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etymologic Profile picture
@etymologic
Mar 20, 2018 • 9 tweets • 5 min read • Read on X
Hard evidence of collusion in Oxford!

Pembroke College, Oxford have just released their response to the UUK September survey on #USS pension risk ...

... and it is word-for-word the same as the University of Oxford's!

But it gets worse 😮 ... (THREAD 👇)
Let's begin by reviewing the evidence.

Pembroke College, Oxford: whatdotheyknow.com/request/466074…

University of Oxford: ox.ac.uk/sites/files/ox…
But it gets worse. The Bursar of Pembroke College claims here to be presenting an authorized institutional view!

He EXCLUDES the majority of members of the Governing Body from decision-making, on the grounds that they are members of the #USS pension!
Recall that Oxford's Working Party on Pensions *also* excluded #USS members using this spurious "conflict-of-interest" argument. That argument was decisively overturned at the most recent meeting of Oxford's Council. But the damage was already done ...
So here we have hard evidence of a classic Oxford stitch-up. The executive gets the Personnel Committee to EXCLUDE ordinary academics, to skew the University's response. The Bursar and his pals speak on behalf of the College. And they just copy-and-paste the same survey answers!
If I were a #USS member on the Governing Body at Pembroke, Oxford, I would be fuming. If I were a Pembroke alumnus in academia, likewise.

The College has issued a statement, but it's too little, too late in my opinion: pmb.ox.ac.uk/news/statement…
Pembroke College's Bursar just copied-and-pasted Oxford University's survey response.

Thus, Oxford got extra "votes" to REJECT the level of risk proposed by the USS trustees. This "broke" the Defined-Benefit pension's viability, and led on to the largest strike in #HE history.
IMO, the full Governing Body of Pembroke College should meet without delay, and debate this issue fully. NO member of the Governing Body should be denied suffrage on spurious grounds. Fin.
Addendum: Pembroke College Oxford, have been advertising for a NEW bursar, to start in Feb 2018. (I wonder if this has anything to do with the UUK survey debacle?)

It's a £75k p.a. role - with a USS pension! oct-associates.co.uk/wp-content/upl…

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More from @etymologic

etymologic Profile picture
Apr 5, 2018
Bangor University's response to the UUK survey is out now, thanks to @noremacnosila's FoI request. Bangor was in the 42% to reject investment risk.

Join me on a rambling thread 👇 with more on Uni finance, consultants, and the British Universities Finance Directors Group (BUFDG)
Bangor's Survey-Monkey response to UUK is here: whatdotheyknow.com/request/465548…

@VianBikir was first on the case ...
Some key points:

1) Bangor admits to being financially stretched -
"we can't just increase contributions without major challenges"
"the USS scheme that may prejudice the future viability or existence of the Institution"
Read 26 tweets
etymologic Profile picture
Mar 26, 2018
Three key figures of the #USS pensions dispute were working together in Birmingham on the SMT back in 2012: Alistair Jarvis, David Eastwood and Adam Tickell.

All three are in this wonderful issue of @BuzzUniBham: intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/buzz/doc…
Alistair Jarvis, sans beard, was the Director of Communications & Marketing.

From "Enhancing Birmingham's Reputation" to "Trashing UniversitiesUK's Reputation" in 5 short years.

If only he had stuck to Happiness Lectures ...
Here is Birmingham's VC weighing in on the hot topic of the day - whether or not Birmingham should have an elected mayor.

Prof Sir David Eastwood is now the Chairman of the Board of #USS Trustees. He's also on the Board of UUK, as a "President's nominee" (Prof Dame Janet Beer)
Read 6 tweets
etymologic Profile picture
Mar 26, 2018
My quick thoughts on the email from Sally Hunt. They'll have to be quick because we have a branch meeting for all members at 1pm! (mini-thread)
First, it is apparent there is a split in views amongst the union leadership. In several places, the text says "I" when it should say "we".
Differences of opinion are natural. A challenge for the union is to accommodate differences while presenting a united front.
Read 12 tweets
etymologic Profile picture
Mar 25, 2018
JUST FOUND in Cambridge ...

Title: "Draft Response for Colleges to USS consultation 9 2017final to Bursars.pdf"

From: The co-chair of University's Pensions Working Group.
To: All college bursars.
Author: a Director of Xafinity Consulting.
Date: 21st Sep 2017.

THREAD 👇
This is a missing piece of the jigsaw on "collusion" in Cambridge. The document confirms that a University Working Group, set up by Finance Committee, put together a preferred survey response, and sent to bursars. ±12 bursars responded for their colleges, without GB oversight.
The document which has just come to light is the recommended survey response - and was sent as an attachment to the email sent out to Bursars on 21st Sep, the text of which was leaked to @MikeOtsuka here:
medium.com/@mikeotsuka/em…
Read 15 tweets
etymologic Profile picture
Mar 19, 2018
This is a Thread of Threads, to keep track of what I have written on the #USS pensions issue, particularly focussing on the dodgy September survey by UUK, and the role of Cambridge and Oxford.

In reverse chronological order:
1. On FoI documents showing that Cambridge college bursars "colluded" to give *the same* response to the survey.
2. On Cambridge bursars & their backgrounds in finance:
Read 20 tweets
etymologic Profile picture
Mar 13, 2018
NEW: How 18 Bursars from Cambridge and Oxford got together at OXCAM on 20th September 2017, and helped "steer" the @UniversitiesUK consultation on #USS pension risk. THREAD 👇
Here is a summary of what was discussed on 20th Sep at OXCAM re: the USS scheme. Read on for context & comment ...
Recap: UniversitiesUK claimed in October that "42%" of "HE institutions" had REJECTED the level of risk proposed by the #USS trustees, precipitating a crisis in the Defined-Benefit pension scheme and, indirectly, to this ongoing strike.
Read 20 tweets

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