How canst thou part sadness and melancholy...?

In August 1985, I visited Stratford-upon-Avon for the first time as part of a study holiday based at the University of  Birmingham.  I'd just discovered Shakespeare, I'd fallen in love with theatre and Stratford was the most wonderful place I'd ever visited. 

At one point, our courier for the week took us past the Shakespeare Institute and proudly pointed to it.  'That's the best place in the world to study Shakespeare,' she said.  At that point, a year away from taking my A levels, the Shakespeare Institute became my goal.  

She was absolutely right.  It IS the best place to study Shakespeare and I'd venture that its location is a very big part of what makes it so.  Just across the road from Shakespeare's school room, a stone's throw from the Guildhall and the site of New Place and a two minute stroll to the theatre that is the home of the Royal Shakespeare Company.  

As well as having some fabulous teaching staff - world renowned experts on Shakespeare - it is also the site of the most incredible library - three floors of books, journals and archive material which is unique in the United Kingdom, cared for by the most incredibly knowledgeable librarians.  People choose to come from all over the world to work in that building.  

All of which make the University of Birmingham's decision, made public today, to re-locate the SI to their Edgbaston Campus completely inexplicable.  Yes, the Institute will still exist in name but the point of its foundation - by Professor Alladyce Nicoll 75 years ago - will be diminished.  

Nicoll understood that studying Shakespeare in Stratford-upon -Avon would be a unique experience  The Shakespeare Institute is more than an academic department - it is a COMMUNITY that works alongside the other great institutions of Stratford - the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and the Royal Shakespeare Company - for the benefit of Stratford across the world.

To say I'm gutted at this news would be an absolute understatement.  As a distance learner, it might seem as if it shouldn't really matter to me whether the SI is in Stratford or Birmingham or anywhere else for that matter, but it absolutely DOES.  I chose the Shakespeare Institute for my MA and my PhD because I knew that my very niche topic would be taken seriously, understood and valued and that the resources at my disposal would be second to none.  But I also chose it BECAUSE it was in Stratford.

Tonight, I feel a very long way from somewhere that is very very special to me, unsure of what this means for me, my research and for all those other students I've come to know and admire.  Suffice to say, we are not going to accept this without a fight - the University of Birmingham needs to understand exactly what they are trying to break up. But there is a real sadness in realising that the University do not appreciate what an incredible resource they are depleting. 

I'm incredibly proud of being a Shakespeare Institute student.  Sadly, tonight, I do not take any pride in being a University of Birmingham student.