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It's all about yesterday, she said, taking a short walk East to see the scarred geographies of where dead places, and their people, reside, waiting, we hope, to rise again. Those towering, sleeping giants of industry, sullen and morose in a comatose and redundant state. And true, the offices are all closed up - 'for staff training'. This does not fool anyone, let alone your fretful landlord. The assets are clearly stripped to the bleached bone, taken away for a new tomorrow. And so onto the Western front, papers clutched, pre-meetings had, questions hanging limp on the cracked lips of your so nervous mouth. Unfolding just as you thought it might, a rather unedifying affair; stage-managed performances that John Parish wishes he could claim as his own. A tale of two cities, right enough, with those living in the sky seeking closures, "disinvestment", and those scrimping in the dirt seeking to protect what they hold dear as their very own - disciplines, jobs, identities. No votes are asked for, none expected. This is 'consultation', after all, not a 'decision'. You will wait your turn, within twenty-two days. A bus back to town drops you, via a detour, to another location where you receive smiles and handshakes, not frowns and avoidances. In this fair venue you do not suffer from an intellectual leprosy. Indeed, whilst your very worth and existence was questioned, just hours ago in barren chambers, now your value is heralded and paraded in a stage-scene lifted from the Mercury Prize. The glitz and the glamour make for an end to a surreal experience, and day, but then again is this not the life we all live now? Temporary moments, drifting from experience to experience, building us up and knocking us down. I guess the best advice is to hang on tight and line up that last Tequila Rapido, my friends.
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Icehouse - 'Street Cafe' (4.14)
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All things Iva. This is breathtaking. In other news, I am finally listening to this band again; and I am handling it. I'm even going to see them play live in August (this time I will get a taxi home).
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How can you make me so sad (news) and happy (Icehouse) at the same time?
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, on both the award and The National. You.
ReplyDeleteIsn't that life though Rach? Happy/sad? As soon as I saw that place on Duke St I knew what the song had to be ;)
ReplyDeleteIt's a bit weird. Nice things happening, corners being turned, amongst all this uncertainty regarding employment. Still, the fight is now on. Red pens at the, well, ready.
Having been through this with the children's ward of the local hospital and being in the final stages of it with my older girl's school, I've seen what I really already knew, that organisations hold 'consultations' on closure proposals because they are obliged to, not because they want to consult on their plans - they just want to carry out their plans, which they've already decided upon.
ReplyDeleteThe only glint of light I've found, and it's a glint of light that might be there for you too, is that these public (or quasi-public) organisations can't just behave as they like - they are obliged by statute and regulation to do things in a particular way and when they don't then awkward buggers with an interest can make things difficult for them.
Fighting unreasonable institutions on a technicality is not very glamorous and might not let you win in the long term. Sadly I'm left with the thought that at the very least I will manage to get somebody else in authority to look down at the bastards at the council and say 'call that a consultation - go and start again'. In the best version of this they also surcharge the councillors for the unprofessional, improper and wasted 'consultation' that has supposedly taken place so far.
So... check the university's rules, look at the government's procedures for closing schools of study (there might be a statutory instrument - there is for the procedures that must be followed over the closure of schools) and get pedantic, if you can stand to.
We've been steamrollered so heavily by the council that our last hope (other than a personal appeal to council/ombudsman/highcourt, which isn't out of the question) is ..... the church. Which has the power to step in and appeal on the grounds of procedural irregularity, even with a non-church school like ours. They've never done so. They are in the middle of seriously considering it at the moment for us.
Happy/sad, this delicate and brutal paradox is where happiness feels most tangible. I don't really understand what is happening with the university but congratulations on the award - such a lovely testament!
ReplyDeleteThank you also for the wee shout-out, I'm filled with warm fuzzies. <3
I've not listened to Icehouse in so long, thank you for the reminder! Which album from The National are you listening to again?
Adam, Thanks for this. Really helpful. There is a UCU meeting later today and I'm going to mention your points. Perhaps there is a way out of this, or, if not, at least we can make it as awkward as possible for management to strip us apart. And good luck with your own battles, pal.
ReplyDeleteGenevieve, Most parts of this process are simply beyond understanding. We recently came 12th out of 87 Sociology Depts in the UK (University Guide 2012, published May 17, 2011 in The Guardian newspaper). We scored a 92% satisfaction rating in the recent National Student Survey (Unistats, 2011). If we were rubbish at what we did then I'd totally get it. But we are not, especially given our high staff-student ratios. Our research compares favourably with other parts of the Faculty, with growth in our gross research income and PhD student numbers in the last 12 months. You can't help but take it personally (but, in reality, it just boils down to saving £££££). As for The National, I'm glad to say I am back playing it all again, especially 'Boxer' and the new one. I missed that band a lot - but it only took me 4 years to 'recover'. :)
Bugger. I turn my back for a wee bit and the wheels start to fall off. My fault. All of it. The Cleggeron Invasion, Field Marshal ££££'s assault on Education - bah, if only I'd paid attention...
ReplyDeleteBig man-type hugs, Comrade Mutante.
FiL! You live! Thanks for hetero hugs and solidarity, comrade. Hope you and youse are keeping well? I might use my redundancy money to take a trip to the second largest country in the world (after Scotland, obvs.). Please start writing about music again. I will beg, if I have to. :)
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