Resignation of Brian Roper

The VC of London Met, Brian Roper, resigned suddenly this week. Below
is a statement from both unions:

London Met UNISON and London Met UCU note Brian Roper’s resignation as Vice Chancellor of London Metropolitan University. However, we regret that no one has yet taken formal responsibility for the current financial difficulties of the university.

UNISON and UCU further note the intention to announce a successor as Vice Chancellor. We presume that any immediate appointment would be made on a temporary basis pending external advertisement. We hope that this will be the first step in a process towards creating a more collegial university environment in which management and staff are able to engage in meaningful dialogue about the operation of the institution.

We call, therefore, on London Met management to suspend all current proposals with regard to the finances of the university, including all threats of redundancies. We invite them to enter a process of genuine, collective discussion with staff and students in order to devise a recovery plan for London Met that has a real chance of success.

Both unions look forward to engaging in constructive dialogue with HEFCE and with representatives of the London Met Board of Governors concerning the future of the university and its mission.

Below is the text of the original email from Peter Anwyl, Chair of the Board of Governors:

Dear Colleagues

We are sorry to announce that Brian Roper, Vice Chancellor and Chief Executive has decided to leave the University to take up the opportunity of early retirement and to pursue other interests. Brian has made a significant contribution to the University and on behalf of the Board of Governors we would like to pay tribute to his energy and determination in delivering the University’s mission and to thank him for his support and efforts in his time here.

Although Brian will not be leaving the University until the end of December 2009, he has stepped down from the role of Vice Chancellor with immediate effect. We will communicate details of Brian’s successor in due course.

Please join me in wishing Brian well in his future endeavours.

Peter Anwyl

Chair of the Board of Governors

Feel free to leave your farewell messages to Brian below in the comments section.

See the ´London Met Crisis´ for the media response here:
http://thelondonmetcrisis.blogspot.com/2009/03/media-reacts-to-news-of-brian-ropers.html

In January, calling for demonstration against the cuts, we said:

If anyone should go, it ought to be Brian Roper and his team. Sack the managers -- they got us into this mess, not us staff who keep LMU going.

Hopefully this will be the beginning of a fresh start for London Met. See here for more ideas on what we mean by that :

http://savelondonmetuni.blogspot.com/2009/03/fresh-start-for-london-met-leaflet-to.html

More coming soon...