{"id":225,"date":"2017-11-23T14:57:02","date_gmt":"2017-11-23T14:57:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/?p=225"},"modified":"2017-11-23T14:58:35","modified_gmt":"2017-11-23T14:58:35","slug":"clod-hopping-hod-dropping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2017\/11\/23\/clod-hopping-hod-dropping\/","title":{"rendered":"CLOD-HOPPING HOD-DROPPING"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the muted rows about the new processes for appointing heads of academic departments rumble on, it is worth reflecting on just how fundamental those changes are. The traditional Lancaster approach was, broadly, to allow departments to devise their own procedures, with the expectation that at some point all senior members should take their turn at the helm. The new process, which follows on from last year\u2019s HoD Review, introduces two new features: that the HoD should \u2018normally\u2019 be a professor (if necessary, an external one), and that final approval of the candidate is to be made, not by the department or the faculty, but by a central appointments panel chaired by the VC.<\/span><\/p>\n

While Lancaster is second to none when it comes to the quality of its professoriate, it does not follow that exemplary scholarship brings with it the skills and understanding required to run an academic department. (Why, we know of some professors… but that\u2019s another story). There is also an equalities issue to consider. Currently, there are 295 professors in the university, of whom 69 (23%+) are women. However, the academic workforce is 36% female, so there is more chance that a professor will be a male. It follows that if the opportunity to head a department is restricted to an unrepresentative professoriate, there is indirect discrimination against women academics.<\/span><\/p>\n

The situation becomes more worrying when one considers the composition of the HoD Appointments Panel. In a recent case, the panel included the Chief Administrative Officer and the HR Director. They were not there \u2018in attendance\u2019, but as fully-participating panel members. This is unprecedented. Never in the past have senior administrative officers had a direct say in academic appointments. There is the argument that a departmental headship is a management post, not an academic one. If that is the case, then there should not be a requirement that the holder be a professor, an academic title. The role of the HR Director in the process is particularly problematic. HR has the responsibility for monitoring and reporting on compliance with the University\u2019s diversity and equality policy. If a complaint of discrimination should arise, who could be confident of the impartiality of an HR investigation if the boss was directly involved in making the decision? Finally, there appear to be no arrangements for oversight, as there are with other appointing bodies. Is the VC to report to himself?<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the muted rows about the new processes for appointing heads of academic departments rumble on, it is worth reflecting on just how fundamental those changes are. The traditional Lancaster approach was, broadly, to allow departments to devise their own … 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_post_was_ever_published":false,"_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}},"categories":[4],"tags":[151,125,152,123,75],"class_list":["post-225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-gender-equality","tag-hods","tag-hr","tag-issue-169","tag-vc"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p99sHo-3D","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":96,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2017\/10\/12\/hod-carrying\/","url_meta":{"origin":225,"position":0},"title":"HOD CARRYING","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"October 12 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"More creeping centralisation afoot. The subtext collective understands that the Dean of FASS Simon Guy, after extensive consultation (with the Vice Chancellor), has decided to consider an external search for Heads of several departments. Professor Guy has plans to draw up terms of reference to enable a search this term.\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":188,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2017\/11\/09\/subtext-168-giving-our-graduates-the-tools-to-make-subtexting-happen\/","url_meta":{"origin":225,"position":1},"title":"subtext 168 – ‘giving our graduates the tools to make subtexting happen’","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"November 9 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Fortnightly during term time. Letters, contributions, & comments: subtext-editors@lancaster.ac.uk In this issue: editorial, part one, part one part two, social media, football, football, more football, university of the year, shakin', big brother, correction, memory lane, buses, lul, queen albert, concert review, letters ***************************************************** EDITORIAL In subtext 166, we alluded to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "editorial"","block_context":{"text":"editorial","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/editorial\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":719,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/09\/13\/working-at-lancaster\/","url_meta":{"origin":225,"position":2},"title":"WORKING AT LANCASTER","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"September 13 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The University of Lancaster is preparing to undertake another staff survey. In order to ensure that the responses are as positive as possible, we at subtext would like to take a look back at where we went wrong in 2017-18 and offer some pointers. We could start by not doing\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":[]},{"id":933,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2019\/03\/01\/lancaster-goes-to-leipzig\/","url_meta":{"origin":225,"position":3},"title":"LANCASTER GOES TO LEIPZIG","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"March 1 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"A campus in Leipzig, then! What's going on there? Let's start with the official announcement: https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/news\/lancaster-announces-new-campus-in-leipzig-germany-1 The person sat next to the Vice-Chancellor, signing the agreement on behalf of private education provider Navitas, is Paul Lovegrove, former director of Study Group International (SGI). Study Group has run Lancaster's International Study\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":223,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2017\/11\/23\/senate-report\/","url_meta":{"origin":225,"position":4},"title":"SENATE REPORT","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"November 23 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The November session started with a written question to the VC asking if there were any plans to build lecture theatres capable of accommodating larger groups of students. The lack of such space was causing major problems for the larger teaching departments. Replying on behalf of the VC, Deputy VC\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "official meetings"","block_context":{"text":"official meetings","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/official-meetings\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":411,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/03\/01\/senate-sketches\/","url_meta":{"origin":225,"position":5},"title":"SENATE SKETCHES","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"March 1 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"PLUNDERING THE PENSION The VC opened his report with some good news. Applications are up, including a 9% increase from EU countries, while the sector average is down. Research grant income continues to be strong. Work has at last started on the new \u00a341M Health Innovation Campus. Now for the\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\/225","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=225"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":226,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225\/revisions\/226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}