Philosopher John Sutton will be voluntarily stepping down from his position as professor in the Department of Cognitive Science at Macquarie University as a way of helping his colleagues avoid a “Hunger Games”-style plan imposed by the university to cut faculty.

All 36 faculty in the Departments of Cognitive Science and Psychology were to “compete” to be among the 26 or so who would retain their positions, Professor Sutton explains, in a process run largely by medical school administrators (the Departments had been “unhappily” relocated to the university’s School of Medicine, Health, and Human Sciences last year). To avoid taking part in this, the faculty looked for alternative ways of saving the university the required money.

They succeeded in this by making use of voluntary redundancies and “other creative measures.” As part of this alternative Professor Sutton is leaving the university next month and will be moving to a visiting position at Durham University. In the following informative and touching video, also available on his website, he explains: