{"id":354,"date":"2018-02-15T17:47:49","date_gmt":"2018-02-15T17:47:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/?p=354"},"modified":"2018-02-15T18:05:37","modified_gmt":"2018-02-15T18:05:37","slug":"student-activism-shows-some-signs-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/02\/15\/student-activism-shows-some-signs-of-life\/","title":{"rendered":"STUDENT ACTIVISM SHOWS SOME SIGNS OF LIFE"},"content":{"rendered":"

subtext counted 66 people at Lancaster UCU’s ‘Everything students need to know about the strike’ meeting on Tuesday 13 February in the Faraday Lecture Theatre, which was either disappointingly low or surprisingly high, depending on your expectations. The lead presenter, Dr Jacob Phelps, started off by stressing how dull pensions were, and followed this with a lively 15-minute presentation on the subject. Particularly entertaining was Dr Phelps’s spine-chilling story of ‘the covenant’ – the shadowy conspiracy that plots to destroy our retirements. No, not really. According to the Pensions Regulator it means ‘the employer’s legal obligation and financial ability to support their defined benefit scheme now and in the future.’<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr Phelps closed by stressing that ‘a university that doesn’t care long-term for its staff doesn’t care for its students,’ and listing three things which students could do: help get others informed; use your powerful voice; and get involved.<\/span><\/p>\n

Questions followed, and everything was all very polite, until LUSU was mentioned, at which point there were literal shrieks of derision from several of the students present: ‘They’re not trying! They took a stance to not take a stance!’ Many of the UCU members present were happy to share their memories of the days when students’ unions used to behave, well, like students’ unions: ‘They used to organise! That is the point of a students’ union.’<\/span><\/p>\n

As far as your subtext correspondent could see, none of the LUSU sabbaticals turned up.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

subtext counted 66 people at Lancaster UCU’s ‘Everything students need to know about the strike’ meeting on Tuesday 13 February in the Faraday Lecture Theatre, which was either disappointingly low or surprisingly high, depending on your expectations. The lead presenter, … 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":[225,232,20,179,70],"class_list":["post-354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-activism","tag-issue-173","tag-lusu","tag-strike","tag-ucu"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p99sHo-5I","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1100,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2019\/11\/01\/subtext-190-get-subtext-done\/","url_meta":{"origin":354,"position":0},"title":"subtext 190 – ‘get subtext done’","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"November 1 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Every so often during term time. Letters, contributions, & comments: subtext-editors@lancaster.ac.uk Back issues & subscription details: http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/about\/ In this issue: editorial, sugar free, union council, apart-nope, sports, portrait, dundee, IP, emeritnews, ISS vs societies, pun corner, climate strike, letters. ***************************************************** EDITORIAL Anyone walking up the Spine on Monday at around\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":1207,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2020\/02\/19\/a-tale-of-two-union-meetings\/","url_meta":{"origin":354,"position":1},"title":"A TALE OF TWO UNION MEETINGS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"February 19 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Impending strike action was the sole subject of discussion at what were otherwise two very different Lancaster UCU General Meetings, one on 22 January and the other on 18 February. Both were relatively well-attended - the January one looked packed because it was in the cosy Marcus Merriman Lecture Theatre,\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":403,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/03\/01\/tales-from-the-picket-lines-and-beyond\/","url_meta":{"origin":354,"position":2},"title":"TALES FROM THE PICKET LINES (AND BEYOND)","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"March 1 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"PICKET\u2019S GOT TALENT Picture it: The angry mob of workers, wearing dirty hi-vis jackets, furiously clutching placards as, with red faces and protruding eyes, they scream \u2018SCAB!\u2019 at passing colleagues who dare to go into work. Now picture the exact opposite, and you might have some idea of how Lancaster\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":376,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/02\/22\/prevarication-newsflash\/","url_meta":{"origin":354,"position":3},"title":"PREVARICATION NEWSFLASH","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"February 22 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"On the eve of pensions strike, Lancaster UCU members were cheered by a report in that day's Times that VC Mark Smith had joined ten other university leaders in calling for a return to national negotiations. This represented a fundamental change in his position but, alas, it proved to be\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":276,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2017\/12\/07\/subtext-170-a-frontier-without-borders-a-subtext-without-regulatory-alignment\/","url_meta":{"origin":354,"position":4},"title":"subtext 170 – ‘A frontier without borders, a subtext without regulatory alignment’","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"December 7 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Fortnightly during term time. Letters, contributions, & comments: subtext-editors@lancaster.ac.uk Back issues & subscription details: www.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext In this issue: editorial, the vc's pay, deliverology, plug, court, qa at ua, plenty of pvcs, signs, more signs, damp, lost and found, spirit of 84, end of term message, shart, mark thomas review, letters\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":379,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/03\/01\/letters-9\/","url_meta":{"origin":354,"position":5},"title":"LETTERS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"March 1 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear subtext, Mr. Fleming\u2019s letter (subtext 173) is factually inaccurate, and shows complete disregard for the strength of staff feeling on this issue at his alma mater, which had the highest turnout in the ballot in England and third highest in the UK, with over 88% endorsing strike action. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "letters"","block_context":{"text":"letters","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/letters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/hrKIJMLUIO4\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354","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=354"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":355,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354\/revisions\/355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}