It is like a cross between a badly-made Carry On movie, an Ealing comedy and the worst kind of horror film. Or perhaps ‘Admiral’ Spier, with his weird Naval language (‘navigate’, ‘explore’, ‘discover’, etc, etc), just simply refuses to accept what a terrible VC he is, as the vessel sinks and yet more of his leading managerial rats jump ship.
On a Friday, 11th April, just before the weekend – when everyone tends to disappear off home (relieved that they have survived yet another nightmare week at the Uni) – the KU Comms Team, under the instructions of Admiral Spier and his SLT (Senile Leadership Team), sneaked the following announcement on to the main Uni website, probably hoping hardly anybody could react before the end of the working day:
‘Course provision in the Faculty of Business and Social Sciences and Kingston School of Art – outcome to consultations announced’.
The statement continued: ‘Following careful consideration of the feedback and alternative proposals received from staff, students, trade union and employee representatives and external stakeholders’ (oh yeah?), the VC and his gang of Mafia Dons had ‘taken the decision to proceed with the changes proposed in both the Faculty of Business and Social Sciences and Kingston School of Art’. There was no expression of regret or even the slightest apology for what the VC is about to do.
A summary was then given, confirming that the same proposed cuts presented before the so-called ’30-day consultation’ were now being implemented, carrying on regardless of any meaningful alternatives put forward by staff:
Faculty of Business and Social Sciences:
The Vice-Commandant confirmed that the Uni is closing ‘five low-recruiting courses’ within the Department of Criminology, Politics and Sociology. They include:
- BSc (Hons) Criminology and Sociology
- BSc (Hons) Sociology
- BSc (Hons) Criminal Justice
- Variants of these undergraduate programmes
- MSc International Relations
- MA Criminology.
Kingston School of Art:
In KSA, again completely ignoring any alternatives proposed by staff, it was also confirmed that, ‘After careful reflection’ (oh yeah? Pull the other one), the VC and his empty-headed SLT had concluded that:
- Creative Writing programmes will relocate to the Department of Critical and Historical Studies
- All undergraduate and postgraduate provision in Philosophy and English will close
- English for Academic and Professional Development (EAPD) skills provision will transfer to the Department of Journalism, Publishing and Media
- The University will no longer offer Kingston Language Scheme short courses for students, staff or members of the wider community
- The Foundation Year Humanities programme will close.
To add insult to injury, it was then stated: ‘While these decisions will result in the closure of the Department of Humanities, the Faculty’s academic community of theoreticians, historians and writers from a broad range of research interests and disciplines will continue to teach Humanities subject areas across Kingston School of Art’.
The phrase ‘academic community of theoreticians, historians and writers’ caused particular hilarity among the KSA staff who read this: what planet is KSA’s Dean Mandy Ooer living on? It completely ignores cuts that have already been made in KSA in recent years, and where will these ‘theoreticians’ and ‘writers’ come from if most of them have been sacked? But what made staff especially angry is the announcement Dean Ooer had made just a few days previously: like a criminal running away from the scene of the crime, she had announced that she will be stepping down as KSA Dean and Pro-VC in September.
She had even said said (no, we kid you not!): ‘I am extremely grateful for everyone’s continued commitment and support as this important work to reposition Kingston School of Art for future success progresses’. Reposition? Talk about rats jumping the sinking ship. Goodbye, then Mandy – and thanks for nothing.
Then, rolling out yet another paragraph of misery and BS, the next bit of the Uni’s general announcement was headed:
‘Rationale’.
In a classic piece of BS that the VC clearly thinks sounds nice and ‘business-like’, it was claimed: ‘Withdrawing from courses where demand has reduced over several years will enable us to invest our resources in areas with strong potential for growth – offering a demand-led course portfolio that reflects the rapidly evolving needs of students and employers’. What was not said, of course, is that the reason why the Uni got itself into this mess in the first place is because of the piss-poor managerial strategy and decisions taken by ‘Gold Commandant’ Spier since he became VC, combined with his ego-driven obsession to spend millions on yet another huge vanity project, this time located at Middle Mill.
Then came a crunch line, which said it all really: ‘As a result of the decisions within each Faculty, there will be a need to reduce staffing numbers required to deliver provision. We have written to colleagues in both Departments to let them know the consultation outcomes and to provide an update to those who had applied for voluntary severance schemes that were opened during the consultation process. Initial indications are that, if these applications progress as planned, we will be able to mitigate the need to move into a selection process for remaining roles’.
So there you have it in a nutshell (a very nutty shell): ‘there will be a need to reduce staffing numbers required to deliver provision’. Yes, as his critics suspected all along, and as the VC denied was the case in January, 2025, and as Dissenter has been warning for ages now, the reality of Spier’s ludicrous ambitions is that many hard-working staff will be sacrificed on the altar of Spiersy’s financial incompetence and giant ego (with its ‘big building plans’ obsession). Let’s face it. Our crappy VC wants to turn the Uni into a glorified sub-standard technical college, housed in giant buildings designed by his sycophantic architect mates, and staffed with a miniscule workforce.
Careers are being destroyed and livelihoods wrecked, course provision is being radically shrunk into a bland and thin menu with little module choice, and teaching staff will gradually be replaced by outside agency workers, all employed on the equivalent of zero-hours temporary contracts. The only real permanent staff will be the small elite of overpaid arse-lickers surrounding Spiersy at managerial level, all on good incomes.
The cuts will not stop now, however. In 2025-26, Spier and his gang will turn their grubby little hands to further ‘rationalisation’ (Spiersy’s favourite word at the moment), and other Faculties will also be targeted for staff cuts and course shrinkage or loss. Be warned. The Axeman has not finished yet.
And the ultimate aim of all this, via the so-called ‘Future Skills’ training Spier is foisting on all KU courses, is to create a pliant pool of eager graduates that big companies can cherry-pick from, but pay them very little, the philosophy of CEOs being ‘just be grateful for what you can get’.
This is Spiersy’s nasty little vision. It is what turns him on. It is straignh out of his paper of choice, the Daily Telegraph. But what a disgrace he truly is. And Kingston can now no longer be called a ‘University’ in any serious sense.