SOAS UNIONS: HABIB MUST GO
It has consolidated the ever-growing concern as to whether Adam Habib is worth his £234,204 salary
By Enrico Meucci-Lyons, BA International Relations and Law 28/10/2024
Adam Habib’s position has been called into question after the SOAS branch of the University College Union (UCU), which supports academic staff, passed a motion of no confidence in his leadership during a meeting in the summer term. The vote was poorly attended but 72% of those that did attend voted to express no confidence in Adam Habib. Due to the low turnout SOAS said “This is a significantly small proportion and clearly does not represent a majority view.”
This comes after SOAS Unison, the trade union that supports non-academic university staff, and the Students’ Union declared no-confidence in Habib in 2021 following his use of the N-word in a public meeting in 2021. Unison and the Students’ Union have both reiterated their lack of confidence since the UCU vote.
The Unison motion was supported by 98% of attendees, who also demanded full transparency in the handling of complaints and a guarantee that no student would face any disciplinary action for raising concerns about his use of the racial slur.
Adam Habib also struggled to maintain good relationships with trade unions during his tenure as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Witwatersrand (WITS). Branch secretary of the National, Education, Health and Allied Workers Union, (Newahu), Tumisho Madhihlaba, stated that Habib had been ‘slow on the transformation agenda’. His decision to enlist the support of riot police, during the #FeesMustFall protests resulted in police firing on students with rubber bullets. Student representative Thuto Kgabaphethe described Habib’s actions as “militarising the university”
Habib is often praised for his ability to bring financial stability and prestigious research programmes to universities - at WITS he oversaw an increase of 2,500 students and 800 research papers in the span of six years. However with the passing of the recent UCU no confidence motion it has consolidated the ever-growing concern as to whether Adam Habib is worth his £234,204 salary. SOAS has fallen 37 places in The Sunday Times from 28th to 65th, notably being the second worst university in the country for Environmental and Ethical policy (see page 3). Despite this, the SOAS Board of Trustees unanimously voted to renew Adam Habib’s term. Chair of the SOAS Board of Trustees, Lord Hastings CBE said in an email to all SOAS staff that “Three years into our strategic plan, under the leadership of Professor Adam Habib as Vice Chancellor, we continue to build on our solid foundations. We have seen improvements in teaching, research, our finances, the estate and infrastructure in ways that are now very tangibly felt by all members of our community”.
The extent to which the Board of Trustees consulted the SOAS community is unclear. There is growing frustration over a multitude of issues, such as the way SOAS allocates funds, especially investing in companies that many feel are directly complicit with the genocide in Gaza. This has led to growing unrest on campus and a series of student demonstrations (page 3 also).
The full statement from SOAS regarding the UCU vote: “While we are always willing to listen to our community on issues and views they may wish to raise, only 26 people out of an approximate staff count of over 1,000 voted for the motion calling for the Vice Chancellor's resignation. This is a significantly small proportion and clearly does not represent a majority view.”