To: Professor Henry Woudhuysen, Dean of the Arts & Humanities Faculty

We, the undersigned, are concerned by the implications of the proposed restructuring of the modern language departments at UCL, which involve potential redundancies and a reduction in the number of courses on offer. The "documents for discussion" were only released after a lengthy delay on 05.02.10 and only five weeks set aside for the consultation process, which includes one reading week. We feel that in order for the proposed changes to be debated in a democratic and fair manner that the consultation period must be extended. This will enable staff and students to discuss the proposed changes, without the stress-inducing timeline of five weeks. We point to the following extract from UCL's Organisational Change Procedure (point 17): "Managers leading change must consult with an open mind and welcome suggestions that enhance or improve their proposals, suggest alternative courses of action or that provide information which demonstrates that the proposals will not reap the benefits intended. Proposals should be reviewed as a result of the consultation process and rejected suggestions explained and documented." We believe that this will only be possible with an extension of the consultation period, allowing the proposed changes to be analysed with the necessary rigour and for potential alternative suggestions to be put forward. Yours Sincerely, student, staff and supporters of UCL's Six Modern Language Departments saveourlanguagedepartments@yahoo.co.uk

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