To Debra Humphris and the Senior Management and Governors of the University of Brighton,
We write as Co-Directors of the Sussex Centre for Human Rights Research 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 Sussex Centre for Human Rights Research have collectively and individually worked closely with colleagues from Brighton’s School of Business and Law and School of Humanities and Social Science, including in the Minority Rights Solidarity Network.
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 human rights community.
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,
Co-Directors of the Sussex Centre for Human Rights Research, School of Law, Politics and Sociology, University of Sussex
Dr Stephanie Berry
Dr Matthew Evans