Leeds University staff voted in favour of the motion of no confidence in David Willetts at the bi-monthly senate meeting on Wednesday 6th July, becoming the first English university to condemn the White Paper.
The decision follows that of Oxford’s parliament on the 7th June, where 283 academics voted for and only 5 against the motion of no confidence in Willetts.
Despite many senate members abstaining from the vote, the critics of the Universities Minister gained a narrow majority, allowing the academic governing body to pass the motion entitled “The University of Leeds has no confidence in the policies of the Minister for Universities and Science. Senate urges the University Secretary and Council to convey this message to Government.”
Mark Sewards, Leeds University Union communications officer, stated that “There were many abstentions and even those who voted against the motion said they were unhappy about what was happening. They were just concerned if it was the right time and place to pass a motion.”
Sewards, with other officers of the Union, described Willett’s proposed policy as “an outright attack on fair access to university for all”, one which “will further serve to perpetuate inequality in society”.
Significantly, the “managerial” structure of Leeds University has not prevented the condemnation of Willetts and the White Paper, a structure closer to other UK universities than to the governance structures in Oxford and Cambridge.
David Barclay, OUSU President and founder of the No Confidence Campaign, hailed the move as “a huge step forward in the fightback against the Government’s disastrous plans for Universities.”
‘This brave decision by Leeds is the first of what will be a long line of blows to the Government’s vapid and dangerous White Paper. Students do not want to be consumers, and academics do not want to see the Universities they love condemned to underfunding and the whims of the market.’
Malcolm Povey, President of the Leeds branch of the UCU, which supported the University’s decision by unanimously passing a motion of no confidence in Willetts, stated that “it is fair to say that the motion was inspired by the Oxford Motion of No Confidence”.
The Oxford parliament’s vote has led to a domino effect amidst other HE institutions, as more and more universities take action against the government proposals.
150 Cambridge academics signed a motion of no confidence in David Willetts this month, whilst over 700 academics and students at the University of Warwick have signed a petition conveying the same message.
