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David Bignell, emeritus professor of zoology at Queen Mary, University of London, has offered a polite critique to the ongoing restructuring at the institution ("Madness of metrics", 3 May). His views have been well received in the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences and beyond.

Management remains silent and hopes silence will prevail. It would help if instead of posing new restrictions on internal email traffic while pushing through ill-considered plans, managers provided answers to those who are seeing their careers destroyed and to the students who won't have teachers next year. On the latter point, an open letter to Queen Mary's leadership signed by 40 academics has so far gone unanswered.

Some managers don't even meet their own metrics of madness. Anyone divorced from the concept of academic self-administration, which underpins our ability to research and teach, must go.

Fanis Missirlis, Lecturer in cell biology, Queen Mary, University of London,