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subtext issue 123 30 October 2014 ***************************************************** 'Truth: lies open to all' ***************************************************** Every fortnight during term time. All editorial correspondence to: subtext-editors@lancaster.ac.uk 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/. CONTENTS: editorial; every bloody year; libraries; pensions; universities giving away books; academic having 'fun'; Human Resources: Not up to the Job?; nicholas daniel and the northern chamber orchestra; a half-century of education in lancaster; buses; terry bray day; drama at the dukes; compare and contrast; mark steel; letters. ***************************************************** Editorial Our feature on the University's new and "improved" logo (see "No Logo", subtext 122) seems to have led to our largest ever influx of readers' letters and comments. As a result, the subtext collective is considering building a new prestige warehouse which will cover the remaining fields between the campus and Galgate and feature a huge glowing version of our motto, "Truth: Lies open to all". One thing that unites many of our correspondents, as well as the colleagues that the subtext collective has informally surveyed/badgered over the past fortnight, is the feeling of not having been consulted. The collective has seen a report on the marketing research which was used to justify the decision to change logos, and feels it would receive a decent mark if it was handed in by one of our students. However, the focus groups and other means of collecting information about attitudes towards different styles of logo focussed largely on prospective students, or rather on those students we don't attract yet but would like to. This seems reasonable from a marketing perspective, but given we are seeking to attract and retain world-class staff, we might have expected some more thinking to go into how the change was communicated to us, and how potential bad feeling about the change might have been pre-empted and mitigated. Heads of Department were apparently briefed on the change, but (as they are busy people), it appears this didn't "trickle down" to the masses. It is trivially easy to consult a few thousand people within an organisation via a web survey. Even if our views had been completely ignored (as they undoubtedly would be), at least we would have felt more involved in the change. Sadly subtext understands that the University is currently undertaking a comprehensive review of postgraduate teaching without consultation. ***************************************************** Every bloody year Another year and yet again the topic near the top of each Departments agenda is the National Student Survey (NSS). The NSS is the main vehicle for student feedback in UK universities. It's sent to final-year students to gather views about what they think about the quality of their course and institution. The results are used to compile university league tables. And this time every year NSS comes in for criticism from academics and students who feel that it doesn't truly tell us how engaged students feel. And this time every year stories are recycled about ‘other’ universities who hold special NSS weeks and devote considerable resources to entice their students to fill out the forms ‘correctly’. Claims are made that universities have pressurised students into giving positive answers. subtext has no doubt some of these stories are true. And this time every year we get the obligatory article in the Times Higher Education Magazine commenting about the NSS. This year it is Joanna Williams (http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/tablet/17BC3809/2016372.shared.)who argues that education and satisfaction are antithetical - so why keep on assessing how students feel? She posits that sometimes it appears that universities spend as much time worrying about what students think of them as undergraduates spend worrying about grades. She is right and we know that the NSS is a source of frustration because of the way such a subjective evaluation is routinely recycled as a statement about the quality of a course. It does not measure educational quality and the process infantilises students and corrodes academic integrity. A few years ago Lee Harvey quit as the Higher Education Academy's director of research and evaluation after a letter by him was published in the Times Higher Education magazine criticising the survey as "bland" and "methodologically worthless" It is clear that the consequence of the obsession with the student experience is the adoption of a risk-averse and defensive approach towards the provision of undergraduate courses. But we continue to play this silly game – at least we only obsess about the NSS for a few weeks, the Research Excellence Framework is with us always! ***************************************************** Libraries Subscribers will recall that subtext ran an extended piece on libraries (issue 121) highlighting Birmingham's new central library. subtext is proud of the number of readers it has ‘around the world’ (apologises to ‘Just a Minute’, BBC Radio 4) and is well aware of the influence this organ carries and whilst we do not want to ‘over-egg this particular pudding’ (apologies to ‘The Great British Bake-Off’, BBC1) it cannot be a coincidence that Birmingham's new central library has just won a BBC online vote to find Britain's favourite new building. The library was one of six new buildings, including the London Shard and Liverpool's Everyman Theatre, shortlisted for this year's Riba Stirling Prize for architecture. Readers of the BBC News Magazine were invited to choose their favourite of the six buildings listed for this year's prize. Approximately 90,000 votes were received. Check out: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29567764 ***************************************************** Pensions UCU members in pre-92 universities have voted "yes" to strike action (78% yes) and action short of a strike (87% yes) to defend USS pensions. Turnout was 44.5% - the largest for a national ballot in UCU history, it seems. On the form of past disputes, this would mean looking forward to a one-day strike or two, coupled with a work-to-rule - but it seems the UCU Higher Education Committee (HEC) will be more aggressive this time. Members received an email from UCU General Secretary Sally Hunt on Monday 27 October: "With little indication as yet that the employers are prepared to negotiate seriously, the HEC agreed to serve notice on the USS employers for a setting and assessment boycott to begin on 6 November 2014. This serious industrial action will undoubtedly lead to disruption and is not being undertaken lightly. We would prefer negotiation to conflict if that is possible. I therefore repeat my plea to the many employers with doubts about their national negotiators' plans to act now before it is too late. We will continue to pursue a negotiated solution but it is now clear we must prepare for a prolonged dispute to defend pensions." So - will it work? At Lancaster, there has not yet been a response from D Floor, or from the Director of HR - will there be a repeat of the promise to withhold 100% of pay from those participating in the boycott? Rumours abound that the VC is quietly supportive of UCU's case. The University Senate on 5 November looks set to be a lively meeting; papers are now available for the viewing and can be found here https://gap.lancs.ac.uk/Committees/senate/sms/meetings/Agenda/22/Senate-agenda-2014-11-5.pdf ***************************************************** Universities giving away books? Universities might not be able to ‘afford’ to give workers their pensions but it seems they can afford to let books ‘disappear’. Universities have been told they could be breaching consumer law by preventing students from graduating because of minor debts other than tuition fees. The Office of Fair Trading wrote to universities back in February warning against calling a halt to graduations because of non-academic debts, such as library fines. Consequently Sheffield University has scrapped fines for overdue library books, marking another step in the move towards students being seen as consumers and customers as well as scholars. Sheffield University has introduced a system in which books will be automatically renewed until someone else requests them. Students are then asked to return the book - the only sanction will be that students will not be able take out any more books until they return the one that is due back. Subtext assumes this means that Sheffield students can take a 'leaving present' of numerous books with them after graduation. Check out the story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-29805727 ***************************************************** Academics having ‘fun’ Just before the new term began subscribers may have noticed the story of the five Swedish academics that have had a 17-year-long bet: the person who writes the most articles to include Bob Dylan song lyrics wins lunch at a local restaurant. The bet began in 1997, after Nature’s publication of a paper by academics Jon Lundberg and Eddie Weitzberg called ‘Nitric Oxide and Inflammation: The Answer Is Blowing in the Wind.’ That’s where it could have ended, but a few years later, a librarian noted that two of the scientists’ colleagues had titled their paper ‘Blood on the Tracks: A Simple Twist of Fate?’ That document was dedicated to the ability of non-neural cells to generate neurons. The fifth competitor was Kenneth Chien, a professor of cardiovascular research, who heard about the bet at Stockholm’s Karolinska Institute, where the four scientists worked. In 1998, Chien published his first ‘Dylan-titled’ paper: ‘Tangled Up in Blue: Molecular Cardiology in the Postmolecular Era.’ Then, the competition dramatically heated up. In 2009, ‘The Biological Role of Nitrate and Nitrite: The Times They Are a-Changin’’ by Lundberg and Weitzberg saw the light; then ‘Eph Receptors Tangled Up in Two’ in 2010, and ‘Dietary Nitrate – A Slow Train Coming’ in 2011. The Guardian reported on the story on 29th September:http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/sep/29/swedish-cientists-bet-bob-dylan-lyrics-research-papers England footballers have twice indulged in similar behaviour. At the 1998 World Cup in France in 1998 players drew a singer or band name from a hat before speaking on air. Each mention of a song was worth a point. In Japan and South Korea in 2002 players attempted to ‘smuggle’ French phrasemaking into their post-match interviews. Similarly, subtext is reliably informed that barristers wager that they can blend obscure or ‘rude’ words or phrases into their closing remarks without anyone noticing. subtext wondered whether subscribers were aware of any other such like behaviours by cunning linguists. ***************************************************** Human Resources: Not up to the Job? The following narrative is based on personal experience, but confidentiality and the potential of disciplinary action requires that details of the actual case are redacted. If Lancaster University’s (LU) Performance Development Review (PDR) and its grievance procedure were constrained by the Trades Descriptions Act, the Human Resources Division (HR) would have a hard time defending itself. In regard to the annual PDR: ‘Reviewers are asked to attend training (provided by the HR Division) prior to undertaking reviews for the first time, and to ensure their reviewees are fully briefed and prepared for the process. All Reviewers should attend further training every three years to keep up-to-date and refine skills’. However, in July 2013, the then HR partner advised: ‘There is no requirement for the reviewer to be trained providing they have, in the view of the HOD, sufficient experience to undertake PDRs’. The clear implication is that an HOD has carte blanche to appoint anyone to the role of a reviewer, with or without training. Furthermore, in discounting the relevance of training, the PDR may be hijacked for an ulterior purpose: to manage a ‘team’. Those who attend training sessions know that the use of a PDR for team management is explicitly precluded. In reaction to that misuse of the PDR and to the introduction (and idiosyncratic application) of departmental criteria to deliver discriminatory allocations of research time, the LU grievance procedure was invoked. As lay magistrates are guided by a professional clerk-of-the-court, so an experienced HR practitioner is expected to guide an adjudicator through the grievance procedure. In the event, HR guidelines were ignored and the process was wantonly partial: (i) written evidence was submitted by the plaintiff; (ii) the adjudicator raised points for clarification; (iii) the adjudicator invited individuals who were instrumental to the grievance to respond; (iv) the plaintiff was afforded no opportunity to challenge any of the responses; (v) the adjudicator refused to take evidence from three individuals as requested by the plaintiff; (vi) the adjudicator declared the case ‘not upheld’. The case was taken to appeal where a Grievance Appeal Panel (GAP) comprised three senior members of the University. Their recommendations addressed the key elements of the grievance: (i) the misuse of the PDR for management purposes; and (ii) the idiosyncratic application of local research criteria. However, when permission was sought to circulate those recommendations to departmental colleagues, the University Secretary issued a gagging order: ‘It is a matter for the relevant managers to determine how to respond to those recommendations, including whether or not to publicize them and it is not for you to make those recommendations public.’ And so, the GAP recommendations have been reported only to the managers against whom grievances were alleged. Although those managers have treated those recommendations with disdain, again, the detail remains censored. Most serious is a general issue of governance. The LU grievance procedure produced a set of recommendations which, if implemented, would have settled the grievance. Those recommendations were censored and then set aside. This could apply to any future case. By this precedent, the outcome of any grievance process can be ignored by any line manager with no ensuing accountability. Contributed by Gerry Steele ***************************************************** The Diaries of Dr Karem Babs (BA, MA, PhD (Sta. Crelna)) My dear friends and colleagues It is quite a few years since I have been able to write to you with greetings and news from my University and update you on the goings-on in our politically and economically dysfunctional microstate of Sta. Crelna. You will remember that I, like yourselves, am a researcher and teacher, and that my discipline is Linguistics - to be exact, semantics, and my research interest is in ambiguity. When last I wrote, more than a decade ago, our university was in crisis, and I was expecting any day to find that I was surplus to requirements. But amazingly, I was spared, because our masters found a use for me in Doom Tower, this being the name of the ancient building which metonymically denotes our central administration. I was set to work in what was then known as Personnel, but now goes by the name of Jobs&People, in the Contract Department, where I spent several industrious, and I must admit, not unhappy years. My job was to insert ambiguities into the wording of contracts. At the end of my secondment there, no member of staff had any chance of laying claim to any employment rights, for whichever way a clause might be interpreted, it could equally be interpreted in the opposite way. I once again expected to be sent on my way, with little recourse - a victim of my own success. But it was not thus, and I was returned - on much worsened conditions - to my own Department, Linguistics. By now this had been merged (due, I believe, to a misunderstanding which began with a confusion over spelling) with the Department of Entomology. This has worked better than you might expect, and I have warmed to my new HoD. His life’s work is to research the life cycle of hypolimnas misippus, a harmless butterfly which deceives its predators by imitating the poisonous Monarch (danaus chrysippus). We have found enough common ground that we are working on a joint paper now called On the Origin of Species Names, to be submitted to the International Journal of Entomologico-Onomasiology. Recently, the future has begun to look bright for our institution, thanks to the inspired leadership of our new Vice Chancellor Reinaldo Woldfass, who has declared that our University is to become the first Lifestyle University in our country. All around the campus, luxury apartments have sprung up, and alongside them, cafes and wine bars, and leisure palaces of various sorts. At the very centre is the new Pleasure Dome featuring a tropical spa, with all the usual services. I cannot write more now, due to several deadlines for forms which must be filled in, but I hope to write again before long. Yours truly Karem Babs, BA, MA, PhD ***************************************************** Nicholas Daniel and the Northern Chamber Orchestra The programme of music for the Great Hall concert by the Northern Chamber Orchestra on 23 October was an attractive blend of familiar works with some that were little known. The concert opened with a suite by Henry Purcell, arguably England’s greatest-ever composer, written in 1695 as incidental music for the play Abdelazer, or The Moor’s Revenge, by Mrs Alpha Behn. The play is long forgotten, but the music is of high quality: Benjamin Britten used the second piece in the suite as the theme for his set of variations The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, written in 1946. The Northern Chamber Orchestra plays without a conductor. This has the advantage that the players have to listen to and watch each other more carefully, and it can often produce a more integrated performance. They did justice to the Purcell suite. The first half of the concert ended with the oboe concerto by Ralph Vaughan Williams, with Nicholas Daniel as soloist. Playing his oboe, Daniel was BBC Young Musician of the Year in 1980, but in recent years he has taken up conducting too. In the Vaughan Williams concerto he was able to play the virtuosic solo part very musically, and at the same time, by conducting with his oboe and by gesture, facial expression and body movement, to encourage the orchestra, and to lift them to a higher level of performance and musicality. Daniel appeared again in the second half, as one of the two soloists (the other being the orchestra leader Nicholas Ward) in the concerto for oboe and violin by J S Bach. Here Daniel once again inspired the orchestra to greater heights. In the final piece of the concert, the youthful string symphony no 10 by Mendelssohn (written when he was only 14), they continued to perform to a high standard. One slight downside to this concert was that Nicholas Ward, the orchestra leader, took it upon himself to give a couple of minutes’ introduction from the stage to every item. A p.a. system was provided, but he didn’t articulate clearly and was difficult to hear. His rather poorly-prepared introductions didn’t add much to the excellent notes provided in the printed programme, and one wondered what the point of them was. ***************************************************** A half-century of education in Lancaster This year, 2014, marks the 50th anniversary of Lancaster University, but it is also 50 years since the opening of St Martin’s College, whose Bowerham campus is now part of the University of Cumbria. The two 50th anniversaries were celebrated at a joint event with the City Council in Lancaster Town Hall on 21 October. This took the form of a panel discussion, chaired by the TV pundit Jim Hancock, on the subject The economic and social impact 50 years of HE has had on Lancaster, and what the future holds for the two-university city. On the panel were Peter Strike and Mark Smith (VCs of Cumbria and Lancaster Universities), Mike Damms (CEO of East Lancs Chamber of Commerce), Eileen Blamire (Leader of Lancaster City Council), and Madeleine Atkins (Chief Exec of HEFCE). Whilst residents of Lancaster sometimes complain about students - they can be noisy, their cars occupy too many parking spaces, they live in houses that could otherwise be inexpensive family homes, etc etc - there was no dissent from the view that in the past 50 years the two universities had brought huge economic benefits to Lancaster. Concerns were expressed about the costs of higher education to students or to their parents under the present fees regime, and about the marketisation of HE. Happily, there was general agreement that the two universities and the city had a good relationship which operated to their mutual benefit – although see below. ***************************************************** Buses The journey to work continues to provide some welcome entertainment as the weather turns. Gentle chaos still prevails in the early and mid-morning scramble in Dalton Square. If you are really lucky, as your correspondent was the other week, you enter the perfect bus passenger storm. The driver is not having the best of days, most passengers are attached to various sizes of backpacks stuffed with books, folders etc. making turning in the aisle a fraught business. One passenger is carrying a very large medieval shield, another an industrial size cask of body builders whey. Enter two students with what appears to be a giant ghetto-blaster on wheels which prompts a conversation with the driver. Two older passengers brandishing walking sticks clamber aboard – the seats allocated to people with mobility problems are duly vacated without murmur by the incumbents although the back packs attached to the gracious passengers clobber the student stood in the adjacent spot. Cue the arrival of two pushchairs – one a giant state-of-the art thing that looks as though it would be good for off-roading. Those subscribers familiar with the Marx Brothers film ‘A Night at the Opera’ will recall the stateroom scene which sees a total of 15 people in Groucho's tiny ship's cabin, already containing a bed and a big wardrobe trunk. By the end of the scene crammed into this little space are Groucho, three stowaways, two cleaning ladies who make up the bed, a manicurist, a ship's engineer and his assistant, a girl looking for her aunt, a maid and four waiters with trays of food - prompting Groucho's classic line: "Is it my imagination, or is it getting crowded in here?" Check it out at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZvugebaT6Q It will give you a flavour of how, occasionally, travelling to work can be an interesting experience. ***************************************************** Terry Bray Day There was a jolly good turn-out for Terry Bray Day on Sunday 19th October at the Gregson Centre. Terry died on 25 September and his family and friends organised a day to celebrate his life. Terry’s relationship with University was an ‘interesting’ one – he and management did not see eye-to-eye on a number of things. Terry was an internationalist in every sense of the word and came to Lancaster University in 1987 to work in the Institute for English Language Education. When the IELE closed in 2001, Terry worked for several years at Blackpool College but returned to Lancaster to work in the International Office, managing and creating access programmes with LU partners around the world. He was not a willing retiree but Terry left the employ of the University in 2011. At his ‘do’ food was eaten, drinks were drunk, stories told, songs sung and toasts offered. Reminiscences were had amidst a lot of laughter. Many stayed till the end and undertook the Terry Challenge. At the end of the evening after a long day on the cricket field, Terry would invariably buy several different malt whiskies and invite his fellow players to ‘name that whisky’. On Sunday the 19th this was re-enacted – three whiskies were circulated and for the obvious novices amongst the gathered throng tasting notes were circulated. For those of you who set out on this contest but failed, for whatever reason, to complete this task the answer was Bowmore, Tobermory and a Jura. Thank you, Terry. ***************************************************** Drama at the Dukes Adverse weather, oddly the night before the Gonzalo storm, damaged the roof at the Dukes causing the theatre/cinema to be deemed unsafe for patrons on Monday (20th October) night. Cinema goers were offered reimbursement and a complimentary cup of tea or coffee for their trouble – nice people at the Dukes. Speculation was rife that the damage was started by impact of the excellent Courtney Pine gig the previous month. The music was soooo loud and as Courtney hit the lowest of the low notes on his bass saxophone the gathered music lovers were gently showered with tiny dust particles that fell from the ceiling. The movie that had to be cancelled on that Monday was ‘Northern Soul’ – a surprise box-office hit this season. The film tells the tale of two Northern boys whose worlds are changed forever when they discover black American soul music. For those of you not familiar Northern Soul was a phenomenally popular (predominately Northern) music genre in the 1970s, featuring retro American records and Dexedrine-driven dancing. Subject to excellent reviews the publicity machine behind the film has been particularly successful with full page stories in the quality press and very good coverage on TV and radio. The music featured in the film is available in boxed sets of authentic looking 45 rpm singles – brilliant piece of marketing. ***************************************************** Compare and contrast Lancaster University’s Chancellor (as of January 2015) Alan Milburn has been in the news quite a lot recently. Alan Milburn is the Chair of the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission. The other week saw the publication of the commission’s second State of the Nation report, an overview which proved to be uncomfortable for all politicians of whatever stripe. As the government's social mobility tsar Alan Milburn says young people are the losers in the economic recovery and described the situation as "depressing". The report and Alan Milburn got a great deal of publicity. Subtext has listened to and read quite a number of the pieces about the report, both in the press and on TV and the radio. Not a word about the University, other than the fact that he was an undergraduate here. PR no-show regarding his soon-to-be-exalted status. It is surely not beyond the wit of some moderately able marketing wiz to get the briefest of mentions? Are his people not on message and on-board the project yet? ***************************************************** Mark Steel Your cultural correspondent was fortunate enough to enjoy Mark Steel at the Grand Theatre on Friday (24th October) night. Described as a Radio 4 comedian (where did that phrase come from?) he specialises in shows centred around the town/city/village he is appearing in – in this case obviously Lancaster. He bounded on stage at 8 o’clock prompt dressed resplendently in a very bright red velvet jacket. His style is nimble (for a big man he is surprisingly agile) moving around the stage ranting, showing photographs, swearing, shouting, reading and telling very funny stories and the occasional joke. The first half of the show covered a host of stuff all sparked by reminiscences about other places he has visited: politics – particularly UKIP; Captain Oates; trains; religion; sport (he likes his cricket) – the first half ends with a very funny joke about rugby league. The second part of the set was centred on Lancaster. The university gets a mention – disparaging comments about a degree in Lake District studies and absent academics plus an enquiry about whether the students are bothering you. A review of a gig in town is something subtext would not normally offer but this particular event prompted your correspondent to ponder, especially following the panel discussion on a half-century of education in Lancaster reported above. Mark Steel appeared at the Dukes last December giving a show based on the same premise. Your correspondent was present as were a number of colleagues and faces recognised from the University. The show was the same format and just as enjoyable but was less frenetic, less ‘music-hall’, less swearing curiously enough, more measured and more university oriented. Your correspondent did not recognise anyone in the Grand. subtext has no idea how many towns Mark Steel has visited twice but if a comedian from Kent recognises such an obvious divide in a place that could justify two separate shows in two separate theatres barely 500 hundred yards apart then we think this is worthy of comment. It is of course stating the bleeding obvious that, ever since the university was built, there has been a town and gown divide. However, such a stark example on a number of different levels, as witnessed in the Grand Theatre, should perhaps be a cause for concern. There is a lot of talk about the ‘Westminster bubble’ and how out of touch those who inhabit it are. We live and work in the university bubble and perhaps, maybe, we are, with all our talk of furthering our place in the world, in danger of losing sight of our relationship with our host city. We would like to hear our subscribers (including those nice people promoting ‘Campus in the City’) opinion on this topic, whether you caught Mark Steel or attended the commemorative event in Lancaster Town Hall or not. ***************************************************** LETTERS Dear subtext, Given that ‘The editors welcome letters, comments, suggestions and opinions from readers’ how about a question? Do you know where all the campus rabbits have gone and are the ducks going the same way? It may just be me but there does seem to be far fewer than there used to be … Judith Young ******** Dear subtext, I emailed our friendly Marketing Services team three weeks ago, to ask when the new faux-Oxbridge expression of an apparent institutional inferiority complex was consulted on with members of the university community, since obviously I missed it. To date I have had no reply. Best wishes, John Foster PPR ******** Dear subtext, With apologies to Edward Lear ( and poetry lovers everywhere) How pleasant to read Subtext, In which is written such volumes of stuff, Some of it's witty or vexed, The rest is pleasant enough. To have reached the top 10 is astounding, Especially when having no logo, Just words in a font unresounding, Even paper and ink are a no no. Bob Sapey ******** Dear Subtext – to add to your list of what people think the new shield looks like – one of my colleagues reckons it looks like Chuck Noland’s friend ‘Wilson’ from the film ‘Cast Away’. Best wishes, Michael Cowie. ******** Dear subtext, Thank you for the hilarious article on the new logo (cf. issue 122) which cheered me up no end whilst fighting off a second bout of freshers' flu. On a serious note I think it is unfortunate as well as unfair that a proper consultation appears not to have taken place, especially as you point out that even the students preferred the swoosh. I miss the swoosh and have yet to warm to the new logo: my first impression, as those you report, was its resemblance to the face of a fantasy figure. Spongebob Squarepants? But worry not! The swoosh lives on! And you'll never guess where. Here's my amazing story: yesterday we experienced unusually beautiful, autumnal sunny weather and so I took my two young daughters to play in the kids' play park down at the south end of campus, just behind the ISS building. I was engrossed in some swing pushing and lifting small bodies onto the bars, when suddenly my tissue blew away. I ran to retrieve it ... and stopped dead in my tracks. There, illustrated in a small square of Tarmac, slightly faded Pompeii red against black like street art but with exceptional modesty and dignity, next to a totally non-descript ironing railing, embedded within a slightly overgrown patch of playing field, was the swoosh. I stared at it for a very long time. It measures no more than about 40-50 centimetres in depth, and has some moss growing out of bits of it. In a fascinating, almost esoteric way, this only adds to its appeal. I would liken it to the floor mosaics one might find in the farthest corners of Ostia Antica. It is quite beautiful. I have no idea who put it there, or why. Like so many things associated with Lancaster University, it is random, inexplicable and totally unexpected, but all in a good way. Part of me wants to propose to Facilities that it be ring-fenced, like rare botanical species are in Renaissance gardens or at least awarded a protection order or such, but another part of me would like it to stay exactly where it is, how it is and just blend in with Nature. I would urge people to go and take a look. Who knows, it might not be there for much longer. But if there are plans for it to stay, it should be advertised so that future students and staff can go and take a look at something that meant a great deal to the first generations who studied or worked here at Lancaster University. Alison Leech, DELC ****** Dear subtext, Like other readers of your distinguished organ, I have little patience for marketing guff, but I'm surprised at some of the comments about the replacement for the swoosh. It wasn't "designed" by some "outside design company" except insofar as substituting colours unknown to heraldry for the proper ones. To complain about the designs on the shield is to complain about the university's coat of arms, which we were granted in 1964, so it is somewhat belated to say the least! All that has been done is to take the shield from the coat of arms - and it is quite normal for armigers and armigerous organizations to display just the shield rather than the whole "achievement" (to use the heraldic term for the shield, together with the crest, mantling, supporters - if any - and motto, if any). The original design, including the selection of the "charges" (the symbols on a shield) will have been by either the Garter Principal King of Arms or the Clarenceux King of Arms. Kings of Arms are fancy titles for people who have spent their careers devoted to the study and practice of heraldry, starting as research assistants, moving on to be pursuivants, then becoming heralds and finally, for some, progression to being a King of Arms. (A career at the College of Arms is really a career in scholarship and they are due the respect we, as scholars, normally accord to fellow scholars, expert in their fields.) So whoever designed it may fairly be supposed to know a bit more about it than your correspondents (or the university's marketing consultants). The lion (shown passant), by the way, represents not courage (best not to get your heraldry from the interweb) but is a reference (slightly indirectly, it seems to me) to the arms of the Duchy of Lancaster, which are charged with three leopards ("leopard" is the heraldic term for a lion passant gardant - i.e., a lion walking from right to left as you look at it with its head turned to look towards the viewer). This is the source of the "three lions on a shirt" of the ignorant football fans who don't know they are leopards. The roses are references to the arms of Lancashire County Council, which has three of them on the shield. The wavy lines are a fanciful representation of the river Lune and also a reference to the arms of the City of Lancaster. I have long thought it a shame that we didn't use our arms on signage and writing-paper and am glad to see the change - though I would have preferred the correct heraldic colours or else representation in monochrome according to established conventions, though it is not unprecedented amongst universities (cf, Durham). I don't really have a view one way or another about the "slab" or the chosen font. Yours aye, Richard Austen-Baker ****** Dear subtext, One thing heartened me about the new logo announcement - rebranding need not be expensive apparently. Which is unsurprising if one just re-uses that of a nearby school: fonts, colours, logo design and all: http://www.uawarrington.org/Content/Home/Default.aspx Did anyone run that through turnitin? (Or did the new 18 page end user agreement all our students must sign to submit coursework, which would appear to be brought in to enable turnitin to use their massive database of texts, feedback and marks to support developments of automatic feedback and grading http://turnitin.com/en_us/lightside-labs) Steve Wright ***************************************************** The editorial collective of subtext currently consists (in alphabetical order) of: George Green, James Groves, Ian Paylor, Ronnie Rowlands, Joe Thornberry, Johnny Unger and Martin Widden.
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