{"id":131,"date":"2017-10-26T16:38:48","date_gmt":"2017-10-26T16:38:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/?p=131"},"modified":"2017-11-22T11:43:24","modified_gmt":"2017-11-22T11:43:24","slug":"the-third-red-scare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2017\/10\/26\/the-third-red-scare\/","title":{"rendered":"THE THIRD RED SCARE"},"content":{"rendered":"

Regular readers of one of subtext\u2019s minor competitors, The Guardian, may have come across an article early on Tuesday morning about a letter sent by Tory whip Chris Heaton-Harris to University Vice-Chancellors demanding to know who was teaching students about Brexit, and what the content of their courses was as well as links to online lectures (http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/yd7e5xqe). It is true that subtext\u2019s coverage of VCs does not always consist of glowing praise, given pay differentials, inaction on pension theft, vanity building projects, and a litany of other charges. But it seems that at least one VC, Worcester top dog David Green, comes off as something of a hero in this tale, by more or less intimating that he intended to tell the MP to chuff off. Whether our VC had a similar response in mind has yet to be established – D floor has not yet responded to subtext\u2019s request for a comment – though according to the Guardian (the local paper, that is, not the national one – keep up!) it was being treated under the University\u2019s Freedom of Information procedures. This, of course, could amount to the same thing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, back to Heaton-Harris\u2019s shenanigans, around Tuesday lunchtime, by a report that Downing Street had issued a statement saying Heaton-Harris had been acting not as a Government whip, but in a personal capacity as an MP (http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/ycdgf4vk). That man must have some interesting conversations with himself. In future, he might take the time to have a good chat with himself about who actually teaches at university, as his letter asked for details of ‘professors’ teaching in the area \u2013 presumably unaware of the fact that in the UK, professors mostly do what they can to avoid teaching, which is largely carried out by more junior staff. Or perhaps he thinks anyone who is not a professor can\u2019t be taken seriously? Given the leave campaigners\u2019 attitudes towards \u2018experts\u2019, we rather doubt the latter could be the case. Heaton-Harris has been the recipient of failed Tory leadership candidate Andrea Leadsom\u2019s full support, so it can only be a matter of time before he is sacked.<\/span><\/p>\n

A number of other newspapers have jumped on Heaton-Harris-bashing bandwagon since Tuesday, while some of their… less salubrious fellow publications have jumped to his defence, with hand-wringing articles mentioning \u2018remainer universities\u2019 and \u2018fears students are being brainwashed by remain-supporting lecturers\u2019. You\u2019d almost think universities had some vested interest in EU membership, such as depending on millions pounds of EU project funding, partnerships with other European universities for inbound and outgoing exchange programmes, and being able to recruit thousands of highly qualified staff from other EU countries.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Regular readers of one of subtext\u2019s minor competitors, The Guardian, may have come across an article early on Tuesday morning about a letter sent by Tory whip Chris Heaton-Harris to University Vice-Chancellors demanding to know who was teaching students about … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":568,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[69,68,76,120,77,75],"class_list":["post-131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-brexit","tag-chris-heaton-harris","tag-freedom-of-information","tag-issue-167","tag-national-news","tag-vc"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p99sHo-27","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":767,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/10\/11\/heaton-heat-off\/","url_meta":{"origin":131,"position":0},"title":"HEATON, HEAT OFF","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"October 11 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"A few readers may still have distant glimmers of a memory of Chris Heaton-Harris, the Conservative MP who tried to force universities to reveal which nasty academics were poisoning the minds of young and impressionable students with the idea that Brexit might not all be jam and prosecco (see subtext\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "news"","block_context":{"text":"news","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":121,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2017\/10\/26\/shart-attack-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":131,"position":1},"title":"SHART ATTACK","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"October 26 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"FROM: Chris Heaton Harris, MP for Daventry. TO: Mike M. Shart, VC, Lune Valley Enterprise University (LuVE-U) Dear Professor Shart, I was wondering if you would be so kind as to supply me with the names of professors at your establishment who are involved in the teaching of European affairs,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "shart attack"","block_context":{"text":"shart attack","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/shart-attack\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":221,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2017\/11\/23\/miscellany\/","url_meta":{"origin":131,"position":2},"title":"MISCELLANY","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"November 23 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"OVERHEARD AT LANCASTER In the Management School Hub. A young man obviously very thrilled to have been offered a job at Lancaster University. \u2018I am so pleased, fantastic, and they told me I don\u2019t have to wear a suit every day to work but under no circumstances must I ever\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "news"","block_context":{"text":"news","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":210,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2017\/11\/23\/brave-new-world-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":131,"position":3},"title":"BRAVE NEW WORLD","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"November 23 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Obviously inspired by subtext\u2019s recent embracing of technology, the Vice Chancellor has decided to bring his particular badinage of vernacular to Twitter, and you can follow him at: twitter.com\/VCMarkESmith Amongst pictures of him mingling at conferences, praising speakers and announcing his speaking engagements, we noted that the VC recently retweeted\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "news"","block_context":{"text":"news","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":836,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/11\/23\/lu-text-lost-found\/","url_meta":{"origin":131,"position":4},"title":"LU TEXT LOST & FOUND","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"November 23 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"After a short absence, subtext's repository of Lancaster's mentions in the national press that inexplicably weren't picked up by VickyText's media roundup returns. When the VC said he wanted Lancaster to become a university famed for its sporting activities, we're not sure that this is what he had in mind.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "lu text lost and found"","block_context":{"text":"lu text lost and found","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/lu-text-lost-and-found\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1189,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2020\/02\/19\/fearlessly-spineless\/","url_meta":{"origin":131,"position":5},"title":"FEARLESSLY SPINELESS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"February 19 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Readers feeling starved of information due to subtext's relative infrequency these days (the more contributions and contributors we get, the more issues we'll put out - don't be shy!) can sate their hunger by visiting Spineless (https:\/\/spineless.uk\/), an online publication in the tradition of Lancaster's radical past, full of news,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "news"","block_context":{"text":"news","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/568"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":132,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131\/revisions\/132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}