{"id":903,"date":"2019-02-01T13:48:52","date_gmt":"2019-02-01T13:48:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/?p=903"},"modified":"2019-02-01T13:48:52","modified_gmt":"2019-02-01T13:48:52","slug":"subtext-185-the-same-subtext-only-louder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2019\/02\/01\/subtext-185-the-same-subtext-only-louder\/","title":{"rendered":"subtext 185 – ‘the same subtext, only louder’"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

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

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

In this issue: editorial, rules on protests<\/a>, UCU ballots again<\/a>, not the Court report<\/a>, steele<\/a>, vintage satire<\/a>, shart<\/a>, restaurant review<\/a>, letters<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

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

There’s been a Senate meeting this week… but the days when Senate papers were pored over with interest are long gone. Openness and scrutiny have given way to agenda items that are ‘RESTRICTED’, ‘RESERVED’, ‘COMMERCIAL IN CONFIDENCE’, ‘STRICTLY IN CONFIDENCE’ or some combination of these. Senate members have (mostly) fallen under the spell of being the select few ‘in the know’ and happily play along with this cloak-and-dagger game, while journalists – the few permitted to attend, that is – are basically barred from reporting on any of the really interesting stuff. Senate reports now read more like ‘wicked whispers’-style gossip columns, where reporters try their best to drop hints about what might have been said or done, without actually naming anyone or anything.<\/span><\/p>\n

All we know, for example, about November’s Senate debate on the ‘Senior Team Structure at Lancaster University (Strictly Confidential and Restricted)’ is that they concerned the ‘future structure of the senior leadership team afforded by the forthcoming departure of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor.’ Oh really… do tell us more! No. All we can report is that the Senate ‘agreed that it was fully supportive of the proposals’ and that one comment ‘concerning a proposed role-title was noted and would be considered further by the Vice-Chancellor as part of finalising the proposals for Council.’ Curiouser and curiouser… well, probably not, to be honest, but it’s much more exciting when you label it ‘STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL’, isn’t it?<\/span><\/p>\n

Cognitive dissonance kicks in once you notice that all the old Senate minutes are still available online (to current staff and students) and we’re thus able to offer more scrutiny of Lancaster two decades ago than we are of Lancaster now. Reading the 2001 Senate minutes is like peeking into another world where, for example, the decision on whether to elect or appoint our Pro-Vice-Chancellors was decided on a show of hands, with the discussion and vote fully minuted (it was 24 to 22 in favour of appointment, in case you were wondering). If that meeting had taken place in 2019 then the minutes would have recorded the Senate’s support for some proposal or other, which the Vice-Chancellor would of course consider further.<\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe the culture of secrecy helps more senators speak frankly, safe in the knowledge that their criticisms will never form part of the public record? Perhaps senators can be more effective ‘critical friends’ if their criticisms are heard behind closed doors? If you’re sympathetic to this argument then subtext would like to say four things to you: ‘U’, ‘A’, ‘9’ and ‘2’.<\/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, rules on protests, UCU ballots again, not the Court report, steele, vintage satire, shart, restaurant review, letters. ***************************************************** EDITORIAL … 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":[2],"tags":[452,424,146],"class_list":["post-903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial","tag-issue-185","tag-restructure","tag-senate"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p99sHo-ez","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":973,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2019\/04\/02\/subtext-187-yet-another-meaningful-subtext\/","url_meta":{"origin":903,"position":0},"title":"subtext 187 – \u2018yet another meaningful subtext\u2019","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"April 2 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Every so often during term time (and sometimes a bit after). Letters, contributions, & comments: subtext-editors@lancaster.ac.uk Back issues & subscription details: http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/about\/ In this issue: editorial, people's vote march, cheat's charter, bailrigg fm, lancaster exchange, where's regev?, widden, no letters. ***************************************************** EDITORIAL How to keep busy in these interesting times\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":887,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2019\/02\/01\/letters-21\/","url_meta":{"origin":903,"position":1},"title":"LETTERS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"February 1 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear subtext, I like very much the look of your newsletter, and enjoy the terrible puns which hit the spot magnificently. But from time to time, you rather belie your excellent 'subtext' title, and write some piffle. It is really not enough to label people 'fascists' or activities 'hate speech',\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":931,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2019\/03\/01\/another-glorious-subtext-victory\/","url_meta":{"origin":903,"position":2},"title":"ANOTHER GLORIOUS SUBTEXT VICTORY","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"March 1 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"subtext 185 reported on the curious absence of any calling notice for the promised annual public meeting to replace the University Court. Surely at least a 'date for your diary' should have been announced? One hour and forty minutes later... ...former external members of the Court received their invitation to\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":309,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/01\/18\/subtext-171-the-stable-genius-of-a-shithole-subtext\/","url_meta":{"origin":903,"position":3},"title":"subtext 171 – ‘the stable genius of a shithole subtext’","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"January 18 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Fortnightly during term time. Letters, contributions, & comments: subtext-editors@lancaster.ac.uk Back issues & subscription details:\u00a0http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/about\/ In this issue: editorial, tech, groveling apology, website, UA92 bonanza, court, leadership bonanza, UCLan, BAM, lowercase letters, shart, concert review, letters. ***************************************************** EDITORIAL We had it all sewn up - the editorial was written, the issue\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":1530,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2021\/11\/11\/subtext-197-you-know-your-worst-is-better-than-their-best\/","url_meta":{"origin":903,"position":4},"title":"subtext 197 – you know your worst is better than their best","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"November 11 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Frequency determined by contributions received. Letters, contributions, & comments: subtext-editors@lancaster.ac.uk Back issues & subscription details: http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/about\/ In this issue: editorial, campus update, campus by-election, bailrigg garden village special, tolerance update, honorary degrees, valete spineless, post-lockdown dystopia, peter scott review, three widden reviews, letters. ***************************************************** EDITORIAL Before 2021, the longest ever\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":897,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2019\/02\/01\/not-the-court-report\/","url_meta":{"origin":903,"position":5},"title":"NOT THE COURT REPORT","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"February 1 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Every year, subtext used to report on University Court - the closest thing Lancaster had to an AGM, with students, staff, graduates and local bigwigs in attendance. Sadly (see subtexts 172 and 176), our Court is no more, but in its place we were promised an annual public meeting, where\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\/903","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=903"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":907,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903\/revisions\/907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}