Encerramento do Departamento de Sociologia da Universidade de Birminghan

Caro(a)s colegas,

O nosso colega John Holmwood, Presidente do UK Council of Professors e Chefe do Departamento de Sociologia, enviou-nos uma mensagem, apelando à nossa solidariedade no que respeita ao possível encerramento do Departamento de Sociologia da Universidade de Birminghan.

A Direcção da APS sente-se consternada com a possibilidade de um centro de saber sociológico poder desaparecer, empobrecendo toda a comunidade sociológica europeia.

Nesse sentido, damos aqui conta, integralmente, do apelo dos colegas de Birmingham, incentivando cada um de vós a subscrever a petição.

A Direcção da APS

The University has now begun steps to close the department and that its undergraduate degree in sociology be transferred to the Institute of Applied Social Policy. Just 3 members of staff will be retained from a total academic staff complement of 16 plus 3 research fellows when the review began. These other staff will be made redundant.

Colleagues have begun a campaign to Keep Sociology at Birmingham, details of which are available at:
http://www.keepsociologyatbirmingham.com

This website also provides information about the review and the recommendations in detail. The documents section also contains a letter expressing the support of the British Sociological Association for this campaign.

What can you do to support the campaign? Signing the petition and indicating the capacity in which you do so, which is online at:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/keepsociologyatbirmingham

Please also send the this e-mail onto local lists of colleagues that you think might be interested in joining the campaign (deleting the remainder of this message from onward circulation).

It would also help if you would send an e-mail e-mail of concern to the Vice Chancellor, Professor Eastwood, with a copy to Professor Peck, the Head of the College of Social Sciences. A suggested text for you to adapt and use is below.

The e-mail addresses are:

d.eastwood@bham.ac.uk and e.w.peck@bham.ac.uk

I fully accept that some of you may have misgivings about the appropriateness of this action and should you decide that you are unable to do so, this will be fully understood. However, it would help the campaign if you also blind copied your e-mail to the campaign organisers at:

keepsociologyatbirmingham@live.co.uk
In order to maintain confidentiality, I do not have access to this e-mail account and I have not provided my colleagues with details of to whom I have sent this e-mail.

Many thanks and best wishes,
John Holmwood
Chair, UK Council of Professors and Heads of Department

APS - 12.11.09