Threatened Closure of  University of Exeter Departments Raises Ire of Students and Nobel Laureate. (December 2, 2004)

    The threatened termination of a number of departments by the UK University of Exeter, included chemistry, music and Italian, engendered the outrage not only of the student body but also Nobelist Harry Kroto (1996 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry for the discovery of fullerenes (buckyballs)) who as a protest told the university he would return his honorary degree. Despite a 21% increase in chemistry enrollments this year the university administration cites marked funding shortfalls as being responsible for the closures. In recompense staff will be offered short-term contracts to continue teaching the threatened courses until the end of the year but the university's governing body will meet to discuss the closures on December 20.

Venting their displeasure the students were rather more imaginative than Professor Kroto. Nature reports that "students hit back by putting the university campus up for sale on the Internet auction site eBay on Wednesday 24 November — bidding reached £31,437 before the spoof offer was taken down by site officials on Thursday. Hundreds of students then went on a protest march."