Sir, I read with some puzzlement (November 12th) that the Minister of Education promises to be "generous" with amendments at the committee stage of the Universities Bill. Presumably what this actually means is that the universities are to be deprived of fewer of their freedoms than was originally intended. As a member of university staff, this strikes me as somewhat analogous to the highwayman who, in a burst of generosity, decided after all to take away only some of his victims' belongings.
An essential element of generosity is surely free will. Any amendments to the Universities Bill are likely to be at least partly the result of prudence in the face of indignation in the universities and the Senate, and the probable unsatisfactory political consequences thereof. - Yours, etc.,
Zoology Department,
University College Galway.