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Ben Phillips

@benphillips1989.bsky.social

Historian (of Russia, at Exeter). Didn't really want another social account but susceptible to peer pressure, so here I am.

153 Posts306 Follower186 Folgt
George Monbiot@georgemonbiot.bsky.social · last mo.

Something deeply troubling & shocking is happening at Exeter University*, where a mass cull of staff is planned, even though it's in surplus. No good justifications given. @jamesgdyke.info provides the details: www.technosphere.earth/the-bonfire-... *Disclosure: I have a Visiting Fellowship here. +🧵

The bonfire of the humanities

150 academic posts at the University of Exeter are to be cut, most in the humanities but also in social sciences, engineering and environmental sciences

technosphere.earth

Glen O'Hara@gsoh31.bsky.social · last mo.

Unis as critical parts of national infrastructure have been passed over to ill-equipped management teams with very narrow remits - to smash and ruin. Is that a good idea in the era of national competition, economic stagnation and Cold War 2.0? 🤔 www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...

University of Exeter plans to cut 150 jobs - Research Professional News

Staff consultation underway, with UCU claiming 14 per cent of academic workforce is at risk

researchprofessionalnews.com

Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social · last mo.

A grim day in a grim week in a grim month for UK higher education, with Dundee, Exeter and Hertfordshire all making major announcements of planned redundancies. Shrinkage of the research & teaching base by the invisible hand's visible fist is not an 'us' or 'them', SHAPE or STEM phenomenon. 1/2

Photo of an open hand, with part of 4 fingers showing.
Gav Maclean@gavmaclean.bsky.social · 2mo ago

If I hear one more university leader say they're making "tough decisions" about redundancies or worsening our employment conditions, I will scream. They are not making tough choices, they're making the easiest decisions in the world. Tough decisions would be fighting the inevitability of job losses

Ben Phillips@benphillips1989.bsky.social · 6mo ago

This does seem like the obvious conclusion with the UKHE Covid class action. If students didn't get the teaching they paid for, their degrees are academically invalid and that's what needs fixing. (You'd hope their current employers would agree.)

Dr Matt Lodder@mattlodder.com · 6mo ago

If these students feel that they had substandard teaching such that they didn't learn enough, rescind their obviously ill-earned degrees and offer to replace the missed credits now. I don't see what good a cash settlement does anyone.

Liesbeth Corens@onslies.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Yeah, quite key: it's not £21 million that is going directly to those 6500 students... The only ones winning anything (other than maybe £2000 per student) are the firm raking in the £7 million and the people keen to crash universities. Grim day for #UKHE.

The amount each student is set to receive in the settlement will vary and is due to be determined by a committee of claimants, the email said. Legal costs and payouts to litigation funders are not specified in the email seen by the FT. Thirty-five per cent of any payout was due to pay legal fees and litigation funders financing the case under a “no win, no fee” arrangement, the FT has previously reported.
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Ben Phillips@benphillips1989.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Always enjoy when you follow the advice and put your local radio station on because there's an extreme weather event in progress and they're just playing eighties dance classics as if nothing's happened

The Author, Séamas O'Reilly@seamas.bsky.social · 6mo ago

If shock troops were firing tear gas at random people in Walthamstow all day then, yes, I do think I'd find it within myself to deploy the five or six clicks of a mouse that would be necessary to order a gas mask online, yeah.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 6mo ago

Bondi: "It's extremely organized. The signs they have are all matching, they're well written. And look at what's happening today. How did these people go out & get gas masks? These protesters. Would you know how to walk out on the street and buy a gas mask? Think about that. We're not gonna have it"

Ben Phillips@benphillips1989.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Teignmouth and Dawlish after the storm yesterday, one missing part of its pier, the other with newly acquired holes in the sea wall. Thankfully the damage was superficial, the new sea defences held up, and the trains will be running again later today.

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