In my letter of 23 February to Valerie Amos, the Director of SOAS, I had asked her whether the recent restriction of the Alphawood funding to art “in antiquity” had been applied to the review of applications for the 2016-’17 round of Alphawood Scholarships. This review would have taken place in January-February 2016. As Amos did not reply to my question, the SOAS Students’ Union filed a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain data including the emails of members of the Alphawood Scholarships Committee. The data received is publically posted on SOAS’s website here and also available here.
In an email, Prof. Anna Contadini, the Chair of the Scholarship Committee, wrote to all Committee members on 22 January:
“Just to remind you, and to let [name redacted by SOAS] know, that as from the last SAAAP* Board on Thursday, scholarships on contemporary art should not be awarded.” This order was reiterated on 1 February by Prof. Gurharpal Singh, Chair of the Board of SAAAP, in an email to Scholarship Committee members.
* SAAAP is the Southeast Asian Art Academic Programme, the programme created to implement the £15 million Alphawood Foundation gift.
An email of 26 January by Dr. Peter Sharrock, a member of the Scholarship Committee, reveals how he sought to ensure that contemporary art candidates would be rejected:
“There are 10 contemporary art applicants in the 51 MAs. I’m marking all 10 low because they do not fit the Alphawood restriction to classical Hindu-Buddhist art. I hope we will contain them appropriately.”
Other emails indicate efforts by Dr. Sharrock to collude with another Scholarship Committee member and to promote evaluation criteria which would disadvantage modern/contemporary art candidates.
It should be recalled that the Alphawood Scholarships had been widely advertised as inviting applications for “a range of postgraduate studies that focus on Hindu and Buddhist art in Southeast Asia.” Among the list of eligible courses was the MA in Contemporary Art of Asia and Africa. No restriction on particular historic periods had been given.
Of the 64 total applications, 17 were from applicants with interest or past experience in contemporary art. All were rejected.
The SOAS Students’ Union and I sent a letter to Valerie Amos, the Director of SOAS, which provides more detail on the emails as well as our recommendations for reform to the Scholarships programme.
SOAS Spirit, the university newspaper, wrote a story about this latest revelation of unethical conduct.
