Cut Vice-Chancellor Pay Not Staff Jobs

We call for the student body to be given the opportunity to vote on the following statement:

There must be a halt to the proposed staff cuts until a full student consultation has taken place, with a transparent review of alternative savings completed, first identifying the savings which can be made from the Vice-Chancellor’s £424,000 annual pay which must now be revised to reflect the financial challenges faced by the rest of the university community.

The University of Southampton is entering a period of restructuring, with a reported 50 to 75 staff posts at risk from across six departments. As students, we value the work of university staff and the quality of our education. A student consultation is therefore urgently required in order to assess the inevitable impact that the proposed staff cuts will have upon the quality of education received by students.

The proposed restructuring comes in the context of financial pressures for both staff and students; many staff have experienced a pay cap since 2010, whilst students and young graduates now face unprecedented levels of debt following the trebling of tuition fees in 2012. The Vice Chancellor’s pay rose to £424,000 in 2016-17, representing a 53% increase since 2012. We believe that this level of pay, in the context of staff job cuts and high student fees, is corrosive and counter to the interests and values of our university community, and does not reflect leadership to either staff or students. The first savings in the restructuring should therefore come from the pay of the Vice-Chancellor.

 - Caspar Donnison, Ben Seifert and Filippo Carrozzo