University staff have expressed feeling "blindsided" by the decision to discontinue a black studies master’s degree just eight months after its launch, describing the move as "callous."
The decision by Birmingham City University (BCU) has led to an open letter signed by over 100 academics, writers, and activists condemning the closure.
"They sat us down and told us straight away... we've closed the masters... and all your jobs are at risk,"said Prof Kehinde Andrews, head of the university's black studies department.
The university made the decision in February, citing low student recruitment as the reason for the closure; currently, eight students are enrolled in the MA course.
"It was the first time I was made aware by university chiefs that the degree was under threat,"Andrews added.
Despite the impending closure, the faculty continued to organise prominent campus events, including the recent booking of US civil rights advocate Kimberlé Crenshaw.
"We didn't know the masters was in danger - we were told if the MA goes, jobs would be safe,"Andrews said.
"I have research bids in, we're planning events and it honestly feels like they've pulled the rug out from under us."
'Shown us the door'
This development follows the earlier closure of BCU's black studies undergraduate course in 2024.
Five black staff members, including Andrews, face potential redundancy as a result.
"It's a shame there is no space for black studies in UK higher education because there is such a problem with black students not feeling connected or as though they belong, and the curriculum is hugely part of it,"Andrews stated.
"They [BCU] have also admitted to not completing an equality impact assessment."
Nia, one of the remaining students completing the discontinued undergraduate degree, expressed disappointment at the loss of the MA course.
"Now that they've gotten rid of it, they've completely removed the only space that we had in academia to focus on our actual community,"she said.
"The way that they handled the cancellation of this course was so diabolical, they've quite literally shown us the door."
Part-time student Charmaine, who is due to complete her MA next year, was informed of the closure via email.
"It feels like an attack on black intellect, because they already withdrew the undergrad course and now withdrawing the masters,"she said.
"The email that they sent out seemed cold and dismissive - they said the decision wouldn't impact any students, but it would impact me.
Will I be the only one in my lessons now, will I have course mates to study with? They didn't take our mental wellbeing into consideration at all."
Prof Kalwant Bhopal, director of the Centre for Research in Race and Education at the University of Birmingham, warned that this closure could indicate a wider threat to black studies across UK higher education.
"This creates a dangerous precedent and shows the threat that black academics and their scholarship is under,"she said.
"We are in a dangerous fragile, insecure time in academia, with many universities making significant redundancies."
Bhopal highlighted that losing the course would eliminate an important academic space to challenge structural, institutional, and individual racism.
Black Lives Matter plan
Prof Robert Beckford, previously professor of climate and social justice at the University of Winchester before redundancy, taught on BCU's black studies undergraduate course prior to its closure.
He questioned BCU and its leadership's commitment to supporting black academia.
"What makes this especially troubling is the contradiction between the public declarations made after the murder of George Floyd and the institutional realities that followed,"Beckford said.
In 2021, BCU publicly stated: "We stand with our black students and our staff. We want to be part of the solution," as part of its Black Lives Matter Antiracist Commitment Plan.
Since then, Beckford noted, the sector has witnessed closures of black studies programmes and weakening or dismantling of centres dedicated to race and decolonial scholarship.
"Whether deliberate or unwitting, the outcome is the same: the erosion of black intellectual infrastructure at precisely the moment universities claimed renewed commitment to racial justice,"he said.
"For me this represents not a financial constraint but a limited intellectual imagination."
'Was it performative?'
Charmaine expressed that despite the university's previous statements, the discontinuation of the course left her and others feeling undervalued and that black studies is not sufficiently appreciated.
"They prided themselves in being the first university to offer such a course, but now you have to ask, ‘was it performative’?"
UK universities are currently facing a financial crisis, leading many to implement widespread cost-cutting measures.
A BCU spokesperson explained that following a review of its postgraduate offerings, a small number of courses, including the black studies MA, will be withdrawn from September due to low demand, although current students will be able to complete their studies.
"The university is exploring opportunities for alternative provision in each case. A consultation process is under way with affected staff to discuss the impact of the course closures and explore reasonable options to minimise roles at risk,"the spokesperson added.
Follow BBC Birmingham on , Facebook, X and Instagram.
