{"id":155,"date":"2017-11-09T18:37:48","date_gmt":"2017-11-09T18:37:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/?p=155"},"modified":"2017-11-22T11:42:24","modified_gmt":"2017-11-22T11:42:24","slug":"letters-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2017\/11\/09\/letters-3\/","title":{"rendered":"LETTERS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear subtext,<\/span><\/p>\n

I suspect I’m not alone in asking if you’ve seen our latest signage but if not I suggest you pop ‘down south’ for a look. At first it all appeared very corporate and professional, a smart look with clear white on black text (though some colleagues feel the text is too small). However as of this week we’ve had a very odd black monolith appear at the south end of the spine with a map so small you’ll need to be issued with a magnifying glass to view, and a step ladder if you’re under 6ft tall. To cap it all Charles Carter has gained purple, black and white signage and the ISS building itself has a nice place for students or staff to rest their pint glasses, empty bottles and ashtrays on. The funny thing about the ISS building is you’d have to walk right up to the door to even read the sign!<\/span><\/p>\n

Also has anyone commented on the removal of the location grid from the maps, replaced by some sort of numbering scheme? Patently the designer of the map has never had to use one to find anything! Nah let’s just get rid of the grid lines, we don’t like boxes, we’re not a box university! You can just imagine the meeting.<\/span><\/p>\n

Name supplied<\/span><\/p>\n

********<\/span><\/p>\n

Dear subtext,<\/span><\/p>\n

The new UA92 campus will educate 6500 new students – a 50% increase on Lancaster’s current numbers. This is being imposed on a town in Manchester which has a settled, established community of 30000. Many residents are very worried about the impact of such a high influx of students on our infrastructure and existing community. Part of the plan is to build a 20 storey tower on a very small site in the heart of Stretford which will house 1700 students. In a ‘masterplan’ consultation, our local council has shared vague information about how it will all work, hiding the most alarming plans within very long documents. It feels like our concerns are going unheard. We have yet to have any direct input from UA92, or from Lancaster. We would really like to hear evidence that all parties involved are considering the local community – perhaps some commitments to widening participation schemes and other outreach locally. But there is nothing, and we feel like our town is just being used to make more money for people who already have lots.<\/span><\/p>\n

A Stretford resident (name supplied)<\/span><\/p>\n

********<\/span><\/p>\n

Dear subtext,<\/span><\/p>\n

Your concerns over posters on campus advertising a public meeting on the centenary of the Balfour declaration (HOW NOT TO PROMOTE A POLITICAL MEETING, 26 Oct. 2017) seem to me misplaced. subtext objects to the ‘alarm’ likely to be caused among members of the University community by discussion of ‘Jewish opposition to Zionism’. There will doubtless be those that that disagree with speaker Robert Cohen’s views on Zionism, but is there really any reason to be alarmed at this subject being discussed?<\/span><\/p>\n

subtext also objects to part of the poster’s blurb which states: ‘most Jewish communities around the world will be celebrating the anniversary’ of the Balfour declaration. This is actually the first half of a sentence, which in full reads: ‘While most Jewish communities around the world will be celebrating the anniversary, Palestinians see it as an historic betrayal of their rights, the implications of which are still being played out today’. Again, it is hard to see what is objectionable about this statement.<\/span><\/p>\n

The piece goes on to cite a survey recording that ‘93% of British Jews feel that Israel is important to their identity’. The argument that seems to follow is that a similar number of British Jews regard the Balfour declaration as ‘on the whole, probably a good thing’ and would therefore not feel welcome at the advertised event. It seems a stretch to interpret British Jews seeing Israel as ‘important’ to their identity to represent any value judgement about the modern state of Israel, let alone a statement by a British Foreign Secretary made 100 years ago \u2013 even one as important as the Balfour declaration. More worrying is the inference that because a certain group holds something to be central to their identity, critical debate of this subject should be discouraged for fear of offending members of that group. <\/span><\/p>\n

In a week when Chris Heaton-Harris MP seemingly united academia in defending freedom of political expression on university campuses it is disappointing to see subtext (usually a staunch defender of these values) objecting to a poster advertising discussion of a controversial topic \u2013 even if it is in a silly font.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yours sincerely,<\/span><\/p>\n

Thomas Mills<\/span><\/p>\n

********<\/span><\/p>\n

Dear subtext,<\/span><\/p>\n

Have you seen the promotional video for the UA UA92? https:\/\/www.ua92.ac.uk\/about-ua92. It is wrong on so many levels! Coming from a University that used to pride itself on its Centre for Women’s Studies we now seem to have slid into a very ‘iffy’ area of marketing. Entire thesis could be written about this representation of women in this presentation (the funding should be easy to achieve in the current Weinstein climate). It is so inappropriate that it would take an entire edition of subtext to discuss. Am I the only person who feels this presents Lancaster University in a very bad light? Sorry but on this one I feel Lancaster is way off trend.<\/span><\/p>\n

Name supplied<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear subtext, I suspect I’m not alone in asking if you’ve seen our latest signage but if not I suggest you pop ‘down south’ for a look. At first it all appeared very corporate and professional, a smart look with … 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":[10],"tags":[97,98,119,96,94,95,54],"class_list":["post-155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-letters","tag-freedom-of-speech","tag-gender","tag-issue-168","tag-posters","tag-signage","tag-stretford","tag-ua92"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p99sHo-2v","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":318,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/02\/01\/letters-7\/","url_meta":{"origin":155,"position":0},"title":"LETTERS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"February 1 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear subtext, On the 'There's only one University in Lancashire' thread. I do applaud UCLAN's short sightedness on changing their name and as a Lancs Poly graduate I well remember the arguments raging amongst staff about naming. I recall the favourite at the time amongst chattering classes was University of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "letters"","block_context":{"text":"letters","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/letters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1193,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2020\/02\/19\/gender-stereotyping-masterclass\/","url_meta":{"origin":155,"position":1},"title":"GENDER STEREOTYPING MASTERCLASS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"February 19 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"'Our emails display our brand just like a letterhead or a business card,' noted a news item on 14 February, launching Lancaster's new email signature template files: https:\/\/portal.lancaster.ac.uk\/intranet\/news\/article\/introducing-the-new-university-email-signature Four templates are provided at: https:\/\/answers.lancaster.ac.uk\/display\/ISS\/Use+a+university+email+signature There's plenty of advice and guidance: email signatures need to be useful, lawful and, of course,\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":1197,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2020\/02\/19\/go-away-oldies\/","url_meta":{"origin":155,"position":2},"title":"GO AWAY, OLDIES","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"February 19 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"subtext's recent reports on the removal of IT and email access from hundreds of former staff members (see subtexts 190 and 191) continue to provoke the ire of readers (see letters, below). One subtext correspondent, a life member of the university, recalls their correspondence with the Director of ISS last\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":1236,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2020\/03\/27\/email-signature-news\/","url_meta":{"origin":155,"position":3},"title":"EMAIL SIGNATURE NEWS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"March 27 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Following up our story (see subtext 192) on Lancaster's not-in-any-way-pandering-to-stereotype set of email signature templates, featuring Mr Jo Bloggs the officer and his loyal personal assistant, Ms Jane Bloggs, a subtext reader emails to let us know that our article may have 'prompted them to do something'. Upon investigation, we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "newsflash"","block_context":{"text":"newsflash","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/newsflash\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":81,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2017\/10\/12\/pc-load-letter\/","url_meta":{"origin":155,"position":4},"title":"PC LOAD LETTER","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"October 12 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Do you have a printer in your office or shared area? Well you won't for much longer! Following the outcome of the 'print transformation project', all standalone inkjet and laser printers are due to be removed from offices and disposed of 'in an environmentally friendly manner'. In their place, we're\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":740,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/09\/13\/watch-this-space-printers\/","url_meta":{"origin":155,"position":5},"title":"WATCH THIS SPACE: PRINTERS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"September 13 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"A lot of university decision-making is slow-burning, and months will often pass before we are able to provide an update or a follow-up. We will pepper this year-end review with a some of the stories we briefly covered in 2017-18 that, we predict, will be revisited in 2018-19. For example,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "history"","block_context":{"text":"history","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/history\/"},"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\/155","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=155"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":156,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155\/revisions\/156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}