{"id":818,"date":"2018-11-08T19:58:31","date_gmt":"2018-11-08T19:58:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/?p=818"},"modified":"2018-11-22T21:30:37","modified_gmt":"2018-11-22T21:30:37","slug":"subtext-182-better-late-than-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/11\/08\/subtext-182-better-late-than-ever\/","title":{"rendered":"subtext 182 – \u2018better late than ever\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every so often during term time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Letters, contributions, & comments: subtext-editors@lancaster.ac.uk<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Back issues & subscription details: http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/about\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

In this issue: editorial, staff survey<\/a>, unions<\/a>, lusu<\/a>, fascists<\/a>, academies<\/a>, musicians’ co-op<\/a>, all workers are men<\/a>, fire<\/a>, offshoring<\/a>, buses<\/a>, widden<\/a>, eating<\/a>, letters<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

EDITORIAL<\/span><\/p>\n

In days gone by vice-chancellors used to boast about how many cranes their campus featured (see subtext 9<\/a>). These days, their prevailing rally cry seems to be ‘It’s definitely not us’, as they rush to reassure their students, staff and other interested parties that they are not one of the three universities that is close to bankruptcy – perhaps because of the very cranes, and associated building projects.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of the universities in the North West, one of which is allegedly in this unfortunate position, Bolton’s VC George E Holmes was quick off the mark to let people know how healthy his, er, his university’s finances were via the media, while our very own Mark E Smith (readers may wonder whether a middle name beginning with an ‘E’ is a prerequisite to be VC of a North-Western uni) chose to share the good news that it is someone else in his recent all-staff meeting. No doubt other VCs will follow, though there has thus far been a conspicuous silence from the University of Cumbria, which has been running at a loss according to the most recent set of accounts available on its website, and whose financial woes were highlighted by The Guardian as long ago as January (https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/education\/2018\/jan\/30\/fears-university-closures-office-for-students<\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

Among all these denials of bad fortune, there seem to be few VCs willing to stick their necks out and talk about what a colossally stupid idea it is to run universities as if they were part of a market, and treat education as a tradeable commodity like cheese. If a university were allowed to close because of bankruptcy, a number of media sources have pointed out this would have a huge impact not only on current students, but would also lead to hundreds if not thousands of job losses, and – for universities in smaller towns or cities – could devastate the local economy. The tarnished reputation of degrees from a failed university may also impact on the government’s favourite indicator of HE success, namely employability. While it seems unlikely that the university sector will somehow reverse the relentless onslaught of marketisation, perhaps one or more bankruptcies and the subsequent mess may be just the wake-up call we need to change course. Just as long as it’s definitely not us!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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, staff survey, unions, lusu, fascists, academies, musicians’ co-op, all workers are men, fire, offshoring, buses, widden, eating, letters. ***************************************************** … 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":[428,240,408,239,75],"class_list":["post-818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-cranes","tag-higher-education","tag-issue-182","tag-marketisation","tag-vc"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p99sHo-dc","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":804,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/11\/08\/withering-heights\/","url_meta":{"origin":818,"position":0},"title":"WITHERING HEIGHTS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"November 8 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"People in the Management School have been confused in recent weeks by signs visible around the fire doors outside Lecture Theatre 4 stating 'CAUTION: Men Working Overhead' - many staff on the top floor of LUMS are actually female! On closer inspection, it appears that the signs were put up\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":792,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/11\/08\/letters-18\/","url_meta":{"origin":818,"position":1},"title":"LETTERS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"November 8 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear subtext, Re: car parking and passes Ah for the heady days of yesteryear (well about 18 years ago) when car park passes were collected in person from the security office. And parking, at least on a Friday (or POETS day - Push Off Early Tomorrow's Saturday) meant my husband\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":798,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/11\/08\/too-few-number-twos\/","url_meta":{"origin":818,"position":2},"title":"TOO FEW NUMBER TWOS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"November 8 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Our bus correspondent reports... locals in Bowerham and Hala are becoming increasingly irritated as they realise that what was a rather good number 2 bus service (6 double-deckers an hour) has become a distinctly inferior service (4 single-deckers an hour). This wouldn't matter so much if they could get a\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":810,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/11\/08\/shredded-posters-make-good-snowflakes\/","url_meta":{"origin":818,"position":3},"title":"SHREDDED POSTERS MAKE GOOD SNOWFLAKES","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"November 8 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Everyone's least favourite fascist not-quite-a-student-society has been putting up posters on campus this week. In an unintentional parody of the 'back to the good old days' element of their rhetoric, the posters are composed mainly of cut and pasted 'newspaper headlines' that actually seem to have been printed off 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":[]},{"id":802,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/11\/08\/a-little-too-dry\/","url_meta":{"origin":818,"position":4},"title":"A LITTLE TOO DRY?","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"November 8 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"We're used to seeing the fire brigade on campus, often due to a false alarm, but they were really needed at 10pm on Monday 15 October when a fire started in Furness Launderette due to a faulty dryer. Furness was evacuated, dozens of students gathered to watch from the hill\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":869,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/12\/17\/referen-dum\/","url_meta":{"origin":818,"position":5},"title":"REFEREN-DUM","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"December 17 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"In case you missed it... the result of the Students' Union's referendum to change its full-time officer team (see subtext 182) has been announced, and it shows a decisive victory for the 'don't care!' campaign. On a 6% turnout of 892 votes, the votes were: Yes 438 (49%), No 396\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\/818","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=818"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":827,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818\/revisions\/827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}