Assuming the fraction of pay Warwick University plans to withhold from staff for participation in the assessment boycott is accurate ("Dispute Dispatches", April 21), then staff there spend an average of one full day a week marking essays and exams. I thought that Warwick was a leading research university, but it would seem staff there do little other than teach. Aside from dealing with aggressive management, their teaching contact hours and staff-to-student ratios must be a nightmare.
David Deacon Loughborough University