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I was disappointed to see our highly successful staff development festival reported so negatively in last week's Times Higher ("Union accuses v-c of mass bullying", November 4).

A team of committed people worked hard to make sure there was something for everyone in this ground-breaking event that welcomed all staff to participate in social, sporting and cultural events (from cricket matches to poetry readings with cakes) as well as professional development activities.

Academic staff were expected to attend their own faculty awayday and either the research conference or the assessment, teaching and learning conference. Anything else was optional.

More than 3,500 individual attendances were recorded this year. Next year, I hope that the question will be: "How can anyone bear to miss out on all these opportunities to network, learn and have fun?"

Sally Brown
Pro vice-chancellor
Leeds Metropolitan University