Petition against closure of Physics at Reading

[a_cubed]

The University Senate recently confirmed the Senior Management Board's decision to close Physics (it was apparently disgusting to see some of the other academic staff from currently successful departments baying for Physics to be closed in the hope that they could grab some of any resources released - it's unclear to me whether this does indeed free up ay resources except for a few student numbers which iwll almost certainly go to the health sciences area i the University's push towards a Medical School).

Anyway, the University Council must still also ratify the decision. Their next meeting takes place on 20th November. The University and College Union (formed from the merger of AUT and NATFHE earlier this year) is running a campaign not only to save Physics at Reading but to persuade the government to take a serious look at why the funding situation is leading to the loss of so many vital science departments around the country. Please consider signing the petition against the closure of Physics at Reading on the UCU website here:

http://www.ucu.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid=1871

Comments

[ggreig]

Good luck with this. I may have been personally glad to leave Physics behind me when I graduated from St. Andrews, but it's worrying to see the broader decline in interest in such an important subject.

[sharikkamur.livejournal.com]

OK, signed. I can quite imagine the other department heads circling like sharks - I've been quite disgusted at the amount of back-stabbing and manipulations (I believe it's called 'politics') in the upper levels of university administration.