Yesterday, 7 March 2024,  consultations ended at 23.59. Voluntary Redundancy applications and Counterproposals were submitted. Outcomes will be communicated on 20 March. We have been guaranteed that VR applications will not be prejudicial of the outcomes of counterproposals, but at this point, it is difficult to trust this statement. Much like it’s difficult to believe that the teach out spreadsheet affected Heads of School have been asked to fill on Monday with a 48 hours turnaround does not mean counterproposals will be automatically dismissed.
Those who applied for Voluntary redundancy did so voluntarily only in name. They have been coerced into seeing throwing away a career and a future in academia as the most desirable choice. There is nothing voluntary about this.
We continue to be told that this is a meaningful consultation process. To this extent, the counterproposal panel kindly offered feedback ahead of submission. Feedback for each counterproposal was normally a two-three liner. Sample feedback includes: ’End on a more positive note’, ‘use official template’,  ‘income generation’ [sic]. Clarifications were sought and received - some after working hours on the day of the deadline. Among the most interesting clarifications received was to provide evidence that consolidating several courses into one will attract the same amount of applicants. This comes after six years of relentless slashing of Joint Honour courses, with the reassurance that there is ample evidence that applicants choose the nearest Single Honours when their JH of choice is slashed. Now that we need to make this argument, it's on us to back it with evidence.
This process has been and continues to be nothing short of barbaric.

This is a complaint of course, but not a standalone one - we don’t want you to mourn for Kent. This is happening everywhere in the UK. Not a day goes by that another University announces cuts in the Arts, Humanities and/or Social Sciences. Not a day goes by that mass redundancies are proposed as a first line of action to heal the finances of troubled Universities - or that a University is brought to an employment tribunal for unfair dismissal, for that matter.
We could just say, with plenty of reason, F***K NEOLIBERALISM, to quote an excellent academic article [title censored by me to allow sharing on social media]. However, we acknowledge that we are beyond that point. The harsh reality is that capitalism and neoliberalism persist, and there seems little we can do to change it. What is unacceptable is the higher management's tendency to hide behind these systems, claiming there is no alternative, expressing a desire for a different reality, and justifying the harsh choices made as the lesser of two evils – the alternative being the university going bankrupt. These are people, human beings, who were often academic themselves once upon a time, that every day get out of bed and by action or omission decide to be accomplices of neoliberalism. Some would love to live in a different world, but they acknowledge there is no way out and hang on to their stellar salaries. Some, by their own admission, are ok having the job of being hated by every single member of an organisation, as long as it pays well enough.
While we may not be able to overthrow neoliberalism overnight, we must recognize that those who passively accept it are not merely resigned to reality; they actively contribute to its perpetuation. Make no mistake, higher education in the UK isn't being razed into the ground solely by the inescapable reality of neoliberalism but by a plethora of very highly paid managers and consultants who thrive on its continuation.

Photo by Henry Ryu