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subtext issue 115 6 February 2014 ***************************************************** 'Truth: lies open to all' ***************************************************** Every fortnight during term-time. All editorial correspondence to: subtext-editors@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, strike one, more hod, lit crit, birmingham, court red-handed, lonsdale belt, noise, dictionary corner, links, letters (none) ***************************************************** EDITORIAL During the current dispute over pay and conditions, it is not surprising that some of us have occasionally wondered about the Vice-Chancellor's pay settlement. Indeed, we half-expected a well-timed announcement that, to prove that we were all in this together, Professor Smith had refused to consider anything more than the ubiquitous 1%. It was, then, something of a shock when figures were circulated last week indicating that the V-C had been given a pay rise of more than 10%. Even that would have left Lancaster just outside the UK's top ten - sound familiar? - and on the bare salary figures (leaving aside certain 'perks' of the job) Professor Smith's remuneration was hardly exorbitant when compared to some of the riches on offer at other institutions. As always, it's all relative; nevertheless, many will have been reassured when an official correction was issued (see also 'Lit Crit' below), calculating the increase at a much more modest 2%. subtext, though, doesn't find much reassurance in the revised figure. By our calculations, it still means that the V-C's rise was 100% greater than the amount allocated to the rest of us; and, of course, 2% of more than £200,000 is a tidy amount - more than half of one year's tuition fee, and a lot more than 2% of, well, the salaries of just about everyone else in the University. To judge from the unsympathetic tone of communications relating to the limited industrial action, the idea that 2% should be lavished on the rank and file evidently causes consternation on the upper floors of University House. Although V-Cs at some other universities have clearly seen the present situation as an opportunity to make grand philanthropic gestures, or even, lawd 'elpus, to accept significant pay cuts, the overall impression left by the figures nationally is still that of a two-tier academic profession. Higher management within the sector insist on rewards befitting 'global pacesetters' (and, of course, whether their real importance is genuinely global or local is a decision best left to them); the rest of us are invited to hope that, if our superiors are kind to us, they will allow us to stay in what looks more and more like a race to the bottom. The current trend invites a subversive thought: if Britain's Vice-Chancellors took the collective decision to strike for a week (let alone the occasional day) would anyone suffer serious inconvenience? Whatever its critics might think, subtext usually eschews negative personal reflections. On this occasion, indeed, it would be fair to view the general disappointment over this issue as a form of compliment to Professor Smith - he has made so many good decisions that this one seems all the more perplexing. Presumably it is now too late to put right this avoidable lapse in public relations, but one can hope that things might be different next time around. ***************************************************** NEWS IN BRIEF subtext would like to apologise for some recent problems affecting those wishing to subscribe and unsubscribe. We have been favoured with this helpful communication from an eminent ex-collectivist: To subscribe to subtext, send an email to: subtext-request@lists.lancs.ac.uk that just says: subscribe If you want to subscribe someone else (or another email address of yours), send a message that says: subscribe 'address', putting the email address you want to subscribe instead of 'address'. If you want to unsubscribe, send an email to subtext-request@lists.lancs.ac.uk that just says: unsubscribe If your command doesn't work, try turning off any automatic signature your email programme adds to your messages and have another go. And if that doesn't work, email subtext-editors@lancaster.ac.uk, keeping in mind that we all have day-jobs and may take a while to respond. ******* The subtext collective would be very interested in talking to any colleague, from any discipline, who might be interested in joining us. Absolutely no pressure, just a mutual exchanging of possibilities, and if it doesn't work then we'll all walk away and no hard feelings. As has been pointed out on several occasions, there are no skill prerequisites to joining us. ***************************************************** STRIKE ONE Disquiet has been caused to some Heads of Department by an email from Human Resources, which reads as follows: 'Can you please send me a list containing the full names of all members of staff in your department who took part in the strike action on Tuesday, 28 January 2014. I would greatly appreciate if you could also let me know if any teaching courses in your department had to be cancelled due to the strike, and if that should be the case, have any re-arrangements been made for these courses. We do require this information as soon as possible, at the latest by Wednesday, 29 January 2014, 5pm. If you have not yet replied to my query regarding personnel in your department who participated in the strike on Thursday 23 January 2014, please make sure you include this information as well. Thank you very much for your help.' Let's be charitable, and assume that this is simply a misunderstanding of the role of a Head of Department. It's worth re-stating (for it has been increasingly fogged over recent years) that while a HoD of course has administrative functions, s/he is not an administrator as such. S/he does not have authority in a line management sense, but is primus inter pares, using authority granted by those over whom it is wielded. This certainly does not include collecting data on striking staff on behalf of the Centre, and it is of concern to realise that HR thinks that it should be. There is a clear and tested procedure in place for staff proposing to strike to inform HR of their intentions. The only possible reason for a HoD to compile their own list would be for purposes of comparison. This action, assuming HoDs were willing to comply, would place them in a potentially invidious, divisive and unpleasant position. ***************************************************** MORE HoD In subtext 114 we counselled subscribers to be 'careful what you wish for' regarding the diminution of the power and position of the Faculties. The position of Heads of Department (see 'Strike One' above) is one important aspect of this. Look at it step by step. If Faculties have less authority, then either that authority must go back to the Centre (boo) or otherwise it must perforce go to the Departments (hurrah). But Heads of Department, who are not trained Managers and who have limited time, authority and resources, are already stretched way beyond what is reasonable. If yet more responsibility devolves to them, the time will quickly arrive where no-one will be willing (or, indeed, able) to be a HoD. The University's response presumably would either be to claw back that authority by default (boo) or to appoint Departmental Managers – professional administrators from outside the University, who will wield line manager authority. Some colleagues may cheer and others may hoot at that idea, but it's unknown territory, and we should be thinking hard about what we want. We have in the past tended to give too much away too easily. Once the principle of HoDs being drawn from the academic community ceases to apply, it won’t ever come back. Think on. ***************************************************** LIT CRIT Literary scholars were much exercised by the communique responding to the UCU press release on the subject of the Vice-Chancellor's salary. Such documents have not always been masterpieces of precision and subtlety. Many would recognise that their tone has improved significantly since the days of the Wellings diktat, though that may be in part due to the fact that the news imparted has largely been more agreeable. Anyway, the press release follows. 'I would like to alert you to an inaccuracy regarding the Vice-Chancellor's salary increase stated in your press release issued on Thursday the 23rd of January. We were required to respond by issuing a short statement to local media outlets, and have also had a staff enquiry. I wanted to take the opportunity in sharing our statement with you so you can see how we are responding to enquiries. The figures in the UCU press release need correcting. The figures quoted for Lancaster are comparing salaries of different people so it is misleading to portray this as a 'salary rise' relating to a particular person. The actual salary of Lancaster’s current Vice-Chancellor increased by 2% in the period considered. The figure does not reflect the current base salary which is well below the national average'. Isn't that great? 'I would like to alert you...' Most thoughtful, no? Not 'tell', or 'warn', or 'point out', but 'alert', with its overtones of 'action to be done'. Next it's described as an 'inaccuracy'. Not a mistake, or something misleading, merely an oversight, a mistake, hey, it happens. 'We were required to respond...' is great too, with just the faintest hint of the inconvenience that innocent university staff had been put to by such recklessness. Then we got 'I wanted to take the opportunity in sharing our statement with you so you can see how we are responding to enquiries'. Not 'here's the facts, you careless clods', but rather a sense that we can all work together to make sure that this doesn't happen again, and who could argue with that? 'Need correcting' is a nice way of saying 'wrong'. The rest of the document perhaps raises more questions than it answers – not least that base salary is a fixed amount of money paid to an employee by an employer in return for work performed, and does not include benefits, bonuses or any other potential compensation – nevertheless we commend the style of the writer, and look forward to future press releases. ***************************************************** COURT RED-HANDED The annual meeting of University Court was held last Saturday. Sir Christian Bonnington presided and opened the meeting. The 2nd item on the agenda was the 'Annual Report of the Pro-Chancellor' and this was given by Lord Roger Liddle. He's only been in place since last September, he reminded us, before going on to mention what a wonderful place Lancaster University is. Lord Liddle will obviously need time to adapt to his role, but as a refugee from New Labour one would have expected him to know how to bury good news. Nevertheless, he blurted out that 'We can celebrate this year, an enormous financial surplus.' He didn't put a pounds and pence figure on the enormity of the surplus. Fortunately, the Director of Finance, Ms Sarah Randall-Paley, spelled it out. She told us the final surplus was 8.2%: or in real money, £16.2 MILLION! It should also be added that the VC went on to tell us how Lancaster University research is world leading (as if we didn't know!). Whilst we acknowledge our research has been a great success, and continues to be so, the question that needs asking is how long does the University think it will maintain this position when it continually fails to invest in the staff achieving these results and all the people supporting them? ***************************************************** BIRMINGHAM News of the attitude of the police and University management to protesting students in Birmingham is truly disquieting. We have sat in comfortable superiority while reading reports of oppression in the Ukraine and human rights abuses in Russia; as always, such hubris is punished. Reports of kettling, prosecutions under laws intended as counter-terrorism measures, arrests for trivial nuisance being treated as criminal offences, all these are most troubling. Interested subscribers are encouraged to follow the links in 'Links' below. ***************************************************** LONSDALE BELT Great fun was had by all in the local and national media last week regarding Lonsdale Dean Richard Austin-Baker's reported intention to ban drinking in Lonsdale College. As might have been expected, this was not RA-B's intention. The University has put out the following Press Release. 'Media reports in connection with Lonsdale College There have been inaccurate reports in the press following an email from Lonsdale College Dean to Lonsdale students about an event in their bar. The University and LUSU continue to support responsible drinking and work with the Police to promote their Easy Tiger campaign. There has not been any change to our disciplinary policies, which are agreed through our disciplinary committee with student, staff and College representation. No students were fined for being drunk and there was good partnership between students and the bar staff on the night.' So there. We understand that the Lonsdale Dean's intention was not to attempt to stop drinking, but rather to try to keep drunkenness at a socially acceptable level. Older subscribers may remember that it used to be a publican's duty to refuse to serve a customer if they were obviously intoxicated, and this duty was taken seriously. If this responsibility is still the law, it seems to have fallen into desuetude. While the Dean does seem to have fallen victim to the tendency for certain types of news to be reported as if the most extreme possible consequences were an accomplished fact – a process accelerated and accentuated by social media – and we should all be aware of this tendency on such occasions, nevertheless, a measure that asks people to take some responsibility for their behaviour is perhaps cautiously to be commended? ***************************************************** LIT CRIT 2 And while we're looking at Press Releases, the one concerning Lonsdale Bar is not without interest. Again, one gets the feeling that whoever is writing these things has upped their game. Compared to a few years ago, the snippiness that often crossed the line into outright belligerence that characterised such missives has gone. In its place is a determined focus on plain English, which is to be commended. The point about disciplinary policies is nicely made. The only bit that raises an eyebrow is in the last sentence; while there may be those who view the relationship between students and bar staff as a 'partnership', one rather doubts whether the students and staff do. ('Hey, partner, two collaborative Bacardi Breezers please'. 'Sure thing, partner, and in celebration of the co-operative relationship that exists between us that'll be three pounds fifty please'). 'Partner' is one of those bits of management-speak (like 'stake-holder') which can be seen in a positive way (hey, we're all this together) or as a devaluing of the word into something like 'in the same place and involved in the same activity', which could equally well be said of people who were mortal enemies. But apart from that, way to go. ***************************************************** NOISE One of the subtext collective was talking to a student the other day (it does happen) and the student commented – at length - on the amount of noise on campus around teaching areas. We tend to agree – while it would be unreasonable to expect the cloisters of academe to be wholly sound-proofed, and the Brideshead vision of tutorials in a don's panelled study sipping sherry in a soporific stupor is perhaps only for a few, nevertheless, it don't half get rowdy sometimes when you're trying to learn something at Lancaster. Inter alia, there are the mowers powered by second-hand tank engines passing three feet from the window; the latest bangin' sounds of Ibiza reverberating from the residence rooms above you; the fire alarms; the tests for the fire alarms; the window cleaning (a lot of that going on at the moment); people's phones going off; noisy conversations held right outside the room (and that includes staff as well as students); car-owners on the perimeter road revving their engines; water pipes gurgling; maintenance going on in nearby toilets... it goes on. And we'll soon have exams and the Quiet Time, honoured more in the breach than the observance. We'd settle for a quiet hour every day, no phones, engines, nothing. Someone should start a petition. ***************************************************** DICTIONARY CORNER An occasional column where particularly hideous manglings of the English language (ones much worse than 'manglings') can be exposed and derided. This week's entry, heard on Laurie Taylor's 'Thinking Allowed' on January 29th: 'Responsibilising', as in the sentence 'When lectures are cancelled due to strike action, students are increasingly responsibilising the University rather than individual lecturers'. Nice. ***************************************************** I FAGIOLINI IN THE GREAT HALL Little beans in the Great Hall? Really? Well....no, this isn't another green initiative. I Fagiolini is the name of one of the UK’s most highly-regarded a capella groups, who perform Renaissance madrigals and twentieth-century vocal repertoire. From the start of the pre-concert talk it was clear this was going to be an unusual evening: the speaker was not one of the performers as is the usual practice, but a forensic psychiatrist, Ruth McAllister. And this choice had been made because the concert was to feature, among others, the music of the composer Carlo Gesualdo, the 400th anniversary of whose death was marked last year, 2013. Gesualdo was born about 1560 in the town of Venosa in southern Italy, into a noble family. Very early he showed strong signs of musical talent. The second son, he would have been expected to go into the church, where these talents could be fully exploited - but his elder brother died very young, leaving him as the heir to the principality. In 1586 he married his first cousin, Donna Maria d’Avalos. Although aged only 21, she had already been married twice. Two years after the marriage she began an affair with the Duke of Andria. The affair was well known, but Gesualdo either was unaware of it or chose to ignore it. Finally, however, he caught them in flagrante delicto, and killed the two of them, before a number of witnesses, who made depositions to the magistrates - which survive to this day. However, being a nobleman, and having caught the two lovers in the act, he was immune from prosecution. Thereafter, he appears to have been tortured by guilt, and this mental strife appears in his music. Many 16th and 17th century madrigals are chromatic - moving through apparently-unrelated keys - but the music of Gesualdo strays further than almost any composer of that time or the succeeding 200 years. In this it almost anticipates Wagner, and even Schoenberg. Choirs find it very difficult to place the notes accurately. I Fagiolini make a particular point of exact pitching. Their highly professional performance was a real pleasure to hear - even if some of the works on the programme owed their particular flavour to a double killing in the sixteenth century. ***************************************************** LINKS Our usual service to subscribers. Anyone who was surprised at the degree of sadness at the recent death of Pete Seeger might like to have a look at the following transcript of his testimony to the House Un-American Activities Committee. The man was a real mensch. See peteseeger.net/HUAC.htm. Subscribers may have heard reports about the student demonstration held at the University of Birmingham last week where a number of students were arrested and five students suspended. Details of the day can be read here: There is a petition asking the UoB VC, David Eastwood, to reinstate the students who have been suspended, which can be accessed at: ***************************************************** LETTERS There were no letters this week. If subscribers don't write to us, then, like problem pages in the daily press, we will be forced to make letters up, along the lines of 'Please help, my University doesn't understand me'. So unless you want a lot of very bad puns in this space, please do get in touch. ***************************************************** The editorial collective of subtext currently consists (in alphabetical order) of: Sam Clark, Mark Garnett, George Green, Ian Paylor, and Martin Widden.
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