Sus­pen­ti­on of Ian Par­ker

Update:

Ian’s uni­on repre­sen­ta­ti­ves at MMU know that public pres­su­re is a real help, but that he must not actively dis­o­bey the ins­truc­tion to keep the disci­pli­na­ry pro­cess ‘pri­va­te and con­fi­den­ti­al’ as the uni­ver­si­ty demand while the inves­ti­ga­ti­on takes place. Apart from the peti­ti­on at http://chn.ge/Q3IV1R , the Times Hig­her Edu­ca­ti­on Sup­ple­ment in the UK has picked up the sto­ry (http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=421442&c=1), and mes­sa­ges of pro­test are being sent to the Vice-Chan­cell­or John Brooks (john.brooks@mmu.ac.uk) and the Head of the Depart­ment of Psy­cho­lo­gy Chris­ti­ne Hor­rocks (c.horrocks@mmu.ac.uk). The­se mes­sa­ges are being copied as mes­sa­ges of soli­da­ri­ty to the MMU UCU chair Pura Ari­za (p.ariza@mmu.ac.uk) and vice-chair Chris­ti­ne Vié (c.vie@mmu.ac.uk). It is impe­ra­ti­ve, at the same time, to step up sup­port for Chris­ti­ne Vié who has been tar­ge­ted for red­un­dan­cy at MMU (http://www.manchestertuc.org/solidarity/414-christine-vie-victimisation-at-mmu.html).

Dea­rest fri­ends, some­thing incre­di­bly sho­cking has hap­pen­ed. Ian Par­ker has been sus­pen­ded from Man­ches­ter Metro­po­li­tan Uni­ver­si­ty. It has hap­pen­ed sud­den­ly and unex­pec­ted­ly, and stu­dents and staff at the Uni­ver­si­ty have been given litt­le to no expl­ana­ti­on as to why.

Ian was sus­pen­ded from work after having been unable to arran­ge, with bare­ly 18 hours noti­ce, for a uni­on offi­ci­al to come with him to hear a char­ge that the uni­ver­si­ty said amoun­ted to ‘gross pro­fes­sio­nal mis­con­duct’. What this seems to mean is that Ian rai­sed con­cerns within the Uni­ver­si­ty about the pro­blem of sec­re­cy and con­trol in the depart­ment in which he works, and was sus­pen­ded for doing so. Ian has had to lea­ve his office and key, been told not to cont­act Uni­ver­si­ty staff and stu­dents, and his access to his email has been sus­pen­ded. For his stu­dents Ian has sim­ply ‚dis­ap­peared’ over­night, and while he is keen to con­ti­nue super­vi­sing and tea­ching, he is not allo­wed to.

I could never ful­ly express what effect Ian’s sud­den, sho­cking and com­ple­te­ly unju­s­ti­fied sus­pen­si­on might mean for stu­dents at MMU and for the wider inter­na­tio­nal aca­de­mic com­mu­ni­ty. Ian’s sus­pen­si­on is hap­pe­ning against a wider back­drop in the UK whe­re while uni­ver­si­ties are now char­ging stu­dents £9000 a year (and much more for inter­na­tio­nal stu­dents), they are also cut­ting essen­ti­al resour­ces, often mea­ning staff have to work har­der and com­plain less. This means that tho­se staff who defend Uni­ver­si­ty as a space for open and demo­cra­tic deli­be­ra­ti­on are often put under pres­su­re to remain silent. In fact ano­ther mem­ber of staff at MMU (and ano­ther mem­ber of the Uni­ver­si­ty and Col­lege Uni­on- the UCU), Chris­ti­ne Vié, is also being vic­ti­mi­sed, and has been made com­pul­so­ri­ly red­un­dant (and the­re is an ongo­ing cam­paign to defend her).

We are in shock, but only if we speak open­ly tog­e­ther will we be in a posi­ti­on to chall­enge and chan­ge what is hap­pe­ning to all of us. Open­ness and demo­cra­tic deba­te are the hall­marks of good edu­ca­ti­on. Yet sec­re­cy and silen­cing are key issues here. Ian has been silen­ced but his work con­ti­nues to speak. Yes­ter­day I loo­ked at the prin­ci­ple aims of ‘Psy­cho­lo­gy, Poli­tics, Resis­tance’, which Ian hel­ped to set up in 1994 as a net­work of peo­p­le who were pre­pared to oppo­se the abu­si­ve uses and oppres­si­ve con­se­quen­ces of psy­cho­lo­gy, to sup­port indi­vi­du­als to chall­enge explo­ita­ti­on, to deve­lop a coll­ec­ti­ve acti­ve oppo­si­ti­on to oppres­si­on, and to make this a key ele­ment in the edu­ca­ti­on of all psy­cho­lo­gists. So, let’s act tog­e­ther, and fol­low Ian’s exam­p­le, and speak out – tell as many peo­p­le as we can, and come tog­e­ther coll­ec­tively as an inter­na­tio­nal cri­ti­cal com­mu­ni­ty to call upon the manage­ment of MMU to come to a reso­lu­ti­on of this pro­blem and to rein­sta­te Ian.

Mes­sa­ges of pro­test can be sent to the Vice-Chan­cell­or John Brooks (j.brooks@mmu.ac.uk) and the Head of the Depart­ment of Psy­cho­lo­gy Chris­ti­ne Hor­rocks (c.horrocks@mmu.ac.uk). The­se mes­sa­ges can be copied as mes­sa­ges of soli­da­ri­ty to the MMU UCU chair Pura Ari­za (p.ariza@mmu.ac.uk) and it is impe­ra­ti­ve that, at the same time, sup­port should be step­ped up to sup­port Chris­ti­ne Vié (c.vie@mmu.ac.uk).

The post­gra­dua­te stu­dents at MMU are sen­ding a let­ter to the Vice Chan­cell­or, and the­re will be fly­ers and pos­ters put up on cam­pus, and call outs in lec­tures all next week. Plea­se do send let­ters and emails, and tell as many peo­p­le as you can.

We will keep you pos­ted about fur­ther action, and do let us know if you have any ide­as for how we can fight this tog­e­ther (becau­se we can fight this tog­e­ther). Plea­se feel free to email me china.t.mills@gmail.com.

In soli­da­ri­ty,
Chi­na Mills (along­side many of the stu­dents at MMU)