Dr Paul Hatcher
President of the Branch Committee
UCU
19 April 2016
Dear Paul,
I am writing further to a letter dated April 15 which I have received from your colleague Sally Pellow and others informing me of the result of a self-styled vote of no confidence in the Vice-Chancellor and asking me to call an emergency meeting of the University Council. If you do not have a copy of the letter, Richard Messer can supply one. In all the circumstances, I felt it most appropriate to respond to you, though I appreciate you are not the author of the letter. I am happy for you to share the content of this letter as you judge fit.
As I know from our discussion on March 21 and as was brought out at a meeting of Council later that day, there are concerns about the changes which are to be introduced in teaching and learning support arrangements, which fall within the professional and administrative support services component of the current efficiency and effectiveness programme. I fully accept the legitimacy of students and staff raising these concerns, and in turn management has accepted the validity of certain of the points made and has recognised the importance of change being introduced carefully and with appropriate transitional arrangements, the exact scope of which remains open to discussion.
I do think, however, that it is a matter of regret that differences on this matter have been overly personalised on the position of the Vice-Chancellor himself, which at times I understand have included unpleasant and unprofessional aspects. I do hope this will now come to an end. It is relatively easy to vote ‘no’ in a token vote of no confidence, but the outcome of such exercises has no bearing on the issues at stake and undertaking such exercises is not, I believe, helpful to the wider interests of the University. It does, however, prompt me to make clear that the Vice-Chancellor has the full confidence of the University Council and, I believe, the wider university community.
As to the possibility of an emergency meeting of the Council, I will not be taking up this suggestion. The efficiency and effectiveness programme, which was initiated some three years ago, was welcomed and endorsed by the Council in response to the need for the University to improve its core financial performance and to enhance the quality of its central services. This was and remains critical to the sustainability of the institution, and is part of a broader range of initiatives brought forward by the Vice-Chancellor which have been improving the position of the University and which continue to unfold. The Council and its committees have kept the programme under review and will continue to do so. There was proper consideration of the immediate concerns around the changes to teaching and learning support at the Council meeting on March 21, taking account of your views, those expressed by RUSU and the letter of March 15 from the Vice-Chancellor. The outcome was an endorsement of the Vice-Chancellor’s approach.
I know the Vice-Chancellor wrote to you on April 13 on the efficiency and effectiveness programme, setting out his views on the matters which have been raised as well as a framework within which he would expect to handle any outstanding issues. I know from our earlier conversation that you are genuinely concerned about serving the best interests of the University and, while inevitably there may be different views on specific matters as to where that best interest lies, I do hope you and your colleagues will respond positively to the approach the Vice-Chancellor has now set out.
Kind regards
Christopher Fisher
cc Sir David Bell, Vice-Chancellor
Dr Richard Messer, Chief Strategy Officer & University Secretary