KCL Incident

Dear Professor Palmowski,

We the undersigned are writing to you to express our shock at recent events at
King’s College. We are concerned with the drastic plans for the reorganization
of Humanities with a large number of redundancies. And in particular, we are
concerned at the news relating to our own disciplines: that Prof Shalom Lappin
and Dr Wilfried Meyer-Viol are to face compulsory redundancy as of autumn
2010, and that Prof Charles Travis is to be forced into retirement contrary to
the contract on which he was hired in 2005.

As we understand the situation, Professor Lappin was informed earlier this
week of compulsory redundancy on the basis of KCL ‘divesting itself of
computational linguistics’. This is despite the fact that as recently as July
2009 you yourself assured him that neither he nor the Department at large was
being targeted for redundancies. We understand that there is no department of
computational linguistics to be shut down, and that Prof Lappin and Dr
Meyer-Viol are full and integral members of the Philosophy Department. We also
understand that contrary to contractual agreements about post-retirement age
employment, you have sought to force Prof Travis into retirement without
conducting the performance review contractually specified, or giving any
grounds for forcing the retirement. We understand that these specific cases
are part of a larger pattern of reorganization of Humanities at King’s, where
you seek to make 22 academics redundant, and have put all academic staff on
notice of potential redundancy.

The King’s Philosophy Department is internationally recognized as excellent,
both in research and teaching undergraduate and graduate students. The RAE
2008 confirmed the excellence of this Department. The three members of the
Department that you have sought summarily to dismiss are all key elements of
the persisting success and excellence of the Department, and the recognition
of the excellence of King’s as a whole.

We find it amazing that King’s should seek to risk its research excellence by
summarily dismissing senior staff in this way. We are concerned not only with
the scant regard of academic norms in maintaining a university with any
international standing, but also with the reckless manner in which you have
sought to deal with individuals and their careers, seemingly without regard
for proper procedure; or due concern for individual welfare.

The reorganization of the Humanities School, developed without consultation of
the academics affected, seems wilfully to ignore the intellectual strengths
and organization of the disciplines within the school. Such a savage reduction
of staff numbers through compulsory redundancy removes any appearance of job
security for academics at King’s. The best candidates in the humanities will
shun the institution; and those of strong standing now in post will all seek
to leave. The reorganization will succeed in the aim of making a once great
institution manifestly mediocre.

Universities may act on occasion in ways contrary to the general good, or
against the core academic purposes of such institutions. They do so only
through the decisions and acts of particular individuals. We are in no doubt
that in so callously treating Prof Lappin, Dr Meyer-Viol, and Prof Travis you
have shown yourself individually responsible for this dreadful state of
affairs.

We protest strongly at KCL’s action, and at your part in it. We reiterate our
admiration for the King’s Humanities School in general, for the Philosophy
Department in particular, and for the three individuals that you have treated
so shabbily. We urge you to reconsider your actions and to reinstate all three
in the Philosophy Department and we urge you to reconsider your plans for the
reorganization of the Humanities School.

UCL Dept of Philosophy Dr Nadine Elzein, Prof Sebastian Gardner, Prof Marcus
Giaquinto, Prof Mark Eli Kalderon, Dr Fiona Leigh, Dr Rory Madden, Prof
Michael Martin, Prof Véronique Munoz-Dardé, Dr Lucy O’Brien, Prof Michael
Otsuka, Prof Christopher Peacocke, FBA, Dr Sarah Richmond, Prof Paul Snowdon,
Dr Tom Stern, Prof Jonathan Wolff, Dr José Zalabardo, Dr Arnold Zuboff

UCL Division of Psychology & Language Sciences Dr Klaus Abels, Dr Richard
Breheny, Prof Robyn Carston, Prof Nick Chater, Dr Nathan Klinedinst, Dr Hans
van der Koot, Prof Ad Neeleman, Dr Nausicaa Pouscoulous, Prof Deirdre Wilson,
FBA

SOAS Dept of the Cultures and Languages of Near and Middle East Prof Colin
Shindler

Institute of Education Dept of Psychology and Human Development Dr Matthew
Saxton

University of Manchester School of Social Science Eve Garrard