Calling All Education Workers/Students - Urgent Solidarity Needed
Jan 23 2007
Involved in any of the education workers network? Here's a hoist up the mast that requires your urgent solidarity. Comrades now is the time to think, plan and act, as two of our comrades along with a dozen of our fellow workers and hundreds of students are facing the thin end of the wedge in Dumfries.
I'd be really keen to discuss what the various networks can do. We need to act now if we're going to win here. Please PM me if you can help in any way at all.
Sol.,
Nick
Quote:
Dear All,I am writing to request suport. On Wednesday 17th January at 6pm, the Principal of Glasgow University (GU) announced that he would be closing down the GU part of the Crichton Campus in Dumfries in South West Scotland.
Because the situation is somewhat comlplicated, I should fill in some background information.
The Crichton Campus is based in Dumfries. It opened less than ten years ago, to provide Higher Education opportunities for a region which, until then, had no Higher Education institution. This caused demographic, cultural, economic and social problems for the area as large numbers of young people left the area for HE not to return. Also because of lack of provision, Dumfries and Galloway had a far lower than thge national average of uptake of Higher education.
The Crichton Camus is made up predominantly of three institutions, each of which has its main organisational centre outwith the area. The three institutions are Bell College, who provide nurse training (whose centre is in Hamilton); Paisley University who provide predominantly computing and management courses and Glasgow University who provide predominantly Arts and Humanities courses and post-grad provision. There was a prior agreement by the institutions to avoid replication, so each institution concentrates on particular sections of the curriculum.
The campus lacks most of the basic elements required. There are few sports facilities, bar green fiekds, no students union, no refectory so there is nowhere for staff and students to have a hot meal. However it does have committed staff and students, who provide in these less than ideal circumstances, by all current accepted measures, educational
experiences of very high quality.On Wednesday evening at 6pm the Principal of the University of Glasgow (based in Glasgow), announced that he was closing Glasgow University's part of the Crichton Campus. What this means for staff and students is still fairly vague, but it is not good: redundancies for staff, truncated academic careers for students, and lack of educational opportunities
for future students in the region, and the ending of a significant cultural resource for the region as a whole.Because of the complicated structure of the Campus, with many institutional partners, the land being owned by the council and an incredibly labyrinthine funding arrangement from the Scottish Funding Council, everyone responsible has the possibility to blame someone else for closing the campus down. The UG Principal, Muir Russell is blaming the Funding Council, the Funding Council is blaming the Princial; the Scottish Executive also bear some responsibility for underresourcing, as do the local council for not providing basic infrastructure on the site.
Students and staff are not taking the threatened closure lying down. UCU the biggest union on campus has already met and there was unanimity to oppose the closure (there are also 2 members of the IWW who are work there and are active in the campaign). UCU members are meeting again on Monday to further develop strategies. There is a joint meeting of all University of Glasgow Crichton Campus students on Wednesday to plan actions to pressurise all the relevant authorities to have the closure decision overturned. I shall keep the list informed of the decisions to seek relevant help.
In the meantime, and I know this is not particularly radical, it would nonetheless help enormously if comrades could write to the following authorities to pressurise them to act to reverse the closure decision. If members of the list could write to just two or three of the people below it could influence decisions that are about to be taken in the next week.
To the following, we would be grateful if you would ask that they reverse the decision with regards to funding for the University of Glasgow Crichton Campus:Sir Muir Russell,
The Principal
University of Glasgow
Glasgow
G12Roger McClure
Chief Executive
Scottish Funding Council
Donaldson House
97 Haymarket Terrace
Edinburgh
EH12 5HDTo the following we would be grateful if you would ask them to do all
in
their power to pressurise the responsible bodies to reverse the
decision,
and ensure that adequate funding is provided for
University of Glasgow at the Crichton Campus* Jack McConnell - First Minister
The Scottish Parliament
Edinburgh
EH99 1SPJack.Mcconnell.msp@scottish.parliament.uk
* Nicol Steven
Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning
The Scottish Parliament
Edinburgh
EH99 1SPNicol.Stephen.msp@scottish.parliament.uk
* Philip Jones
Chief Executive
Dumfries and Galloway Council
Council Offices,
English Street,
Dumfries,
DG1 2DD* Thomas Sloan
Leader of Dumfries and Galloway Council
Dumfries and Galloway Council
Council Offices,
English Street,
Dumfries,
DG1 2DDIt would also be helpful, following the reports in The Scotsman and The
Herald, this week, if letters were sent to them, supporting the staff
and
students of GUCC.I shall write more following Wednesday's meeting, following other types
of
action in support.If you have any queries please do not hesitate to be in touch. I shall
do my
best to answer them.For not entirely inaccurate press reports of the planned closure see:
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/education/display.var.1130091.0.0.php
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=90442007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/south_of_scotland/6272345.stmThere is also a skeleton website at
http://www.geocities.com/glasgow_at_crichton/
Jan 23 2007
#2
i sent an email this morning.
if there's any other way of helping out from several hundred miles away, do let us know
Jan 23 2007
#3
Ditto - I've done and e-mail and a letter. If there's anything else...
Jan 23 2007
#4
aye same here, and its been circulated a bit.
keep us updated on the mood of the staff and if there is any organising in progress among the staff & students.
Jan 23 2007
#5
Thanks comrades!
Will do.
The Pricipal of Glasgow Uni, Sir Muir Russell was thw guy in charge of the Scottish Parliament Building - a £40 million building which over-ran its costs by £440 million. He's currently overseeing the work on a building on Glasgow Uni's main campus which has over-ran its costs by more than 1.2million - work is yet to start on it. The Chrichton campus is being closed for the makie-up loss figure of £800,000.
If you can find anything to do with Sir Muir that'd be good - he's a very weak target. I'd imagine he has business interests of some sort elsewhere.
Jan 23 2007
#6
E-mail sent, good luck with this.
As others have said, if there's anything else this campaign needs, just ask. Is there any way to find out a little more about Russell's business interests?
Jan 23 2007
#7
Quote:
a £40 million building which over-ran its costs by £440 million
jesus 
Jan 23 2007
#8
bout to send an e-mail, will forward to others as well.
what reason did they give for the closure? the BBC article mentions funding but these things seem to be a bit more complex a lot of the time. also, is that likely to be the real cause, or a cover for something else?
any way to find out Muir's annual salary (or that of other people high up in this uni)? might be an interesting comparison to make, not sure how useful it'd be tho...
keep us updated.
Jan 23 2007
#9
JonnyT wrote:
any way to find out Muir's annual salary (or that of other people high up in this uni)? might be an interesting comparison to make, not sure how useful it'd be tho...
very useful! Vice chancellors salaries run quite high (not as high as equal size private companies though), we used our local el presidentes salary during the UCU strike.
UCU might have it somewhere? And times Higher Ed supplement published many of them as well a while back.
Jan 23 2007
#10
by how useful I meant more, how could the information be used? pointing out the discrepancy between his salary and the amount needed for the campus to stay open is good, but aside from being a snazzy figureto stick on leaflets....
still, may be useful and wouldn't imagine it'd be that difficult.
found this claiming he's getting £160,000 a year salary plus £22,000 into his pension, PLUS a lump sum £150,000 and £50,000 pension from his last job...article is from 2002 tho so may have changed since then.
Jan 23 2007
#11
Quality - thanks Jonny!
Jan 30 2007
#12
Hello,
I'm an undergraduate student at GU Crichton campus and just wanted to say thank you very much for your support.
We had a meeting last friday with the scottish funding council and pretty much begged them for help. There is an emergency fund available, we just need to convince them it would be well spent on the Crichton.
Yesterday two representatives of GU came to talk to us, they were David Newall Secretary of the Court and Jan Hulme Academic Secretary of the Senate. Their arguments went round and round in circles and, although I think some of our questions shook them, they resolutely stuck to blaming the funding council for the withdrawl.
However, according to the funding council GU is manipulating the figures to make it look like all the students they have recruited without funding are at the Crichton. Hence the £800k deficit figure. GU actually has an operating surplus of £2 million at present too.
It seems that Russell and his cronies want rid of us in Dumfries for whatever reason and will continue to pedal their excuse to do so. Any more information on that new building on the main campus, Nick, would be very helpful in helping us to build a case against Russell. Do you know if it's possible to call for his resignation due to incompetence? A man like that should not be principal of a university: he's not an educator but an incompetent civil servant.
So, thanks again - Eryl
Jan 30 2007
#13
hi eyrl
Quote:
A man like that should not be principal of a university: he's not an educator but an incompetent civil servant.
alas, that is what most principals are! 
Feb 3 2007
#14
Have posted as a topic on the myspace Glasgow university message board, copy and link below. One wonders how much the students up at the main campus really know what's going on and how willing they would be to support a reversing of the decision, fingers crossed it will do some good. Have linked to this page and asked that they take time to fire off some emails. Anyone else reading this feel free to ccp post and fire it out to your own networks.
Fingers, legs, toes crossed. Hard to type with crossed fingers mind you. Post as below.
Glasgow University has a satellite campus in Dumfries called the Crichton Campus, this campus is young and has been operating for roughly 7 years. the facility is a fantastic opportunity in a rural community and serves the area of South west Scotland which previously had no higher Education facilities, Paisley University and Bell College also have facilities on the campus. However Muir Russell (Principal Glasgow University) has deemed the campus no longer feasible, this is appalling as the courses offered are an awesome opportunity for higher education and the skills and education gained can only have a positive impact on a struggling local economy. On a more personal level it is truly heartbreaking to see the demoralised lecturers down here and the worry in the students, all who have worked so very hard to make the campus a success, and who have met and exceeded all targets set by the main campus.
To learn more http://libcom.org/forums/organise/calling-all-education-workers-students-urgent-solidarity-needed
Or to contact the Principal direct and tell him how awful you think this is
Sir Muir Russell,
The Principal
University of Glasgow
Glasgow
G12
This may mean nowt to most of you, but it's where I'm studying, so c'mon be militants for little ole me!! Please gives us your support as fellow Glasgow Uni students.
For those of you in spitting distance of Dumfries....................Students, lecturers and staff are having a morale raising night in Tam O' Shanters, Dumfries on the 3rd of March, Open Mike comedy and chance to be satirical about the whole mess!
Please please please i can't say this enough, but please show your support and take 10 mins to fire off some emails to the addresses given on the link. WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT!!!!!!!
Thanks
A worried student.
Feb 3 2007
#15
P.s posted link to the Mark Thomas email forum too.
Feb 4 2007
#16
sarcassy, any chance you can switch that really long link for a tinyurl link? It makes the page really difficult to read.
Feb 6 2007
#17
The Court of Glasgow University (substantially made up of the fustiest and most conservative elements within Scotland's fustiest and most conservative institutions) is meeting on Wednesday 14th of February to decide the fate of the Crichton Campus. Students and staff from the main campus, and those travelling up from Dumfries are expected to picket the meeting, in order to put their case for saving Crichton Campus.
Also there is a debate in the Scottish Parliament regarding the crisis at the Crichton and to consider funding arrangements thatwould lead to its survival. But whether by ill-fortune or deliberate intransigence, the University Court's meeting to deliver its verdict on the Crichton is a day or two before the Parliamentary debate.
It should be added that 1) Senior political figues like Russell Brown MP, Elaine Murray MSP and A. Fergusson MSP have cast severe doubt on the Principal Muir Russell's calculation over the size of the Crichton debt -- maybe memories of Muir's difficulties with maths in costing the Scottish Parliament Building. 2) Many of the Deparments within The Arts Faculty of the Univ. of Glasgow (which members of the Crichton Campus are nominally members) are in enormous surplus more than off-setting even Muir Russell's 'calculation'. 3) Closing the University of Glasgow Crichton Campus (UGCC) will have a devastating effect not just on current students and staff, but economically, socially and culturally for the region as a whole. There is no other HE institution in the whole region that offers Arts, Humanities and many of the Social Science Offerings of the UGCC. The 'partner institutions' on the Crichton Campus that remain have made it clear that they are highly unlikely to provide it.
4) Muir Russell's pay rise, according to The Sunday Herald, was 15% last year to just 216,000 (not including free housing, travel expenses and substantial pension contribution).
If you can make it along to the picket on the afternoon of Wednesday 14th February, I am sure you will be made most welcome. There is some further information available at http://www.geocities.com/glasgow_at_crichton/
Feb 6 2007
#18
Quote:
Muir Russell's pay rise, according to The Sunday Herald, was 15% last year to just 216,000 (not including free housing, travel expenses and substantial pension contribution).
poor guy. he's got it real hard. best of luck with the demo
Feb 7 2007
#19
Hello all,
In a meeting of a few of us crichton students on monday we thought it might be amusing to mount a valentines campaign directly to Sir Muir Russell. We will try to get as many people as possible to send him cards expressing unrequited love for Glasgow University from all those who wish for Glasgow to remain at the Crichton. A kind of 'don't leave me this way' plea. The idea being to innundate his office with cards on the 14th.
Please, please, please send a card to arrive on valentines day to:
Sir Muir Russell
Principal
University of Glasgow
University Avenue
Glasgow
Thanks
Feb 7 2007
#20
cheesy but cool 
Feb 7 2007
#21
madashell wrote:
sarcassy, any chance you can switch that really long link for a tinyurl link? It makes the page really difficult to read.
Management here seem to have done it for me with the myspace link.....though I have no clue how to change the long link on the myspace post shorter, anyone who can explain how.....be grateful.
Cheers
Feb 8 2007
#22
Quote:
Management here seem to have done it for me with the myspace link.....though I have no clue how to change the long link on the myspace post shorter, anyone who can explain how.....be grateful.Cheers
Hey Sarcassy/Cor! Good to see you guys are posting here by the way. Hopefully I'll see some of youse tomorrow with the IWW. We have 1000 leaflets to hand out tomorrow. We put out about 600-700 today on the main campus.
If you want to convert a long URL on Tinyurl what you do is you enter it into a wee form on www.tinyurl.com, and you get a very small URL. I did that with your myspace page URL you sent up here and got: http://tinyurl.com/39fjvr
I dunno if youse saw or heard about what's been going on at Dundee Uni (?) - there they managed to get about 200 folks out for a demonstration against similar plans to close departments, sack staff and fuck with students.
I'm sure we can do better than that! 
http://www.thecourier.co.uk/output/2007/02/08/images/WWWPROT.jpeg
Angela, one of the organisers of that protest has been talking about it on the SSY forums if you want to speak to her about it:- http://www.ssy.org.uk/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=53&topic=4606.0
Just imagine the faces when 400 of us show up...
Heh! Anyway enough talk, more action!
Maybe see you tomorrow!
Cheers,
Nick (IWW, Central Scotland Organiser)
07910627970
Feb 8 2007
#23
Quote:
Just imagine the faces when 400 of us show up...
anyways, best of luck folks, i'm sure we're all rooting for ye 
Feb 9 2007
#24
theres also stuff up on it here:
http://studentresistance.wordpress.com/
Mar 2 2007
#25
Have added a Crichton Page to the IWW Scotland Website. Take a peek:-
Can anyone help? This is urgent!