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subtext ***************************************************** ‘Truth: lies open to all’ ***************************************************** Issue 127 22 January 2015 ***************************************************** Fortnightly during term time. All letters, contributions and comments to: subtext-editors@lancaster.ac.uk subtext does not publish material that is submitted anonymously, but will consider requests for publication with the name withheld. subtext reserves the right to edit submissions. Back issues and subscription details can be found at www.lancs.ac.uk/subtext For tips to prevent subtext from getting swept up into your 'junk email folder', see: www.lancs.ac.uk/subtext/dejunk/. CONTENTS: editorial, post, downfall, graphic, making waivers, not the venue, colleges, court, strategic thinking 1 + 2, democracy, flags, pharmacy, survey, essex, lost and found, overheard at Lancaster, trevor, elzee, hr, letter. ***************************************************** EDITORIAL In the wake of our previous issue, the subtext collective was (again) accused of being in the pocket of a left wing trades union socialist UCU-loving plot. Or something like that. (We have on occasion been accused of being part of a right-wing UMAG sub-committee too, but those accusers for some reason don’t write letters.) The subtext collective vigorously denies both accusations, and has issued the following statement. “The subtext collective finds itself again having to take valuable time from The Struggle, notably attending the Eighth World Communist party conference, which included a fascinating eight-hour discussion of a motion from the floor denouncing everything and demanding an immediate end to it all, to respond to yet another facile and wholly malicious accusation from the lickspittle lackeys of multi-national Capitalist / bourgeois repression. These Fascist running-dogs of Imperialist / colonialist aggression have again hurled their unjustified and wholly fallacious accusations at a group whose sole purpose is to meet with like-minded comrades and look at pictures of kittens on the internet. The subtext collective is, of course, unashamedly and proudly co-operative, a fact which no doubt sticks in the over-fed throats – well lubricated with the blood and sweat of the honest toil of surplus value-generating serf labour - of the plutocrat imperialist oppressors. The collective is therefore proud to take time out from its study of The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon to denounce its accusers as devious wall-eyed power-drunk agents of hegemonic Global Capital, interested only in deflecting the collective’s entirely justified examination of their own heinous activities, and motivated solely by a desire to enslave and exploit honest proletarians. Come the revolution, we will know who our friends are.” Subscribers will see that this statement completely refutes the accusation that the collective is in any way politically motivated.
***************************************************** NO POST Several colleagues have recently remarked on the University-wide shortage of internal envelopes. While it is probably true that much of what used to be sent by internal mail is now done virtually, there are plenty of things that still need a hard copy. Most envelopes that we’ve received in the internal mail recently have been pre-printed external envelopes that have had the stamp scratched out and ‘Internal’ written on them. Given that these are only used once and that the special internal envelopes can be used lots of times, surely this is a false economy? It also deprives us of pleasing co-incidences in the little boxes, such as one’s Head of Department receiving an envelope from a student, then using it to send something to the Health Centre, receiving it back again, and then sending something back to the student. All wholly innocent of course, but a cheap laugh is a cheap laugh. ***************************************************** DOWNFALL Subscribers will no doubt know of the many parodies of a scene in Hitler’s bunker in the film ‘Downfall’. (The David Peeks version is no more, but those of us who saw it remember it fondly.) Those subtext subscribers forced to endure the Lancaster one-way traffic system and who have a few minutes to spare may well enjoy this version. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSE5EWnMrUA&feature=share ***************************************************** GRAPHIC There’s a nice colourful new graphic on the wall of the very-good-but-in-no-way-iconic sports centre, next to the climbing wall. It is a composite of lots of photos of the various sporting encounters during Roses week. Nice idea. Though it did occur to subtext that making the largest single image that of a rescue helicopter landing on a playing field to airlift an injured player to hospital may be sending a slightly different message to the one that was intended? ***************************************************** MAKING WAIVERS It is often said that where the USA leads Britain will follow. (The reverse is also arguably true; your cultural correspondent is firmly of the belief that ‘rock n roll’ was here in the form of Lonnie Donegan long before those guys from America came across the pond.) Some recent news that did not get much coverage on this side of the water is that US president Barack Obama has launched the America’s College Promise. This would see the government working with states to waive tuition fees for ‘responsible’ students. The programme is aimed at middle-class households struggling to pay for the soaring costs of college courses, where tuition fee increases have outpaced the rate of inflation. Sounds familiar? Where America goes today… You can read the remarks by the President on his America's College Promise on the website below. It begins: “THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody! (Applause.) Hey! Thank you! (Applause.) Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. Everybody, please have a seat. Please have a seat. Well, it is good to be back in Tennessee. I hope you guys aren’t getting tired of me. I’ve been coming around a lot lately, because there’s a lot of good stuff happening here… http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/01/09/remarks-president-americas-college-promise ***************************************************** NOT THE VENUE subtext was often critical of The Venue, so let’s give a cautious welcome to its successor, The Deli, as being almost inevitably an improvement. First impressions are favourable – it no longer looks like the Dublin ferry, with those daft high chairs and tables. And the themed evenings sound promising. Any subscriber fancying a crack at reviewing any or all catering outlets on campus will find a welcoming place here for their output. ***************************************************** PEAKS AND TROUGHS (OF BOWLAND) Readers of subtext will recall the reports on the worrying situation in Bowland College. To briefly recap: lots of people applied for Principalship, none were accepted (despite the Syndicate having expressed its firm support for the continuation of the incumbent), the Pendle Principal had Bowland College added to his portfolio, and the bulk of the Principal's work is being undertaken by the Dean, who is also the Vice-Principal. Additionally, the role of College Administrator was, for several months, filled by a full time Masters student who has now graduated, leaving the post vacant. subtext understands that, presently, the administrator of Furness College is working a few hours a week in Bowland to support them, and the post of Bowland College Administrator is being advertised, but as a six-month position. Elsewhere, the Dean of Pendle College is presently serving as the acting Dean of Graduate College. Er. Why? Nobody seems to know, and reportedly those who do wish to know why resources are being needlessly stretched and why the University is steadfastly refusing to allow a return to equilibrious normality are being told “something something something College Review…” Oh, did we mention that the College Review is complete, and its recommendations are reported to be going to the next meeting of University Council for passage? subtext has yet to encounter a single College Officer with any idea what the recommendations are, and everybody involved in the conclusions of the review is being incredibly secretive and frugal with their revelations. It would appear to be the case that proposals set to have a huge effect on the Colleges are to be passed without their members ever having seen them; subtext understands that one individual privy to (but not forthcoming with) the Top Secret Information insists that recommendations are, far from being controversial, fairly anodyne. Well, there is a simple way of proving this: tell everyone what they are, because secrecy solicits suspicion. Doesn’t bode well... ***************************************************** AN UNEXPECTED REBUKE On the day of publication, the University has released the agenda for the annual meeting of the Court, to take place on the 31st January (information on the Court’s remit can be found here: gap.lancs.ac.uk/Committees/court/Pages/default.aspx). Two motions, one on fee & rent increases and one on the Colleges situation outlined above, have been put by representatives of the Students’ Union. It seems that The Management are eager to see the motions fall - so much so, in fact, that the University Secretary deemed it necessary to append rebuttals (described as ‘background information’) to each. subtext muses on the fairness of play in one side of a debate having the ability to influence a vote before the members have even started to discuss it, and will publish a full report in the next issue. ***************************************************** STRATEGIC THINKING Subscribers will by now have committed the University’s ‘Strategy for 2020’ document fully to memory and will be being guided by it in their every move. The Strategy has definitely got its heart in the right place, and there is little in it that one could object to. It lays particular emphasis on the University being a supportive community. A pleasing sense of the big picture there, one might think. One might argue therefore that it’s a bit of a shame the way that some long-term colleagues are actually being treated on the ground. We wonder if the writers of the Strategy document are aware, for example, that when someone retires from the University after maybe 40 years of service, their email and library card privileges are suspended immediately. The same applies to PhD students the day they leave. Now, we don’t think that people who retire or leave Lancaster should necessarily be given an office in their old Department and free University catering food for life, but it does seem indecently hasty to pull their email address, which after all is effectively no-cost. Not only does this seem mean-spirited, it is also counter-productive. Most people who leave Lancaster are still involved in research (you don’t stop being interested just because you’re no longer here)and still engage in research-relevant conversation with their erstwhile colleagues. They often come back to teach, and some are even happy to mentor junior colleagues. At the very least, they are a resource of information and historical perspective for those of us still here, and of course our reputation amongst the general public is in their hands. We have a choice; to allow people to remain in contact with the University, and so reap the benefits of having them around, or to say ‘Thanks very much, now push off’. Only one of these could remotely be described as being ‘supportive’ or ‘community minded.’ ***************************************************** MORE STRATEGIC THINKING We’ve briefly touched upon the University Strategy and how we seem to skirt around it when it suits us. Can we ask; what exactly is Collegial about swearing a select few to secrecy about highly important decisions? It seems that many HoDs and staff in general were totally unaware, for example, of the fee and rent increases until SCAN and the Students' Union (who, we understand, were also forced into slowness on the uptake due to their committee delegates honouring strange notions of 'Trust' over sensible notions of immediately telling everyone before it's too late) kicked up a stink. Now, College Officers are being kept in the dark about their future until a decision is made by a committee consisting of no College representation, and in general it seems that the pressure is on those who ought to keep those they manage in the loop to instead keep schtum. At some point, a great deal of resentment is going to simmer over, and staff would do well to remind their denizens who they are to serve. ***************************************************** DEMOCRACY CORRECTION In the previous issue of subtext, we reported that the current voter registration rate on campus sat somewhere in the region of 400. We stand corrected; it actually sits somewhere in the region of 22. There is still plenty of time for people living on campus to get registered - there is certainly no rush, but as well as waiting for people to pull their fingers out and get registered nearer the time, students need to be made aware that they actually are NOT automatically registered by the University anymore, and that there is a deadline. The last thing subtext wants to see is keenos being turned away from the polling booths because they weren't aware of the new rules and regs, although it may well be the first thing that certain political parties who perhaps might have fallen out of favour with students in 2010 would want to see happen. It would be of great help if academic staff were to open lectures and seminars with brief parenthetical asides referring to said rules and regs, as well as to emphasise just how EASY it is to do. subtext will leave the relevant link just here: www.gov.uk/register-to-vote ***************************************************** FLAGGING UP Most subtext subscribers seem to like the rectangular flags that appeared on lamp-posts around campus last term. These trumpet Lancaster’s achievements in a variety of areas, and as such we assume they are mainly aimed at prospective students and their parents. (Of course, they may be inspirational exhortations to existing staff too, rather like – and see Editorial above – in Stalinist Russia, where workers were encouraged to ‘Exceed the Five year Plan!’ and ‘Use Comrade Stalin’s guidance to double the production of plastic buckets!’) Some have noted that the messages on the flags tend to concentrate on the sciences, and a quick check suggests that this is true, though in fairness there is probably a question of scale here – regardless of fairness, it’s more immediately impactful to say to a passing eye ‘We discovered a new form of lava!’ than it is to say ‘We wrote a new biography of Charles Dickens!’ Unfair, but understandable. For a while in the subtext collective there was a nagging sense that we’d seen the flags somewhere else, and then we remembered. Kurosawa movies. The Japanese soldiers carry coloured flags just like these, so that everyone knows who is on their side and who is against them. No similarity here then at all. ***************************************************** PHARMACY MOVE Readers who have ever had to make use of the pharmacy on campus will know what an idyllic woodland trek it is to visit. Regardless, its present location is hardly convenient, and we’re willing to bet that many people aren’t even aware that there is a pharmacy on campus. A recent correspondence from the NHS would suggest that the inconvenience is soon to be resolved - plans to move the pharmacy to a more central location (the odds-on favourite is the currently empty space next to Subway) are underway, as the Area Team’s Pharmaceutical Services Regulation Committee considers such a proposal put forward by the University. ***************************************************** STAFF SURVEY subtext awaits the staff survey results with interest. In advance of their publication, we offer a few reflections. It was certainly courageous, as Sir Humphrey might have said, to herald the launch of a major staff survey by writing to every member of staff, warning them that they might be liable to be sued. But Lancaster is certainly an innovator in these matters. So, on 7 November, "we reserve the right to join an individual member of staff as a party to any claims for damages made against the University that have arisen as a result of the non-performance of their duties, as a result of which that member of staff may possibly be personally liable for any damages awarded." Then, on 11 November, "we will be using the results to . . . understand more about staff perception of the culture of the University, improvements that can be made and positives that should be recognised more." Did this broadside galvanise our colleagues to vent their anger, or did it convince them to stay diplomatically silent? Concerns about anonymity were raised by many people, who were assured that the survey would be "fully confidential and anonymous". subtext wonders if this slightly misses the point. Could it be that many staff were simply concerned that the institutional response to evidence of widespread dissatisfaction within a department, section, or even a whole faculty might be one of anger, bitterness and bullying, rather than sympathy and concern? We shall see. ***************************************************** THE ONLY WAY IS ESSEX Subscribers may be familiar with Marina Warner, who has written well-received novels as well as writing widely and with immense authority on subjects such as myth, folklore and so on. She’s a Big Hitter – no, she’s a Huge Hitter. Which makes the way she was treated by Essex University in the lead-up to the REF not a little perplexing. Follow the link to read an account, more in sorrow than in anger, of exactly how not to do it. http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n17/marina-warner/diary ***************************************************** LU TEXT LOST AND FOUND More from LU Text’s cutting room floor: The new University Shield was unleashed with the aim of propelling Lancaster into the public consciousness, and subtext is pleased to announce that it has been drastically penetrated. In just a mere matter of months after the new logo’s implementation, Lancaster University was featured as a clue in the Guardian Christmas crossword: http://static.guim.co.uk/ni/1419007471515/Christmas-Crossword.pdf Elsewhere, rent and fee increases remain a recurrent point of annoyance for students across the Country. The resounding pissed-off-mess of students on our own campus was namechecked in the Guardian online last week: www.theguardian.com/education/2015/jan/15/students-demand-end-to-rents-that-swallow-up-95-of-their-loans Meanwhile, in the THES, a war of words between our history scholars regarding the REF is ensuing: www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/comment/letters/ref-how-a-one-man-crusade-got-started/2017942.article ***************************************************** OVERHEARD AT A CAMPUS EATERY "Can I have the soup to eat in please?" "We only do it in cups - it's against university policy to do it in bowls." "But I had it in a bowl last week." "I'll see what I can do . . . . (brings back soup in bowl) . . . Here you are, but we shouldn't really do this." ***************************************************** UNMITIGATED TREVASTY Things have been quiet on the bar front as of late, and subtext did find itself thinking that a bit of aggro over decisions regarding the College Bars was somewhat overdue. Not since the Great Restructure of 2012, which saw a reduction in licensees on campus (before then, there was one licensee to each bar) and the further centralisation of the bars’ operations have students kicked up a fuss over their territories. But, it seems that socks have been pulled up, and people are reacting less than satisfactorily to the new opening hours of Furness Bar (or Trevor as it is more popularly known), which will now only be serving drinks from 4PM on weekdays. It is understandable that Commercial Services mightn’t want to put its staff through the soul destroying task of overseeing a dead establishment for several hours, but having one fewer place serving beer at all hours on campus is never a good thing - subtext offers its full support for the campaign to keep it open (here is a Facebook page for the clicktivists among you: www.facebook.com/pages/SAVE-TREV-BAR/993564547338183), and hopes that a Cunning Plan to make Furness financially viable in the afternoon is produced soonest. And, of course, the old adage must be re-iterated: either we use it or we lose it! ***************************************************** VICARS IN TRAINERS Subscribers of a certain age will perhaps recall subtext having a lot of fun a few years ago with the eLZee (see subtext 57), aka The Learning Zone. We wondered then what exactly constituted ‘Learning’ in this context, as distinct from, say, the activities going on in seminar rooms nearby and indeed in the Library just 100 metres away. Then it all went quiet. And now we see that while the Library is being refurbished the old Conference Centre building on the North Spine has been turned into…The Study Zone! Ok, the “eSZee” doesn’t work as well as the “eLZee” does, because there’s no US military acronym eSZee, but it does make you think. Same question as always; if I have an essay to do, do I need to go to the eLZee first, in order to equip myself with some Zonal Learning, and then go next door to the SZ, in order to internalise what I have Zonally Learned by proceeding to Zonally Study, and furthermore, where exactly is the WZee, the Writing Zone, so that I can actually put my Zonally acquired Learning and Study down on paper? ***************************************************** 28 DAYS LATER Many staff will be aware that the University has a quite reasonable (compared to other employers) paternity leave policy. So long as they apply 15 weeks before the expected birth date, potential fathers will receive a week’s full pay, in addition to a week’s statutory paternity pay (a whopping £138.18). Information on how to do this can be found on the HR website. So far, so good. However, what the website won’t tell you is that if the birth date changes for any reason you have to inform HR and your line manager 28 days in advance , so that Payroll will know when to pay you. One subtext subscriber and prospective father discovered this when he recently applied for paternity leave. He pointed out to HR that he had no way of controlling the biological process, that postponing birth for a month was impractical, and that the only notice he will get will be his partner heading for the maternity unit while blaming him for everything. Still, rules are rules, so in order to be helpful the subscriber sought to enlist the assistance of his unborn son: Dear Son-To-Be, I trust this letter finds you well and that your present accommodation is satisfactory. Your Mother and I are looking forward to meeting you and are busily making preparations, apologies if the noise of the building work has occasionally disturbed your gestational repose. I write on the subject of your imminent arrival. I have received a missive from the Human Resource (a dreadful term used to describe people) Department at the University, insisting that I stipulate a firm date for your arrival amongst us. They further indicate that I must provide them with 28 days notice of any change to that date. It is with some regret that I must, therefore, pass that requirement on to you. Following advice from the doctors, your Mother and I understand that we may expect you here on the 14th March. If it’s all the same to you, around tea-time would be ideal. If your plans change please bear in mind that we will need 28 days notice in order to fulfil our obligations to our employers. This is, I fear, merely the first of many such bureaucratic scenarios which you will be required to endure through the course of your life. It was my hope that we would be able to stave off the onslaught of box-ticking idiocy, until after you are born at least, but it would appear that even the womb is no longer a safe environment when it comes to one’s administrative commitments. Still, some would say it is better that you discover this delightful facet of human existence sooner rather than later. Finally, your Mother has asked me to request that you leave your accommodation tidy when you leave. Apparently we might lose our deposit if maintenance work is necessary following your tenancy. Your loving Father-To-Be
***************************************************** LETTER Dear subtext, I’d like if I may to respond to Professor Peter J Diggle’s (of Lancaster Medical School) letter printed in Issue 126 of Subtext. As an active member of the Lancaster University divestment campaign, I was pleased to hear that Prof. Diggle’s attention had been directed towards our petition (which incidentally achieved above and beyond our target of 1000 signatures by the end of Michaelmas term, and is still drawing in signatures) and I would also like to thank Prof. Diggle for furthering the conversation on this important matter. However, I was slightly perplexed by the implications of Prof. Diggle’s letter, implying that fossil fuel use does not cause damage to human health. Not least since The British Medical Association divested from fossil fuels and reinvested in renewable energy sources in July last year, due to the scale and immediacy of the threat to human survival, health and wellbeing posed by unmitigated climate change. This, corroborated by an earlier report by The Lancet (in 2009) claiming climate change to be one of the biggest global health risks of the 21st century. Yet of course merely focusing on the human impact of these three industries would be a blinkered view on the state of affairs; for all three industries devastate the environment, ecosystems, the atmosphere, as well as other animal species. Finally, I also wish to acknowledge the sheer amount of hours of voluntary work the devoted members of our divestment campaign have tirelessly put in and are continuing to put in. Thus Prof. Diggle's suggestion of managing three entirely separate petitions alongside one another sounds rather a daunting task! Kind Regards, Rachel Preston BSc MA (Sociology PhD Student)
***************************************************** 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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