London Met guest lecturer refuses to attend in support of academic boycott

The 2009 Woman Political Journalist of the year, Lesley Abdela, cancelled a guest lecture appearance at London Metropolitan University (LMU) last week in support of an academic boycott.

Ms Abdela was due to make an appearance at the Women's Library but told organisers she would not attend unless the Universities and Colleges Union (UCU) lifted their 'greylisting' of the university.

"I deeply regret not being able to appear at the event in November, but I am simply not willing to break the academic boycott. I hope, for the sake of staff and students, that London Metropolitan University reaches a negotiated agreement with UCU.

"Greylisting is clearly a last resort and it is important that matters are settled quickly."

In September, LMU became the first university in Britain to be "greylisted" by the union following their decision to push ahead with 550 redundancies

The decision came after the university was hit by a £15 million reduction in their recurring grant, and repayment demands totalling more than £36 million by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, following submissions of incorrect student completion records.

The boycott, now imposed for over 70 days, is a complete academic ban calling on the academic community not to respond to job applications, lecture invitations or writing for any of the university's publications.

UCU General Secretary Sally Hunt said: “The response from the academic community to our greylisting has been fantastic. We are really pleased that Lesley has come out so publicly to back our campaign. Like us, she understands that we cannot allow the university to be destroyed.

“We cannot stand by and allow hundreds of staff and students to pay the price for a catastrophic failure of management and governance. It is unacceptable for staff to pay for mismanagement with their jobs and for students to suffer huge detriment to their education.”

London Metropolitan University and their student union were both unavailable for comment.

Lesley Abdela is a British journalist who has reported from a number of conflicts, including Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Aceh, Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2006 she was voted 34th in the New Statesman’s Top 50 ‘Heroes Of Our Time’.