“The current plans for Goldsmiths could signal the end of democratic education in the U.K.”

Christopher Connery, Chair, History of Consciousness Department, Professor, World Literature and Cultural Studies, UC Santa Cruz, USA

“Another example where core teaching and administrative staff pay for bad management. We need change.”

Professor Steve Edwards, Birkbeck, London, UK

“I am very concerned that the targets for these ‘cuts’ appear to be sources of social and historical accounting that are very different to the “history” being championed by the UK Government and the UK Conservative party. It is essential at this time that critical scholarship is encouraged and supported and Universities have a key role in this.”

Malcolm Cowburn, Professor Emeritus of Applied Social Social Science, Sheffield Hallam University, UK

“Beyond appalling. Solidarity with all impacted.”

JJo Grady, UK, UK,

“Please halt the restructuring, and work with staff to fine more sustainable and effective solutions!”

T. J. Demos, Professor, University of California, Santa Cruz, USA

“There could not be a more important time to have critical thinking in these areas that are under threat – the research and teaching at Goldsmiths plays an invaluable part in this.”

Dr Paula Hearsum – University of Brighton

“Goldsmiths has a unique identity and a deserved reputation for passionate, compassionate, inclusive, innovative, and publically engaged research and teaching. These proposals threaten to wreck much of this in one fell centralising swoop.”

Professor Simon Palfrey, University of Oxford

“This is one more blow to UK higher education in the humanities and one more sign that a university degree is not equally accessible to students of all backgrounds.”

Professor Bonnie Effros, Chaddock Chair of Social and Economic History, University of Liverpool

“Goldsmiths’ Creative Writing Team, and the way the Creative Writing Department fulfils the social and ethical as well as artistic and pedagogical responsibilities that go with creative writing, have become recognised as a gold standard, and a force for good, across the world. It would be grotesque as well as tragic to see its excellence diminished and betrayed.”

Professor Ruth Padel, Professor of Poetry at King’s College London

“Goldsmiths’ administration and their outsourced corporate consultants seem to think the world would be better if we neither knew Black and queer history nor were able to write about it. What whitewashed, straightened version of history do they want to revive?”

Dr. Melissa M. Wilcox, Holstein Family and Community Chair of Religious Studies, University of California, Riverside

“It is a very short-sighted strategy to make cuts to the humanities, when these areas are exactly what we most need in a period of crisis and rapid change.”

Graham Henderson, CEO of the Rimbaud and Verlaine Foundation

“The proposal of the Warden embraces fashion over foundation, superficiality over substance, and disingenuousness over depth. In any context this is disturbing; as the brazen dismantling of reputed departments in higher education it is simply shameless. We must stand in support of student aspirations and the education they deserve.”

Dr Ravi Vaidyanathan, Reader, Imperial College London, London, UK

“I could not have worked effectively professionally without collaborating with English academics at Goldsmiths now being served with redundancy notices.”

Professor Paul Hamilton

“I am horrified by Goldsmiths’ treatment of first-rate Humanities scholars who have done so much to enrich intellectual life in the UK and beyond.”

Professor Barbara Taylor Schools of History and English&Drama, Queen Mary University of London

“I received my MA in Creative and Life Writing from Goldsmiths. I have just finished my novel. I loved that course, the tutors, the evening lectures, etc. The emphasis was on joy and beauty of writing and reading. It was wonderfully non-vocational.”

Nicola Brittain, Writer, UK

“An indispensable resource for teaching and research, producing outstanding scholars and highly respected in the international academic community.”

Full Professor, Jody Berland, York University, Toronto, Canada

“This attack demonstrates an utter disregard for the crucial legacy of an institution that is a one of the world’s reference point for creative and critical thinking. Students and academics should collectively decide the direction of a university like Goldsmiths, not clueless and ignorant bureaucrats.”

Professor Benedetta Brevini, University of Sydney

“Solidarity to my colleagues at Goldsmiths who have been working against the odds to build programmes that afford students and wider communities the opportunity to critically engage the histories, literatures and cultures of people of various African heritage. These programmes have created space for important dialogues and relationships, opened doors to a new generation of scholars, and advanced multidisciplinary research agendas on the African diaspora experience. We value you and your work – and you deserve RESPECT not redundancy.”

Dr Kerry Pimblott, Lecturer in International History, University of Manchester

“The strategy being pursued by senior management at Goldsmiths is deplorable. It shows contempt for the humanities and threatens the livelihoods of a wonderful community of scholars. The planned redundancies should be reversed immediately.”

Dr Daniel Scroop, Director, Hook Centre for American Studies, University of Glasgow

“Goldsmiths has a strong tradition of promoting the study of marginalised groups and individuals, exactly the kinds of initatives that demonstrate the relevance of degrees in humanities to promoting a more just and equal society. I hope that the current staff are able to continue this important work and offer my full support to their campaign.”

Dr Tim Reinke-Williams, Senior Lecturer in History, University of Northampton

“Goldsmiths has an international reputation for excellence in cutting edge humanities research which is actively being undercut by management.”

Alistair Welchman, Professor of Philosophy, University of Texas at San Antonio

“Following the staff cuts at SOAS last year, I can only caution the managements of any other London University colleges not to commit the same error. We are living with the consequences….”

Dr Lars Peter Laaman

“Goldsmiths is an international beacon that deserves to be encouraged and fully funded. Enough with this obtuse, crass application of shaky aziendalisation dogmas to academia.”

Professor Rocco Coronato – Head of the University of Padua PhD in Linguistic, Philological and Literary Sciences, ITALY

“These redundancies would be a slap in the face for the entire local community.”

Mx Laura Shobiye – Doctoral Researcher – Cardiff University – UK

“We need inter-institutional, inter-disciplinary academic solidarity. That Goldsmiths has put academic staff in Black British history and literature at risk of redundancy during Black History Month is particularly painful and damaging not just to higher education as a sector but to society as a whole. Regardless of institution or discipline we should all defend the importance of specific fields, even if they are not ours directly. Solidarity and support.”

Dr Ernesto Priego

“A university ceases to exist without the Humanities; if you don’t understand, you need to study some History.”

Professor James Renton, Co-Dir. International Centre on Racism, Edge Hill University, UK

“Goldsmiths is one of the leading institutions for creative work in Europe. This is a short-sighted attack at a time when we need more art not less and one that will backfire on the reputation of Goldsmiths as a progressive college.”

Professor John Downey, Loughboorugh University and President of the European Communication Research Research and Education Association

“Outrageous and deplorable.”

Ella Sbaraini, PhD student, University of Cambridge

“It is absolutely heartbreaking to see the Goldsmiths administration’s thoughtless and autocratic cost cutting policies. This is a gross disservice to the mammoth contributions to critical and creative scholarship that academics at Goldsmiths are making.”

Raghavi Viswanath, PhD researcher, European University Institute

“The Department of English & Creative Writing at Goldsmiths has long had a reputation for research excellence. Its Writers’ Centre has attracted important speakers such as Bernadine Evaristo, and its Decadence Research Centre is a major international and interdisciplinary hub of innovative scholarship in this transhistorical field. Most importantly, Goldsmiths scholars make a vital contribution to the local community, offering access to the cultural empathy the Arts and Humanities provide at a time when they are most sorely needed.”

Patricia Pulham, Professor of Victorian Literature, University of Surrey

“Damage to the substance and reputation of UK Higher Education by these developments is palpable and deeply distressing.”

Professor David Garcia, Bournemouth University

“The integrity of Goldsmiths & UK higher education is at risk – we cannot sit idly by as the integral work of the university, its immense teaching & administrative staff are threatened and decimated.”

Dr Rishita Nandagiri, LSE Fellow, London School of Economics & Political Science

“The widespread tendency to ‘restructure’ institutions by expelling academics and professional services staff, while diverting much needed resources to consultants from the private sector, is undermining the whole purpose of universities, and of public education in general. We are still in the midst of an uncontrolled pandemic, and the very people who kept these HEIs on an even keel, are now deemed surplus to requirements. Executives need to re-visit this type of initiative before the sector suffers irreparable damage.”

Stuart Price, Professor of Media and Political Discourse, De Montfort University, UK

“The plans are disgraceful.”

Pat Thane, Emeritus Professor of History University of London, Visiting Professor Birkbeck College, Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Reader Goldsmiths 1967-1994.

“Goldsmiths is a very special, endangered place for the critical humanities. One day, people may come to recognise a distinctive “Goldsmiths School” style of applied critical theory and cultural studies, a shared sense of affinities and mood, an interest in exploring and narrating the affects and psychological landscapes of neoliberal capitalism, a nous about “management”, an antagonistic politics committed to radical democracy and the working class reclamation of the city, and an interest in stylistic experimentation that links a range of some of the most interesting thinkers of the last few years. This School has always been interdisciplinary – taking and stealing from the fields of philosophy, cultural studies, sociology, fine art, urban studies, politics, visual cultures, music and literature. This School is not located in any one department, and some of its best adherents may have only had fleeting liaisons with Lewisham Way. But once these vital critical spaces are lost, they’re very difficult and time-building to rebuild. So solidarity to colleagues facing heartbreaking redundancies, with all the financial and personal consequences they entail.”

Dr Dan Taylor, The Open University

“The loss of the cultural & intellectual resource & reputation built up in the vital area of understanding & representing LGBT+ History is immense. There is so little of this work being done, it’s tragic that closure is threatened. We’re all so much poorer for it.”

Trevor Diamond

“An unconscionable attack on higher education by the managerial class.”

Sadia Abbas, Associate Professor, Rutgers University

“I believe passionately in the need for diversity in History education and scholarship. The closure of Black History studies would be a disastrous blow to the Humanities.”

Dr Rick Jones, Retired Senior Lecturer in Classical Archaeology, University of Leeds

“As alumni and former staff, we are appalled by what Goldsmiths is doing and what this bodes for our sector. There can be no academic freedom under such conditions.”

Dr. Pil and Dr. Galia Kollectiv, Lecturers in Art, University of Reading

“The centers in question do extremely valuable work. The Centre for Queer History is unique in the entire UK as a centre for excellence in the research and teaching of queer history, comparable to many such programs in the US; to axe it would be to do a disservice to a valuable and growing field of legitimate historical enquiry.”

Professor Chris Waters – Hans W. Gatzke ’38 Professor of Modern European History – Williams College (Massachusetts, USA)

“These are issues to at affect, or might well affect, all of us who recognise the importance of specialist education; and I say this as an interdisciplinary scholar.”

Professor Penny Florence, Professor Emerita, The Slade School of Fine Art, UCL

“I learned more during my 7 years as a colleague in the English department than in the rest of my adult life. This is such a myopic and retrograde decision, a folly that will decimate Goldsmiths’ reputation across the world.”

Professor Philip McGowan, President of the European Associaiton for American Studies, Queen’s University Belfast

“I’m really shocked by this wilful act of self-destruction, which will surely damage the international reputation of Goldsmiths, and have a serious impact on its ability to attract the calibre of students it wants and needs.”

Christina Patterson, Writer and broadcaster

“This is an assault on a distinguished department of English and Creative Writing and part of a wider and shortsighted agenda which seeks to downsize the humanities when they have never been more needed.”

Clare Hanson, Emeritus Professor of English, University of Southampton

“This institution cannot pride itself for being inclusive and diverse when in closed doors it disenfranchises its Black staff, its queer staff, its specialist staff. Goldsmith must understand its roll in the South East London area, of how it continues to be complicit in the theft of resources for Black and Brown people. It must understand its responsibility to said community. These measure will not only affect the staff who will be made unemployed but it will rob so many students from accessing crucial knowledge about themselves and the world.”

Nelli Ospino – blkmoodyboi – Artist, UK

“The colleagues from the Departement of English and Comparative Literature are the best Britain has to offer to world: openness, curiosity, diversity, an attitude to consider everything from all different angles.”

Prof. Dr. Jan Röhnert, TU Braunschweig, Germany

“Shocked by news of these cuts. Devastating to the future of higher education in UK.”

Deborah Goldgaber, Philosophy, LSU

“The misguided ‘strategy’ at Goldsmiths is a sad indictment of a university management culture that cares little for either education or research. This is about squeezing money out of students’ education, and nothing more.”

Dr Ben Anderson, Senior Lecturer in Environmental History, Keele University

“Appalling to see such a treasured institution treated so recklessly by its senior management and consultants. This is not just about saving livelihoods – applying market logic to higher education is destined to fail by its own measures. You can’t sustain let alone grow your student base by cutting staff and you can’t cut pedagogical corners before students start to realise they’ve been short changed.”

Dr Justin Schlosberg, Reader in Journalism and Media, Birkbeck College, University of London

“No one is safe until we are all safe.”

Karen Ross, Professor of Gender and Media, Newcastle University

“The news from Goldsmiths continues to shock me (although it probably shouldn’t by now). I stand with my amazing colleagues at the university who have done so much to lead and inspire critical thinking across the academy. We cannot afford to lose this, now more than ever.”

Dr Alex Taylor, Reader in Human-Computer Interaction, City, University of London

“My own work has benefited from the innovative research produced by colleagues at Goldsmiths over many years. As a colleague working outside the UK, I deplore the continuing assault on the Humanities across the world, and add my support for and solidarity with my colleagues at Goldsmiths in their struggle for their jobs, careers, research and teaching, and for the future of our vocation.”

Associate Professor Bruce Buchan, Griffith University

“Solidarity to my colleagues at Goldsmiths who have been working against the odds to build programmes that afford students and wider communities the opportunity to critically engage the histories, literatures and cultures of people of various African heritage. These programmes have created space for important dialogues and relationships, opened doors to a new generation of scholars, and advanced multidisciplinary research agendas on the African diaspora experience. We value you and your work – and you deserve RESPECT not redundancy.”

Dr Kerry Pimblott, Lecturer in International History, University of Manchester

“These anti-intellectual cuts will be a terrible loss to critical scholarship and undermine the unique contribution Goldsmiths makes to our society.”

Dr Max Morris, Lecturer in Criminology, Kingston University London

“Goldsmiths is a unique and irreplaceable centre of excellence for the humanities. It is also a beacon of inclusivity. To damage this would be an immeasurable loss.”

William Whyte, Professor of Social and Architectural History, University of Oxford

“This is vandalism. The Warden and SMT should be ashamed of the callousness with which they are treating the people and studies that make Goldsmiths the unique institution it is.”

Dr Nell Stevens, Assistant Professor in Creative Writing, University of Warwick

“Manage universities with the values that guide academics to do their research and to teach, not with free-market values and priorities.”

Dr.ir. Deger Ozkaramanli – Assistant Professor in Human-Centred Design – University of Twente

“As a researcher in English literature, and someone who believes in the importance of the Humanities, I am signing in solidarity.”

Dr Sophie Franklin, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Tübingen, Germany

“I have wonderful colleagues at Goldsmiths whose work I respect. Everyone loses with decisions to deem scholars and their contributions redundant. These decisions are only compounding the effects of Brexit, the pandemic and the government cuts. Who will teach your children and what will they be learning in the UK of the future?”

Aida A. Hozic, Associate Professor of International Relations, University of Florida

“I’m very sad and distressed to learn of the planned cuts at Goldsmiths, and of the planned centralisation of departmental support staff especially. These staff are more than just good people; they are the lifeblood and source of community in Goldsmiths’ departments. They are vital to positive student experience – in my case, they were the first people to celebrate my viva with me. The same is true from PhD to undergraduate level. From experience of several other larger institutions, I would also suggest that anyone who proposes to increase efficiency by centralising administrative functions probably doesn’t fully understand university bureaucracy.”

Dr Stephen H. Jones, Lecturer, University of Birmingham

“I live in the borough of Lewisham and was once on the Congregation (governing body) of Goldsmiths. I often visit for DecadentStudies events. I have seen how Goldsmiths has developed immeasurably over the years and I am appalled at this retrograde step.”

Jad Adams, Research Fellow, Institute of English, School of Advanced Study, UoL

“Academia is becoming more and more precarious, which has a knock-on effect on staff and students. Cuts are not the way forward, and are a myopic measure that will affect the university in the long term. A university is not a business, it is an educational institution that must be cherished.”

Dr Mathew Rickard – maître de langue – Université de Picardie Jules Verne

“Queer History at Goldsmiths provides a unique and invaluable contribution to the understanding of contemporary social and cultural development. In my former role working in archives the course provided a powerful synergy between raw data and record keeping and the rigour of academic enquiry and debate. It has taken decades to achieve this extraordinary opportunity and it would be a travesty to see it disappear.”

Jan Pimblett MA FRSA

“The Goldsmiths History Department and programmes like the Queer History MA/MRes are at the cutting edge of greater equality in historical research and education. As a progressive college this is something Goldsmiths should be investing in not threatening.”

Sammy Sturgess, MRes, Class of 2020 Queer History

“Having once worked in the History Department at Goldsmiths, I found the department there to be a hugely collegial and supportive environment. The threat of redundancies against it are appalling.”

Dr Chris Kempshall – Postdoctoral Research Fellow – University of Exeter

“I am horrified by the proposed cuts to the English and History departments at Goldsmiths. The academics in these departments are some of the best in the country; furthermore, the recently created MA in Black British History is the only one of its kind in the world. It is unfathomable that at a time when there is an increasing awareness of the importance of Black British history, Goldsmiths are considering axing academics from a history department which has done so much to contribute to this awareness. This certainly throws into question Goldsmiths’ commitment to racial justice. To make redundant the academics involved in this is not only a terrible for those whose jobs are at risk, but a huge loss for the discipline at large, and a deeply reactionary political move.”

Dr Natalie Thomlinson, Associate Professor of Modern British History, University of Reading

“Creativity is the only hope for change. STEAM is the engine. STEM is a plucked flower dying in the ground.”

Dr. Harvey O’Brien, Assistant Professor, University College Dublin

“These programs are more vital now than ever. They not only increase awareness of diversity and its importance, they also encourage critical thinking and rational discourse. The university must rethink what it is doing.”

Michael Noonan

“Goldsmiths offers something no other university does, making rigorous, exciting and relevant research and teaching accessible to students from non-traditional backgrounds. The loss of expertise being wrought will not just destroy everything Goldsmiths offers now, but it will be impossible to ever regain it as research hubs are broken up and collaborations ended.”

Dr Elizabeth Reed – Lecturer in Sociology – University of Southampton

“The arts and creative institutions and communities are important to us all.”

Janet Jones

“Goldsmiths was the first place I lectured and convened a module. I was struck by the range of thought that interdisciplinary work from Goldsmiths students produced. The programmes in Black British History and Queer History have been path-breaking, and should be championed at the highest levels, not threatened.”

Dr. Leslie James, Sr Lecturer in Global History, QMUL

“The neoliberal university is inimical to promoting comprehensive critical education and treating its academic proletariate with respect and dignity. Goldsmiths is just one example.”

Prof. Edward Larkey, Modern Languages, Linguistics and Intercultural Communication, University of MD Baltimore County USA

“Humanities programmes at Goldsmiths, such as the terrific Queer History MA, have proven to be some of the most exciting and dynamic hubs of research in UK higher education today. They deserve to continue flourishing unabated.”

Dr Jacob Bloomfield, Zukunftskolleg Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Konstanz/Honorary Research Fellow, University of Kent

“Management and the unions need to work together with what is the heart and soul of the college in mind: the academic departments and their staff and students.”

Christopher Kul-Want, MRes Art Course leader, Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts, London

“Important expertise on the Balkans could be lost.”

Dr Andrew P. Roach, Senior Lecturer in History, University of Glasgow

“I have benefitted greatly from the rich and stimulating research seminars and conferences organised by the Critical Theory researchers at Goldsmiths. Their work is pioneering and inspirational and should be recognised and respected accordingly.”

Dr Stewart Smith (independent scholar)

“I have benefitted greatly from the rich and stimulating research seminars and conferences organised by the Critical Theory researchers at Goldsmiths. Their work is pioneering and inspirational and should be recognised and respected accordingly.”

Dr Stewart Smith (independent scholar)

“These cuts are short sighted and irresponsible.”

Paul Diggett PhD researcher Manchester Metropolitan University

“These proposals are ruinous for Goldsmiths. It will inevitably trigger more students to leave, and further job cuts. Leadership means having a positive plan to come out of the crisis, rather than engaging in a cycle of job losses and reputation destruction. There is still time to stop this and engage with staff to save Goldsmiths.”

Sean Wallis, Principal Research Fellow, UCL Survey of English Usage / UCL UCU branch president

“It’s a shame that Goldsmiths have lost the plot over the last few years! I successfully completed a multi-disciplinary degree in Social & Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths College some years ago. This educational experience was life-changing in terms of being academically rich, incredible creative, and truly inclusive at the time. But, then it started to change and become more “corporate” with very weak management structures and decision making ability, as they did not understand Goldsmiths original artistic and academic legacy. STOP & LISTEN … Go back to the drawing board, as the current strategy lacks originality, social justice and ethical thinking in tackling the decline in British humanities based subjects.”

Ursula Mary Blythe, KCL PG philosophy student, EDI practitioner and activist

“These redundancies are incredibly damaging to Goldsmiths international reputation. The international scholarly community has long recognised both the research quality of the Schools targeted and their role as exemplars of community and social engagement for the humanities.”

Professor Gerardine Meaney, School of English, Drama and Film, University College Dublin

“As a co-founder of “From Margins to Centre?”: An undergraduate conference on marginalised histories, I looked at Goldsmiths for inspiration and guidance when we created lists of key speakers and undergraduate presenters. I believed the university’s commitment to spotlighting underrepresented histories was an example to all departments around the country, and it was encouraging, as undergraduate students, to see the field of academia become more accepting of the histories that we – and increasingly the British public – are interested in. I am so disappointed to learn about the proposed cuts. As Britain is becoming increasingly engaged in Black British and Queer histories, it seems ill-advised to make cuts to one of the country’s leading departments in this area – the demand for these histories won’t disappear!”

Miss Olivia Wyatt, PhD student, Queen Mary University of London

“The English Department gave me a chance when others wouldn’t and transformed my life for the better.”

Stephen Hills – Recent PhD Graduate – UCL

“Please reconsider any plans for redundancies at this very uncertain time. We need to work together to come up with better solutions.”

Anastasia Valassopoulos

“I am concerned for the reputation of Goldsmiths. Marginalising already marginal voices in a vibrant city could have serious consequences on recruitment of students and community standing.”

Professor Clare Saunders, University of Exeter

“The marketisation and dumbing down of education does not bode well for a democratic society.”

Ellen Graubart Artist

“I’m extremely saddened to hear about this. As someone living near Goldsmiths campus but working as a lecturer in philosophy and education at UCL, I’m keenly aware not only of the incredible work that Goldsmiths does, but also of the wider issue of precarity for staff and their departments, particularly in the Humanities. I’ve always been immensely impressed at the work that has come out of Goldsmiths in this field, and also, the ways in which the university has engaged with the wider community through exhibitions and other public-facing events. It will really be a loss to both academia as well as the local area should these kinds of cuts go ahead.”

Dr. Alison M. Brady – Lecturer (Teaching) – UCL Institute of Education

“I support my colleagues at Goldsmiths. Their superb job is to be recognized and preserved. Their vast knowledge and great scientific production are not expendable.”

Domingos Sávio Pimentel Siqueira, Associate Professor of English, Bahia Federal University, Salvador, Brazil

“Please maintain the quality, breadth and depth of courses available to our young people.”

Pippa Dowswell, Teacher at City and Islington Sixth Form College

“Precisely the wrong moment in time to be decimating departments that enhance understanding of inequalities and social injustice, e.g. Centre for Caribbean and Diaspora Studies- these are beacons of knowledge which cannot be easily replaced.”

Mrs Denise de Pauw – PhD student – Lancaster University/ EAP lecturer, University of Leeds

“I am deeply ashamed that my alumni has decided to cull departments that have shaped thousands of minds to improve the world. They ought to be ashamed of themselves.”

Helena Miles, Disability Employment Advisor, History Alumni

“The people being threatened with redundancy at Goldsmiths are doing important work and their skills, expertise, time, and effort should not be dismissed in this way.”

Mx Kathryn Haley-Halinski, PhD Student, University of Cambridge