SAD NEWS OF SOAS

[Dominik Wujastyk]

Status: RO

Dear Yano,
 > I will distribute your message to Japanese colleagues and
 > join in your movement of protest.
 
What is happening at SOAS is very regrettable indeed, to say the least.
And I think letters expressing shock or dismay, addressed to the Director,
would not be out of place, and might even give SOAS an opportunity
to present a stronger case to the Universities Funding Council
for a reconsideration of their funding cuts.
 
But I would like to stress that I am not leading a movement of protest
in any sense.  I wanted to share this distressing news with colleagues,
but I don't see myself spearheading any protest.  I'm just providing
information (it would be naive not to recognise that the provision
information itself is potentially a powerful political act
in this modern info-world).
 
Yesterday's Financial Times carried an article saying that 30 academic
positions at SOAS were being cut.  The figure 30 is higher than
the figure which staff at SOAS arrive at by totting up the known
staff losses, so the article has produced profound unease amongst
staff who have not yet been given notice.
 
Dominik