are worried that the major reduction in the presence of Sociology at the University being proposed poses a significant threat to the education of both undergraduate and postgraduate students and to university research activities. The University proposes that 3 members of staff are sufficient to deliver a single honours undergraduate degree programme in sociology, with most of the modules being taken from courses delivered within other degree programmes.

It is believed that this closure will have negative consequences for the reputation of the University and will be perceived as indicative of managerial inadequacy, deriving from the recent history of Sociology at Birmingham. The local community, a significant stakeholder served by the University, will also be impacted negatively by the proposed closure.

In a recent letter to the Times Higher Educational Supplement (29th October) the Council of the British Sociological Association states that “It is inconceivable that any serious university with a mission to serve its region and wider society can abandon a commitment to high-quality and high quantity sociology” and urges “the relevant decision-makers at Birmingham” to re-evaluate its decision.

The University and College Union have criticised the University’s review processes for a lack of openness, transparency and accountability. In particular the methodology in the Sociology review is identified as having serious shortcomings, “The Department of Sociology appears to have had little input into the information and documentation used by the review panel, no members of the Department have been included on the review panel, the external assessors on the panel appear to have had no opportunity to meet with staff and students from the department”. Of the four academics on the review panel, all were members of the University and College Executive Boards.

The Union has stated that if reviews “are not conducted objectively and fairly with proper and open involvement of staff and unions, such reviews can appear to be cynical ploys misused by management to force through reductions in staffing levels and even compulsory redundancies without proper consideration and discussion”.

The Department of Sociology is now calling for the review recommendations to be rejected and for the University to initiate a fully transparent and comprehensive review that is inclusive of all relevant stakeholders.

The University Senate meets on 18^th November, and Council meets on 26^th November.

We urge you to sign the petition calling for the recommendations to be rejected and for a proper review to be conducted

We also request individuals to e-mail the Vice-Chancellor, Professor David Eastwood

[e-mail]

Please copy any e-mails to:

Professor Adrian Randall (PVC Academic Quality and Students), Professor Judith Petts (PVC Research and Knowledge Transfer), Professor Edward Peck (Head of College of Social Sciences), Brigid Jones (Guild of Students and Member of Council)

Please also copy to Mr Lee Sanders, Registrar to the University, requesting that your e-mail be made available to members of Senate and Council:

[e-mail]; [e-mail]; [e-mail]; [e-mail]; [e-mail]

You are also requested to blind copy [e-mail] so that we can keep a log of all traffic.

Suggested text of e-mail for individuals to adapt as thought fitting:

“Dear Professor Eastwood,

I am writing to you to express my concern about the proposed closure of the Department of Sociology and its associated Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Culture.

While I recognise that Universities must make decisions in the light of local circumstances, I am concerned about the implications of this decision for current students in the Department and for the opportunities for prospective students in the West Midlands region.

I am aware that the Department at the University of Birmingham had been established only in 2004, following the closure of the Department of Cultural Studies and Sociology in 2002. It would seem that the present Department has been given no time to establish itself before being closed once again. Birmingham is also the second city of the UK, with the largest ethnic minority population in the country, but it will now have no University with a dedicated Department or significant concentration of expertise in sociology. The University of Birmingham is the UK’s first ‘civic university’ and I find it difficult to understand how it can execute its civic mission without a strong sociology presence.

In the light of these concerns, I should like to ask your Senate and Council to reconsider this decision. I have copied this e-mail to Mr Lee Sanders, Registrar, so that it can be communicated to Senate and Council”