Goldsmiths ‘relying on reserves to keep the lights on’, says v-c

The vice-chancellor of Goldsmiths, University of London, has accused his local union branch of “not facing up to the harsh financial realities” that the institution faces as its members begin an indefinite strike, warning the university will be “severely threatened by August 2027” without cuts.

In a letter to all staff, seen by Times Higher Education, David Oswell launched a pointed attack on members of the University and College Union (UCU), who are set to take to the picket lines from 8 June – with activists claiming that the broadside showed that he was “rattled” over the planned action.

The row erupted after the union announced last week that it would undertake indefinite strike action because Goldsmiths said it would dock staff 100 per cent of their pay for participating in a marking and assessment boycott, even if they continued to do other work.

Oswell, who became interim vice-chancellor in October, after the former head, Frances Corner, suddenly stepped down, wrote to staff late on 3 June, arguing that the strike action “shows that the union and some of its members are unfortunately not facing up to the harsh financial realities which we, alongside so many others in our sector, are sadly having to address and overcome”.

He said that the university’s “worst-case” scenario, in which it makes no changes and sees no growth in student numbers, would “exhaust our finances which would see our operations severely threatened by August 2027 due to low cash flow”.

This is a “very real threat”, writes Oswell. “So not changing is unfortunately not an option: we are currently spending cash from our reserves every month just to stand still, keep the lights on and keep operating. This is not sustainable.

“Despite setting this out with real clarity to GUCU, the union does not appear to want to recognise the situation and has instead chosen a path which adds additional risk and pressure on our institution.”

The university is now entering the summer recruitment round, and Oswell says planned open days and degree shows “threaten to be overshadowed” by industrial action, “causing reputation damage and risk to recruitment and retention”.

UCU co-president Joe Newman said the letter proved that the university was “rattled and scared” by the planned strike, adding that student recruitment was threatened “from the moment they called 100 per cent [pay] deductions”.

Referencing the two separate major restructures that Goldsmiths has undertaken in recent years, he said this is the “third time” that the university is “crying wolf”.

“It’s not that Goldsmiths students and staff don’t see that student numbers have been declining – as have staff numbers – and that this is a very difficult time in the sector. We have challenges at Goldsmiths, we know that.

“But to come back for the third time in five years to say ‘if we don’t do this, we go kaput’, it starts to lose its credibility a third time round.”

When the university has refused to engage in mediation talks, emailing staff now “simply to address our strike action feels completely disingenuous”, added Newman.

“We are not naive about the challenges, but we do think that to share this information this way and to cast aspersions on us as being people who don’t understand the facts really doesn’t hold much water. It feels to us that they are using yet again this ‘sky is going to fall in’ narrative to justify their ideological cuts.”

A spokesperson for Goldsmiths said: “We have had a series of meeting with the GUCU and have been clear and transparent in sharing financial information about the challenges that Goldsmiths faces and the need to take action.”

juliette.rowsell@timeshighereducation.com