To Debra Humphris and the Senior Management and Governors of the University of Brighton,
We write as the management committee of the Sussex Centre for Advanced International Theory (CAIT) at the University of Sussex. We are shocked and saddened to learn of the mass redundancies recently announced at the University of Brighton. Humanities and social sciences research culture at Sussex depends on our rich and long-standing connections with colleagues and students at Brighton.
Members of the CAIT have collectively and individually worked closely with colleagues from Brighton’s School of Humanities & Social Sciences, including the Politics, Policy and Discourse Studies Subject Group (PDS), and the Centre for Applied Politics, Philosophy & Ethics (CAPPE).
We are continually humbled and impressed by the brilliance and hard work of Brighton staff across these areas, not only in terms of their contributions to research culture but also their commitment to students and their deep and longstanding engagement with the broader political struggles of Brighton.
We have no doubt that other staff facing redundancy are equally talented and committed. Please reconsider this grave mistake and reinvest in the people whose shoulders you stand on. Until you do so, staff at Brighton will have our full support in fighting to stay where they belong.
Yours sincerely,
Dr. Kamran Matin, Professor Beate Jahn, Professor Benno Teschke, Dr. Linda Tabar, Dr. Louise Wise, Dr. Melanie Richter-Montpetit, Dr. Faiz Sheikh, Mr. Sam Parris, Ms. Zizhu Wang
Management committee of the Centre for Advanced International Theory, School of Global Studies, University of Sussex