{"id":1565,"date":"2025-02-23T08:07:20","date_gmt":"2025-02-23T08:07:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/?p=1565"},"modified":"2025-02-23T12:18:39","modified_gmt":"2025-02-23T12:18:39","slug":"the-prancing-butcher-of-cardiff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/?p=1565","title":{"rendered":"The Prancing Butchers of Cardiff"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Strengthening bonds with Kazakhstan #cardiffuniversity\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/09AiD-5ZE1w?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From 1 September 2023, the Vice Chancellor of Cardiff University has been the New Zealander, Prof <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cardiff.ac.uk\/about\/organisation\/university-executive-board\/president-and-vice-chancellor\" title=\"Wendy Larner\">Wendy Larner<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During Larner&#8217;s tenure as Provost at Victoria University of Wellington (2015\u20132023), the university faced financial challenges that led to &#8220;<em>strategic decisions&#8221;<\/em>. In May 2023, the University confirmed a NZ$33 million deficit, attributing it to declining student enrolments and a shortfall in government funding. To address this, the university laid off ~250 staff members. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once in Cardiff University, Larner identified a \u00a330 million black hole in its annual budget. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/c0k5n0k101lo\" title=\"At least 400 academic staff \">At least 400 academic staff<\/a> are now likely to lose their jobs (~10% of the workforce). Many departments are to be amalgamated and others are to be abolished outright \u2013 including subjects like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/cx24p8r90gro\" title=\"music\">music<\/a>, ancient history, theology, modern languages and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nursingtimes.net\/education-and-training\/cardiff-university-nursing-courses-face-closure-29-01-2025\/\" title=\"nursing.\">nursing.<\/a> There has been an outcry. This massive destruction is just the start, as the savings will amount to a mere ~ \u00a39 million \u2013 making a small dent in the mountain of debt racked up by this badly-run, bloated basket-case<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Those paying the price of decades of mismanagement are the staff.  &#8216;<a href=\"https:\/\/voice.cymru\/two-weeks-in-the-death-spiral-of-cardiff-university\/\" title=\"Two Weeks in the Death Spiral of Cardiff University\">Two Weeks in the Death Spiral of Cardiff University<\/a>&#8216; provides heart-breaking testimony of what is happening from the standpoint of an anonymous academic, who is expecting to receive a pdf that she or he is being made jobless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>On the second day of classes in 2025, in a series of group meetings, academics filed into the main lecture hall and were presented with a short powerpoint explaining that the university would cut around 10% of its total academic staff \u2013 we were told at least 400. These cuts are uneven: some groups were \u2018safe\u2019, others (like medicine and bioscience) were told they would lose 10% or 35% of academics. In the merged \u2018humanities\u2019 meeting, an Executive Board member admitted that half of those in the hall were facing the sack. Many colleagues were faced with a slide announcing the end of their programme, and likely with that their job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Colleagues were in tears \u2013 and then had to return to teaching classes. In the humanities meeting, the presentation\u2019s slide on \u2018mental health support\u2019 prompted collective laughter (which was edited out of the official recording). Later a colleague found out that (alongside self-care websites) the free counselling helpline\u2019s appointments were already fully booked until March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Eighteen hours after these announcements, at around 8:30am, just under 2000 staff received risk of redundancy notices by email, including me. There was no information about how those \u2018at risk\u2019 were chosen, and this started the statutory 45 days\u2019 consultation over our jobs. But in an all-university meeting with the Vice Chancellor in the same lecture hall that day, we were told that we should engage with the \u2018proposals\u2019 and offer counter-proposals. Security staff stood along the corridor as we left the hall. I could lose my job in a month, before the end of the academic year, [Anonymous Academic, Voice Cymru]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>After all the work, all the teaching, the research, the innovation, the mentoring and the effort, the late nights and lost weekends, all a university wants from you is for you to leave without making a fuss. This is physical control (&#8220;<em>security staff<\/em>&#8220;), emotional control (&#8220;i<em>n tears<\/em>&#8220;) as well as coercive mental control (&#8220;<em>half in the hall were facing the sack<\/em>&#8220;). These people are lying thugs (&#8220;<em>edited out of official recording<\/em>&#8220;). As in many universities, the staff are in an abusive relationship with their employer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The brutalist style is typical of the self-interested individuals who have captured the management of UK universities. The oil that wheels the cogs of destruction is the Human Resources (HR) department. &#8220;<em>Our risk of redundancy notices said that equality impact assessments had been done; so far we have received some copy-paste pdfs described by HR as unfinished \u201clive documents&#8221;<\/em>. These are the usual vacuous and content-free documents provided by any HR in any university, mash-ups of smiling people who love to be made redundant together with managerial buzzwords (&#8220;<em>help with<\/em> <em>organisational change &#8230; blah blah &#8230; fundamental reimagining of our services<\/em>&#8220;).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Remarkably, even as the Cardiff campus is burning down, the university is preparing to set up in Astana, Kazakhstan. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cardiff.ac.uk\/news\/view\/2884340-strengthening-bonds-with-kazakhstan\" title=\"Larner\">Larner<\/a> said: \u201c<em>University collaborations can often strengthen the bonds between two countries. We see the delivery of education programmes in Kazakhstan as the first step to a long and prosperous relationship with Kazakhstan and her people.<\/em>&#8221; Some Cardiff academics were told that offering to teach in Kazakhstan might save their jobs. Foundation courses are already being advertised.&nbsp;These are &#8220;<em>in high-demand fields, including education, engineering, and IT. Special focus will also be given to programs in geology and renewable energy \u2013 areas of critical importance for Kazakhstan<\/em>&#8220;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The management of Cardiff University has a complete contempt for Wales. The university&#8217;s foundation was made possible by the financial donations of Welsh workers, industrialists and philanthropists. Its establishment was supported by the gift of Welsh land from the Marquess of Bute. The university must transform itself into the essential centre of intellect, excellence, scholarship and learning that Wales wants, needs and deserves. Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As for Prof Larner and her senior management team, let them relocate to Kazakhstan. It&#8217;s a country famous for arbitrary arrest and imprisonment, torture and ill-treatment of detainees, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/world-report\/2024\/country-chapters\/kazakhstan\" title=\"Human Rights Watch.\">Human Rights Watch.<\/a> It has high levels of corruption and nepotism, as judged by <a href=\"https:\/\/knowledgehub.transparency.org\/helpdesk\/kazakhstan-overview-of-corruption-and-anti-corruption\" title=\"Transparency Intern\">Transparency International<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Given her menacing management style, Prof Larner looks to be well suited to the place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We recommend shipping to Kazakhstan the whole <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cardiff.ac.uk\/about\/organisation\/university-executive-board\" title=\"Executive Board\">Executive Board<\/a>: the Deputy Vice Chancellor Prof Walford Davies, the 6 Pro Vice Chancellors (Profs Roger Whittaker, Claire Morgan, Rudolf Allemann, Urfan Khaliq, Steve Riley, Gavin Shaddick), the Chief Finance Officer (Darren&nbsp;Xiberras), Director of People (Sally-ann Efstathiou), Director of Communications (Laura Davies), Chief Operating Officer (Dr Paula Sanderson) and Chief Transformation Officer (David Langley).  It is Larner, Morgan and Allemann who figure prominently in the youtube video, prancing around Kazakhstan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many of the Executive Board will be much more culpable than Prof Larner, who has only been at Cardiff since 2023. This is a mismanagement scandal a decade in the making. We note the previous Vice Chancellor Colin Riordan suspiciously left in the nick of time. Now Secretary General of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.acu.ac.uk\" title=\"\">Association of Commonwealth Universities<\/a>, he is also highly blameworthy and kickworthy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The 21 Group urges academics to sign the petitions to save <a href=\"https:\/\/www.change.org\/p\/save-cardiff-university-school-of-nursing\" title=\"Nursing\">Nursing<\/a> , <a href=\"https:\/\/www.change.org\/p\/save-mlang-at-cardiff-university\" title=\"Modern Languages\">Modern Languages<\/a> , <a href=\"https:\/\/www.change.org\/p\/save-cardiff-university-school-of-music\" title=\"\">Music<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.change.org\/p\/save-our-religion-and-theology-degree\" title=\"Theology\">Theology<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.change.org\/p\/save-cardiff-university-ancient-history-degree\" title=\"Ancient History\">Ancient History<\/a>. Over 300 mathematicians have already opposed the plans to cut <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeshighereducation.com\/news\/maths-cuts-will-cause-lasting-damage-cardiff-warn-nobelists\" title=\"Mathematics.\">Mathematics.<\/a>  Those with a vote in the 2026 Senedd elections might like to contrast the attitude of the Welsh Government with the more proactive intervention of the Scottish Government at Dundee University.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From 1 September 2023, the Vice Chancellor of Cardiff University has been the New Zealander, Prof Wendy Larner. During Larner&#8217;s tenure as Provost at Victoria University of Wellington (2015\u20132023), the university faced financial challenges that led to &#8220;strategic decisions&#8221;. In May 2023, the University confirmed a NZ$33 million deficit, attributing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1565"}],"version-history":[{"count":42,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1607,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1565\/revisions\/1607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}