Dear Professor Corner,

It is with deep regret that we write to you again, following our previous letter of 9 April.

The British Sociological Association is aware that redundancy proposals are affecting 11 departments at Goldsmiths University and appreciates how deeply distressing this must be for everyone involved. We understand that 17 out of 24 staff in the Sociology Department are at risk of redundancy and this is of specific concern to us.

As I am sure you are aware, Goldsmiths Sociology Department has played a leading role – both nationally and internationally – in developing innovative teaching and research and the proposed restructuring would have a devastating effect on its ground-breaking achievements.  If all of these threatened redundancies go ahead, staffing numbers could reach unsustainably low levels, and the pressure on staff could become intolerable.

Sociology at Goldsmiths was ranked 13th by the REF2021 panel of peers. The scale of the proposed staffing cuts in the Department would have an extremely detrimental impact on   research capacity in Sociology. This loss of research capacity could have a negative effect on Goldsmiths ranking in this subject as well as Goldsmiths overall ranking in the REF2029.

As well as the impact on REF rankings, such severe reductions in staff in one department would reduce the depth and breadth of knowledge and experience in this one subject with serious consequences for capacity to teach in a number of critical areas – including race and ethnicity, human rights, gender, urban studies, childhood, creative ecologies and social justice.

As you say in your EDI statement, “Goldsmiths has a rich heritage of challenging inequality in all its forms, and equality, inclusion and social justice are values which are incredibly important to us”. The Sociology Department is firmly embedded within Lewisham Borough. It plays a crucial role in widening participation to Goldsmiths of otherwise excluded individuals.  Many of the Department’s students are first-in-family and are from a wide range of minoritized ethnic groups.  The diversity of staff members is crucial in attracting this cohort to study at Goldsmiths, and any change in this diversity could negatively affect widening participation for the University as a whole. We are particularly concerned that the proposed cuts could leave the department with no Black colleagues and no Black or Brown British ethnic minority colleagues. Such a result would seem to be completely at odds with your EDI statement and wholly unacceptable.

Sociology as a discipline is an essential part of any vibrant university portfolio of teaching and research. It plays a vital role in the formation of, for example, policy at local and national levels.  It also equips students with the flexible, creative and analytical skills necessary for employment in the workplace of today and the future. Losing the staff who provide those skills would therefore affect student employability in the medium and long term.

On behalf of the British Sociological Association, we ask you to reconsider this deeply damaging decision and to urgently examine how to protect and promote the valuable contribution made by Sociologists and colleagues across Goldsmiths University to the students and wider communities that benefit from their teaching expertise and research excellence. We urge you to consider alternative ways of addressing the financial constraints that you face.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Rachel Brooks
President of the British Sociological Association

Professor Chris Yuill
Chair of the British Sociological Association

Letter sent via email to:

Warden Frances Corner, Goldsmiths University of London

cc

David Oswell, Pro-Warden for Research, Enterprise and Knowledge Exchange
Imran Chughtai, COO and Chief Financial Officer
Ernest Caldwell, Pro-Warden for Education and Student Experience