It was announced last week that Prof Koen Lamberts will become the University of Sheffield’s new Vice-Chancellor. Of course, the decision was made without the involvement of workers or students. Lamberts is one of many senior careerists within higher education who slinks from one cushy position to another.
During Lamberts’ time as Deputy VC at the University of Warwick he oversaw a £100m deal with Jaguar Land Rover and Tata Motors to build The National Automotive Innovation Campus (a car research facility) on a UoW campus under the guise of ‘job creation’.
After welcoming big business onto the UoW campus, Lambert moved onto a VC role at University of York in 2014. There he suggested that UCU strikers ‘jumped the gun’ on industrial action and supported the Deputy HR Director’s decision to withhold 100% of pay from striking workers.
These two examples shed light onto what workers and students can expect from a careerist who lies in bed with big business and undermines worker’s rights, pay and pensions.
If you want to join the fight to kick Lamberts and his type out of education, then get in touch!
by Sheffield Marxist Society
