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subtext issue 97 29 November 2012 ***************************************************** 'Truth: lies open to all' ***************************************************** Every fortnight during term-time. All editorial correspondence to: subtext-editors [at] lancaster.ac.uk. Please delete as soon as possible after receipt. Back issues and subscription details can be found at http://www.lancs.ac.uk/subtext. The editors welcome letters, comments, suggestions and opinions from readers. subtext reserves the right to edit submissions. subtext does not publish material that is submitted anonymously, but is willing to consider without obligation requests for publication with the name withheld. For tips to prevent subtext from getting swept up into your 'junk email folder', see http://www.lancs.ac.uk/subtext/dejunk/. If you're viewing this using Outlook, the formatting might look better if you click on the message at the top saying 'Extra line breaks in this message were removed', and select 'Restore line breaks'. CONTENTS: Editorial, news in brief, music, bands, letters. ***************************************************** EDITORIAL Is Lancaster doing the right thing by continuing to increase the A-level grades it asks from its undergraduate applicants? It's certainly nice, on the whole, to teach brighter students. Higher entry tariffs help to push us up the university league tables. And being able to recruit more off-quota students with AAB and above would be good for the University. But figures seen by subtext show a disconcerting fall in the number of undergraduate applications to Lancaster compared with this time last year. Lancaster is far from being alone in encountering this trend - see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-20526794. But perhaps most worrying is that this fall, while being noticeable across all four faculties, is much more significant in some subject areas than others. The policy of increasing entry grades has already forced some departments out of undergraduate teaching altogether, and Music may be the next casualty (see below). It would be a tragedy if other subject areas were to follow. subtext is well aware of the dilemmas which face the University's strategists as they try to plot a path through the perverse effects of government policy. However, there is a danger that the incentives for recruiting at AAB and above have made our management forget that that Lancaster became a top ten university even though its entry requirements, in general, were not onerous: the requirements have gone up after, not before, we achieved that hard-earned status. For most subjects, entry into Britain's elite represents a welcome opportunity for us to compete (and often beat) the best with everything that Lancaster has to offer. However, some subject areas have no means of competing, simply because there are too few elite-level students nationally (or internationally) for them to recruit at the newly-imposed levels of entry requirement. Judged by the experience of this year's clearing process, competitor institutions were granted considerable flexibility, and took the requisite steps to fill their places one way or another. It may well be that the shortfall in applicants to Lancaster is rectified after Christmas, when the overall national situation could easily change. It's hard to know what is the best strategy in this constantly shifting terrain. But it may be time for a more imaginative and flexible approach to entry requirements, based on an appreciation of the university's true strengths. ***************************************************** NEWS IN BRIEF The Charles Carter Building subtext learns that the internal organisation of this newest part of the Management School is soon to be reconfigured. This follows repeated complaints from its occupants that the spaces intended to be used by postgraduate research students for cross-disciplinary synergies and anti-silo thinking were in fact rarely used by anyone, because of the noise and distractions entailed by the dynamic open-plan design. Appeals to the Facilities Division - known for its faith in the universal superiority of open-plan offices - and to Finance - known for its quite proper commitment to caution and procedural correctness - having got nowhere, the Dean eventually persuaded the Vice-Chancellor to visit the building and see for himself the expanses of empty desks and unused terminals. subtext understands that Professor Smith immediately agreed that the lay-out was impractical and promised prompt action to create an environment that, if it cannot ensure productive scholarship, will at least make it possible. ******** Counselling Students who are in need of counselling, and go to the website to complete a self-referral form, will learn that no appointments can be made with the University's Counselling service until 7 January (https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/12606_4900349476695_1864966507_n.jpg). This announcement - which must have some potentially serious effects on students' well-being - is worrying, especially since LUSU has been campaigning for a better counselling service. It suggests that demand for counselling is exceptionally high, or that the provision of counselling services is exceptionally low - or both. subtext recalls that Tom Finnigan, Director of Student Based Services, committed himself to investing more in mental health provision after closing the nurse unit. What happened to this? ******** UCLan Ltd One of our nearest university neighbours has applied to the government to become a private company. (See http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=421911&c=1 for the news, and http://union-news.co.uk/2012/11/uclan-set-to-become-first-mainstream-privatised-university/ for the UCU response). UCLan is apparently the first university to seek its own dissolution by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. It hopes to become a company limited by guarantee, while retaining charitable, not-for-profit status. The advantages are said, by the Chair of UCLan's Board, to be greater agility and flexibility 'to respond to the constantly shifting political and regulatory landscape in which we operate in the UK and to take advantage of the opportunities around the globe' (UCLan has campuses in Cyprus, Sri Lanka and Thailand). Sound familiar? The local UCU branch is organising a meeting of members at the institution to discuss its reaction to the news and possible protests against the plans. It, and UCU nationally, are worried about a slide towards privatisation and the erosion of internal democratic structures. subtext will await developments with interest. ******** New kids on the block It was announced this week that David Willetts is to recommend the creation of ten new universities in what he calls 'the biggest creation of universities since 1992'. It follows the government's decision to lower the size threshold for university status from 4,000 to 1,000 full-time HE students, so that ten small specialist colleges are now eligible to be granted university title in their own right - see http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=421960&c=1.
******** Fayre in Morecambe More Music and Lancaster child rights charity Stepping Stones Nigeria will be hosting a Gorgeous Gifts and Garments Fayre on Sunday 2 December 2012 at More Music, the Hot House, Devonshire Road, Morecambe. The Fayre will showcase international and local crafts and garments for sale by independent stall holders. Confirmed stalls include Icelandic and Western Isles Textiles, Bespoke Jewellery and Russian crafts, with many more to come. There will also be interactive activities for all, and live festive music to help raise funds for Stepping Stones work in Nigeria. The money raised during this event will go directly to Stepping Stones Nigeria, a local charity that upholds and defends child rights in the Niger Delta. If you cannot attend, but would like to help Stepping Stones Nigeria with its important work, you can donate by texting PACT16 followed by £2/£5/£10 to 70070 or visit the website at www.steppingstonesnigeria.org to become an ongoing supporter. ******** LUSU tweeting sensation subtext has learned that the recent LUSU elections generated much activity in the twittersphere. Apparently 1,447 tweets inspired by the event reached an audience of 42,980 twitter users in the space of 24 hours, enough to propel #lusuelections to number 3 on Twitter's list of UK 'trends' just after midnight. Who says students are apathetic? ******** Idle chat in the barbers' subtext has reported before on the closure of Lancaster Market. Idle chat at TJ's barbers' salon, formerly of the market and now on Sir Simon's Arcade, reveals that almost all of the market businesses are now reinstalled in the town centre, that some are doing better than they used to and none worse, and that the owner of TJ's misses the camaraderie but not the dark, poorly-designed market building itself. Passing trade and windows apparently make up for a lot. For a very useful list of where all the former market traders have relocated to, see http://virtual-lancaster.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/cool-trader-casualty-of-lancaster.html. ***************************************************** MUSIC DEGREE TO CLOSE? In a surprise announcement last week, Heads of Department in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences learnt that recruitment to LICA's BA (Hons) Music would be suspended with immediate effect, and that there were proposals to lay down the degree completely. Music staff learnt about these developments on Wednesday, the rest of LICA on Thursday, and proposals were discussed at the Faculty's Policy and Resources Committee on Friday. A document prepared by the Director of LICA, now in the public domain, makes the case for the unsustainability of the degree programme: on current projections, they may have as few as 4 joint majors (i.e. 2 FTEs) starting in 2013. It makes it clear that there is no intention for LICA to contract: it lists a number of areas of potential undergraduate growth to make up for the loss of Music, and suggests that every opportunity should be taken to find ways of incorporating existing music staff in these - to protect jobs, but also to ensure that music and sound are still taught at Lancaster. But it does acknowledge that laying down the degree will put seven members of staff at risk of redundancy. There will be a period of consultation with LICA staff and unions before any final decision is made at the beginning of January. There will of course be competing accounts of the real reasons for Music's travails. The number of students studying music at Lancaster has been declining for the last few years, despite several major reorganisations - such as the creation of a BA in Popular Music and a BA in Music Technology, and last year the merger of these back into a single BA Music. The dropping of instrumental tuition a few years ago certainly made it hard for Lancaster to recruit the best students. The increase in minimum entry grades meant that Lancaster was fishing in a very small national pool of academically excellent music students. The absorption of disciplines like Music into LICA has created opportunities for integration and synergies in teaching, research and practice: but also, undoubtedly, new tensions and problems. It will be interesting to see if Senate takes a view on the mooted closure of a subject area, as it did robustly in 2003 when Art was in the firing line. Certainly, moments like this prompt reflection on what makes a university. Are there some disciplines and forms of inquiry that a university simply has to pursue and teach, because they are constitutive of a university? If so, what should be on that list? Mathematics? Philosophy? Physics, biology and chemistry? Critical social science? Music? Or should all subject areas be treated simply as income generators in their own right, to stand or fall by themselves? The latter is certainly implied by the growing tendency to discuss even sub-departmental units in terms of their 'net contribution' (i.e. profitability), exposing them to accusations of unfair cross-subsidy from other, more 'profitable' units. It's notable that last decade has seen a steady decline in the teaching of music in 1994-group universities. The Universities of Exeter and Reading decided to close their music degrees in 2004, and the University of East Anglia did so in 2011 (despite the fact that their recruitment was in fact increasing - see http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/bill-vine/save-uea-music-school_b_1071525.html). This trend is clearly partly driven by the distinctive nature of music students - the best instrumentalists want to go to conservatoires, the best scholars to Oxbridge, so universities like ours can struggle to find their own distinctive, attractive and relevant way of teaching music. But it is also, surely, being driven by changes in what people think a university is, and therefore how decisions about what should be taught and researched should be made. In these difficult times, we wish LICA well in its deliberations about how to proceed. ***************************************************** TWO BANDS IN THE GREAT HALL On successive Thursday evenings, the audience at the Concert Series in the Great Hall was treated to two concerts by bands. The first of these, led by tenor saxophonist Andy Scott, was SaxAssault, an ensemble of nine saxophones from sopranino to bass, with a three-piece rhythm section. The arrangements, all by band members, were remarkably original and interesting, and showed the virtuosity of the players to good effect. In the couple of quieter pieces on the programme, the band showed that it can play very sensitively; but with nine saxophones ranged across the front of the stage and mostly operating at a high decibel level, this was a fairly deafening evening. One wonders whether so much of the performance had to be quite so loud. The quieter, more reflective pieces not only came as a relief from the near-continuous fortissimo; they also showed another side to the band's talent, and a welcome one. SaxAssault is clearly making a good name for itself: the band was due to play at the Forge, Camden in the London Jazz Festival just two days after its appearance in the Great Hall. The following Thursday's concert was given by the Fitkin Band, led by the pianist-composer Graham Fitkin and largely providing a vehicle for performance of his compositions. Fitkin is a remarkably versatile musician: his work includes some very attractive arrangements of medieval works, which sounded very well on the unusual combinations possible with his band, which included saxophone, trumpet, marimba, vibraphone, piano, harps, bass, guitar and (sometimes) drums. But most of the concert was of his own highly rhythmic and quite complex music, which nonetheless was very enjoyable to listen to. As the band's web site has it, they play rhythmically-intricate music which treads the line between formal concert genres and more informal musics. This was a most enjoyable evening. ***************************************************** LETTERS Dear subtext, Those who welcome the university's wind-turbine might reflect upon the following. Energy can be neither created nor destroyed: power companies merely transform energy into (more) useful forms. The popular argument is that non-green conversion losses are harmful: carbon emissions, environmental pollution, nuclear waste and so on. Nothing exists, other than as an embodiment of energy. Where that embodiment has value, some part may be expropriated (taxation) and re-allocated (subsidies). Thereby it becomes possible to sustain the unsustainable. The potential for R & D to raise the efficiency of green technology is not denied, which might justify small-scale experimentation. However, the efficiency of wind turbines is presently too low to compete with non-green alternatives. Green requires subsidies but, with a subsidy, green changes hue: green plus non-green becomes pseudo-green. Unless and until their full cost is borne directly by consumers, the diversion of non-green energy to subsidise pseudo-green energy must raise non-green emissions. Gerry Steele, Economics ******** Dear subtext, Might I direct those voicing despondency at the limited opening hours of Venue and its ilk towards our beleaguered college bars, whose hours are far less limited. They would certainly appreciate the custom, and I know that both County (currently trialling 12 p.m. opening) and Fylde (open bright and early at 8.30) serve excellent coffee from J. Atkinson & Co., providing refreshment along the spine and throughout the day. Best Wishes Jack Fleming ******** Dear subtext, Bill Cooke's letter in subtext 96 mentions refreshments outside the hours of 9-4 regretting that nothing is available at 6 p.m. I want to complain about the other end of the day: I'd like something available at 9.30 a.m. Even 10 a.m. I am very disappointed at the makeover of Fylde Bar's food facilities. I want a hot bacon roll at 9.30 to warm me up on cold winter mornings and provide some sugar for gumption. Not a baked potato at 11 a.m. A baked potato is lunch and takes as long to make and eat as lunch. And by 11 a.m. I'm already warm (if the heating is working) and have lost an hour. If the university expects us to cycle in, it needs to let us warm up when we've arrived. This remake of the college bars appears to be just a sneaky attempt to kill them off. First, remake them all to look the same and provide the same facilities. A year or two later you take official notice that they're all duplicates of one another, and that you can kill some of them off without losing services. If you're going to call them 'College' bars, let the colleges decide what they should be doing and how to run them. Otherwise they're just a very tiny chain, each one without any unique service, but with the chain too small to have economy of scale. Simon Slavin, Psychology ******** Dear subtext, I have not received instructions like the ones you printed in subtext 96, and have not yet signed anything relevant to my position as 'Advisor'. Actually, if asked to sign anything I'll resign instead. The point of the post is to be an unofficial help. Having to sign something makes me part of the system, therefore part of the problem not part of the solution. I have served as College Tutor for a few years now, and I have had only bad things to say about the attempt to move to a different model of 'College Advisor'. I attended the recommended training course. Some things on it were relevant to the position but everything said was bloody obvious. Others related to things tutees have never wanted to discuss with me and I can't imagine them picking me as the right person to go to about them. I conclude that whoever composed the material had no experience of being a tutor who students actually went to. Given the list of things printed in subtext 96 as things an advisor cannot do, I wonder whether anyone who made that list has ever been a college tutor. The 'banned' list is pretty much what my students came to me wanting. Tutees ask questions leading me to consider whether they might be homesick or depressed. Those are career and health issues. Tutees ask questions like 'Does this marking or disciplinary action look reasonable to you, or do I have an argument against it?' They want to vent complaints which aren't linked to specific people, and therefore can't be directed at an investigation, but feel good to talk to someone about. Can I no longer discuss any of those things with them? If I'm no longer allowed to do these things as Advisor, what is an advisor for? Am I now a talking phone directory, allowed to answer only with 'The appropriate person to see about that is ...'? If so, the university can replace us all with a web page which picks key words out of anything typed into it and uses them to suggest an appropriate centre/department/officer. And we ex-tutors can get some of our leisure hours back. Terry the Tutor ******** Dear subtext, I wonder whether the editors have weighed carefully the meaning of their statement that 'to all appearances Professor Atherton looks like someone who values our University as it currently is, instead of staking its future on making it into something it could never be'. Are we being invited to embrace self-satisfaction and the status quo? Paolo Palladino, Department of History ***************************************************** The editorial collective of subtext currently consists (in alphabetical order) of: Sam Clark, Mark Garnett, George Green, Ian Paylor, David Smith, Bronislaw Szerszynski and Martin Widden.
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