an email exchange

[kareina]

Yesterday Durham University sent an email, "on the behalf of Professor Tony Fawcett, Pro-Vice-Chancellor Education" to all registered students about the ongoing strikes, and the fact that if it isn't resolved before then there will be a marking boycott. The letter assured students that "every student who has completed their degree will be able to attend Congregation in June", and said:

Not all academic staff are members of UCU. Of those who are, not all will take part in the marking and assessment boycott. Our sincere hope is that the number of staff choosing to take part remains low and that many students will not be affected at all.

(yes, the email really did bold-print that last line)

This letter so offended me that I sat down and wrote this reply:

Dear Tony,

It is difficult to take seriously any official statement of reassurance from the university about impacts to the quality of education which arise from strike action, when this strike has dragged on for years. If the University truly cared about the quality of education it is providing to its students then it would pay our hard-working academic staff members a salary that is in keeping with the workloads demanded of them, and a pension that is reasonable. Despite the repeated requests for just that on the part of the union, they are still being refused this basic decency, so, of course, they are still striking.

All of the academic staff members at Durham with whom I have interacted are talented, dedicated teachers and researchers, who care deeply about their students, and wish them to succeed, and who are suffering mental and emotional trauma from the need to strike because the university will not compensate them reasonably. The ones I have spoken to who are not union members are not part of the union because they literally cannot afford to make ends meet if they add the cost of union membership dues to their budgets.

If the university really cannot afford to pay the academic staff appropriately and ensure them an appropriate pension level, perhaps they should reconsider the percentage of the budget that goes towards the non-academic administrative staff, in particular the individuals who keep refusing to make an appropriate offer to the union to resolve this strike. None of them should make even one penny more each month than their lowest paid academic staff.

Thank you for taking the time to read the words of a concerned student, who would like to see the good quality teachers stay in academia, but fear that more and more of them each year are seeking jobs in the private sector in order to earn a living wage.

Regards,

--Riia

Today I got a reply:

Dear Riia,

I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your email and to reaffirm that the University will continue to work both locally and nationally to resolve the current dispute.

Best wishes

Tony

I am amused that while I was miffed enough to give him an unadorned "Regards", he was nicer and gave me a "Best wishes". However, he did not indicate that he, or any of his staff actually read the letter. It seems reasonable to put the message also out into the world, so anyone doing a search for Durham University Strike, or UK University Strike, has a chance to see this, and know that at least one student sides with the teachers and wants them to get a good settlement.

Comments

[redbird]

Well said.

That looks like a classic "send the generic letter on topic X" that I sometimes get back when I write to politicians, sometimes making it very clear that even though their staff answered weeks later, nobody noticed what I was asking them to do.

[adrian_turtle]

My dad used to call those responses, "Thank you for your crank complaint. Sincerely..."

[kareina]

Yah, no doubt, from their perspective, that is all it is. Yet, just in case there is anyone keeping track of which side of the question people are complaining from...

[katerit]

That's a great letter and the response is as b.s. as the response to the requirements of the union seems to be.