What Did Ian Parker Do? MMU, Please Tell Us!

26 Oct What Did Ian Parker Do? MMU, Please Tell Us!

October 26, 2012

Here is an update on the susension of Ian Parker from Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU)—asking us to call on MMU to at least make public what the charges being brought against Ian are.

MMU has now decided that a disciplinary hearing will go ahead on the two charges that Ian ‘constructed and widely distributed an email, which intended to undermine the credibility of a Head of Department’ and that ‘distribution of this email constitutes a failure to comply with a reasonable management instruction’. This unbelievable decision is despite local, national and international calls for the suspension of Ian Parker from MMU to be lifted. Not only is Ian prohibited from discussing his case with colleagues in the university, entering university premises or accessing his work email, but he is prohibited from speaking publicly about the charges. Not only is the response of MMU to these charges grossly disproportionate, but MMU continues to respond to newspaper inquiries with the insidious claim that external speculation around the reasons for the suspension is ‘wholly inaccurate’, thus damaging Ian’s reputation. As a first step to repairing his reputation, and in line with Ian’s own call for all documents relating to the case to be released publicly, we call on MMU to at least state openly what the charges are. Anyone who would like to support him could now simply demand of MMU that they tell the truth. Letters to this effect can be sent to the Vice-Chancellor John Brooks (john.brooks@mmu.ac.uk) and of the Department of Psychology Christine Horrocks (c.horrocks@mmu.ac.uk). These messages can be copied as messages of solidarity to the MMU UCU chair Pura Ariza (p.ariza@mmu.ac.uk) and it is imperative that, at the same time, support should be stepped up to support Christine Vié (c.vie@mmu.ac.uk) the MMU UCU vice-chair who has been singled out for redundancy. Details about the case, including letters of support and the petition link are at www.asylumonline.net/ian