Mark Goodacre writes (and I reproduce it here in its entirety) :

It’s only a matter of weeks since the University of Sheffield’s administration moved to close down its internationally renowned Department of Biblical Studies. Due to a concerted campaign on the ground at Sheffield, and with support all over the world, that decision was reversed. Well, now another British university department is similarly under threat from the university’s own administration, and one of our good friends has heard today that his post has been terminated.

Lloyd Pietersen is Senior Lecturer and Research Coordinator in New Testament Studies in the Department of Humanities at the University of Gloucestershire. For those who do don’t know him, Lloyd is a first class scholar, a fine teacher, and a delightful person, a massive asset to the university. It is unthinkable that they would let someone like Lloyd go.

So what can we do? To begin with, we can pull out all the stops and inundate both Paul Bowler (pbowler@glos.ac.uk) and Patricia Broadfoot (vc@glos.ac.uk) with notice of the damage to research and the university’s reputation.

Something is in the water in Britain, and it isn’t something good. There’s poison in the well; it’s time to toss the ax in and let’s see it float like it did at Sheffield!

UPDATE:  There’s a Facebook Group here.