Category: Uncategorized

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.

Sign Open Letter on Student Finance Issues

Apr 15, 2024

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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…

Uniting Against Academic Casualisation: A Call for Solidarity and Action

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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…

UCU Sussex motion on Palestinian solidarity and academic freedom

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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…

UCU Sussex Executive Committee statement on the policing of free speech

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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.…

Branch priorities with detailed evidence on USS ahead of the UUK conference

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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 and IDS UCU branch draft views on the UUK USS consultation

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Updated: Aug 2, 2023 Sussex and Institute of Development Studies (IDS) UCU branch present four draft priorities for the USS consultation in Section 5 below. We are seeking feedback including at the All Campus USS Community Forum on Wednesday 9 August 1pm-2pm. Background nationally: In March 2023 UCU and UUK agreed a joint statement on USS…

Outsourcing at Sussex set to continue despite initial promises

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Background to insourcing consultation In November last year many of us received an email from University of Sussex Vice-Chancellor Sasha Roseneil titled ‘Creating a better campus – the future of campus services’. The email spoke of how ‘the original outsourcing of these services a decade ago caused considerable unhappiness within the University community’ [see the…

UCU-USSU joint statement on Sussex summer graduation 2023

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