Save 58 jobs and support DMU’s teaching and research staff

Save 58 jobs and support DMU’s teaching and research staff

Started
15 May 2022
Petition to
Professor Katie Normington (DMU Vice Chancellor)
Signatures: 21,446Next Goal: 25,000
Support now

Why this petition matters

Started by Louisa Nicholson

Alumni, students, family, friends and the wider public, to stand in solidarity with the 58 members of staff at risk, please sign this petition and share as widely as possible.

Background - The Announcement

De Montfort University (DMU) have announced that 58 members of staff face the prospect of compulsory redundancy as part of a new programme of restructuring in a bid to ‘save money’.

Senior academic, professorial staff and non academic roles are at risk having been unexpectedly told they are at threat of redundancy. 

These are dedicated staff who have given years of service to DMU and worked relentlessly to provide excellent teaching and learning experiences for their students as well as engaging in high-quality, impactful research. 

Those affected by the Vice-Chancellor ’s formal announcement were assured last year that measures had been taken to reduce expenditure and save jobs and that this determination distinguished DMU from other rival institutions. 

Such a loss of senior staff will undoubtedly impact on the vitality and student experience of the affected programmes in Politics and International Relations, Music Technology and English. 


Why we need you to SIGN THIS PETITION

Staff at risk of redundancy have been internationally-recognised for their teaching excellence and innovation and awarded Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) gold for teaching. Affected staff includes leading researchers in the prominent Centre for Urban Research on Austerity (CURA) and Local Governance Research Centre (LGRC), highly successful in capturing external research funding and engaged in high-profile policy advocacy. It also includes outstanding and experienced staff from the Music, Technology and Innovation - Institute for Sonic Creativity (MTI2), and the Institute for English.

Staff worked tirelessly to support students throughout the pandemic.

The financial rationale for taking action is unclear and, we believe, shortsighted. 

The recent addition that the university’s finances have been hit by the ‘cost of living crisis’ is a cynical and offensive justification for making people unemployed in the context of a pandemic and cost of living crisis. 


Personal Testimonial as DMU Alumni

“I am DMU Alum, I studied Politics and International Relations between 2013-2017. Myself and my coursemates are devastated, shocked and incredibly angry to hear this news. 

The teaching excellence, quality research outputs, passion and tireless dedication to both academic and pastoral support from the team at DMU has supported us far beyond our student lives.

Simply put, studying at DMU made us the people we are today. 

  • The academics and staff in the department taught me to believe in my own abilities, supported me to develop my own transferable academic skills and apply for professional roles.
  • What I learnt in those seminar rooms and lecture theater’s at DMU, shaped my worldview and my understanding of complex international relationships, structures and institutions. 
  • Above all, my time at DMU left me with an inquisitive, knowledge hungry mindset, to understand power dynamics of different spaces, the importance and use of language and to challenge inequality and injustice in all settings. 
  • I have always remained an unshakable advocate for the DMU teaching and research teams I have studied with. Having studied at other academic institutions and completed other professional qualifications since graduating - I can safely say that the superior quality of teaching, support and future thinking encouragement from DMU is INCOMPARABLE.

DMU are incredibly lucky to have a team of individuals who are not only world class researchers and academics, but coaches, problem solvers and incredible mentors - who to this day I remain in touch with.

To suggest that they should be made redundant, FOR ANY REASON - is an attack on not only quality teaching and research, but on the future of new student's careers and lives.” 


Call to Action

To all alumni, current students, family, friends and the wider public:

The consultation period runs into June - to support the 58 members of staff at risk - Please sign this petition, and share as widely as possible.

Support now
Signatures: 21,446Next Goal: 25,000
Support now
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Decision-Makers

  • Professor Katie NormingtonDMU Vice Chancellor