A no confidence vote, courses in the firing line, and “gaming” the rankings

Things go from bad to worse at the University of Sheffield

Good afternoon, readers — and welcome to today’s Tribune.

Last week, the already tense relationship between the University of Sheffield’s management and its staff deteriorated even further. A group of 944 staff and postgraduate researchers took part in a vote organised by various trade unions, in which 93.3% indicated they had “no confidence” in the university’s executive board. (The university is keen to have it known that it employs around 9,000 people, making this a “small proportion” of its overall workforce.)

But among the hundreds of staff that did vote, a union spokesperson claims the result “reflects widespread frustration” at “damaging leadership decisions and financial mismanagement”.

It’s been over a year since The Tribune last reported on goings on within the city’s largest university, back when a bizarre restructure was announced — the latest in a long list of reshuffles since Vice Chancellor Koen Lamberts joined in 2018. At the time, some suggested the widespread mergers were a way of eventually cutting departments on the sly. We’ve now seen evidence that appears to add weight to this theory.

Editor’s note: As with much of our best investigative reporting, we’ve kept most of the important details behind a paywall. That’s because we need financial support to be able to spend proper time on this kind of work. We’re powered by a small army of committed Sheffielders — join them today.

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🎭 If you love theatre and the work of Tribune freelancer Holly Williams — who most recently had a go at roller derby on our behalf — then you’ll be pleased to hear she’s involved in an exciting new project. Two years ago, online theatre review magazine Exeunt sadly shut up shop and Holly is now part of a small team bringing it back to life. If you like the idea of receiving “in-depth, inventive, fierce and playful writing about theatre,” you can sign up here.

🏥 A local teenager who spent months at Sheffield Children’s Hospital being treated for a bizarre chronic disease that left her unable to eat or drink normally was being made ill by her own mother, a judge has ruled. The Family Court judgement, only recently made public, considered the cases of three women suspected of fabricating their child’s illness by staff at the hospital, although the other two were exonerated by the court. The girl, now 15, was repeatedly given unprescribed medication by her mother but, since being placed in the care of her father and grandparents, is now in much better health. 

🚊 A small but determined group of local residents are petitioning the council to form an elite team to represent the city in one of the world’s most hotly-fought competitions: the European Tram Driver Championship. The tournament, which includes events like “tram bowling”, was created in 2012 and only saw three UK teams — Edinburgh, Manchester and Birmingham — take part this year. So far, less than 50 people have supported this worthy cause but you have until the 1st December to add your voice to the chorus. 

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No confidence votes, courses in the firing line, and “gaming” the rankings

By Victoria Munro

While morale at the university has reportedly been in a downward spiral since last Christmas — when the first alarm bells sounded about a drop in student numbers this year — things finally came to a head last week. Vice-chancellor Koen Lamberts revealed the university aims to slash £23million in staffing costs by the end of next academic year — triggering a “no confidence” vote from hundreds of his own staff.

“That caught people a bit by surprise,” one academic says. “People were not anticipating redundancies this year.” Another suggests that “back of the envelope calculations” suggest this sum could represent up to 500 job losses. Earlier this week, an email seen by The Tribune indicated which departments are first in the firing line. We’ve also seen e-mails encouraging academics to use contacts to push the university up the rankings, and have spoken to angered staff who believe Lamberts should now consider his position.