Category: Uncategorized
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Update from 2025 UCU Congress
By Tom Cowin, outgoing Sussex UCU Vice President and member of the Anti-Casualisation Committee We are writing to report back from the first-ever hybrid UCU Congress — the supreme policy-making body of our union, which determines national policy and strategic direction. This year’s Congress took place over the late May Bank Holiday weekend in Liverpool and…
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Sussex UCU Annual General Meeting – Two Motions Passed with Overwhelming Support
At the Sussex AGM, two important motions were proposed and voted on by the branch. We are pleased to report that both motions passed with overwhelming support from members. This is a clear reflection of our collective commitment to equity, solidarity and the protection of staff rights at the University of Sussex. 1. Adoption of…
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Branch Social 20th March
Sussex UCU is hosting solidarity drinks in Room 76 in Falmer Bar on Thursday, 20th March, from 4 PM until 6 PM. This is a chance for us to meet face-to-face, catch up, socialise, and perhaps strategise (no break-out rooms, we promise!). The branch will be putting some money behind the bar and providing some snacks,…
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Statement from Sussex UCU in support of sacked SOAS Student Union officers
On Monday 15 July 2024 two students, Abel Harvie-Clark and Alex Harvie-Clark, newly elected as Sabbatical Officers of SOAS Students’ Union were emailed letters terminating their employment contracts. These letters were timed to arrive on their first day of work, completely out of the blue. These are two democratically elected employees, appointed by the student…
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Success Story: Transforming Doctoral Tutor Contract at Sussex University
In Summer 2022, Sussex UCU triumphed in a marking boycott, securing a new contract for Doctoral Tutors, addressing issues of casualization. The process involved local campaigning, support from the national PGR as Staff Campaign, and negotiating for improved terms and conditions, marking a significant achievement in the fight against casualization.
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Sign Open Letter on Student Finance Issues
Sussex Students’ Union have published an open letter regarding the recent student finance issues that have affected members of our Sussex community. Sussex Exec voted to endorse and circulate the letter last week in support of USSU and our affected members. In early March, just under 900 students received ‘reminder letters’ from the University Finance…
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Uniting Against Academic Casualisation: A Call for Solidarity and Action
In academia, where knowledge production is often celebrated while the labour that creates it is invisibilised, there exists a reality that often goes unnoticed—the precarity of post-graduate researchers (PGRs). As voices behind groundbreaking research and the backbone of undergraduate education, PGRs play a vital role in the academic ecosystem. Yet, they often find themselves navigating…
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UCU Sussex motion on Palestinian solidarity and academic freedom
Sussex UCU branch notes: 1. The message of collective compassion shared by UCU’s Black Members’ Standing Committee, which we open this motion by echoing from our branch: “BMSC abhors the violence that has claimed innocent Palestinian, Lebanese and Israeli lives in recent days. We extend our deepest condolences to the families and friends who have…
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UCU Sussex Executive Committee statement on the policing of free speech
Curtailing of Palestinian solidarity and academic freedom on campus UCU Sussex Executive Committee expresses our unequivocal solidarity with the people of Palestine. We express our sadness and devastation at the recent immense suffering and loss of life in Palestine and Israel and we unequivocally condemn the murder of civilians, no matter their religion or nationality.…
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Branch priorities with detailed evidence on USS ahead of the UUK conference
Updated: Aug 31, 2023 Image: copy of Figure 3 below, see section 3.2 for details and links to data and analysis. Ahead of the UUK’s annual conference at the University of Manchester, 6-7 September, we have summarised Sussex and IDS UCU priorities on USS, presented with evidence, which we hope to see reflected in the Sussex…
Sussex UCU, Brighton, UK 