Category Archives: news

What’s Been Happening While We Were Away?

Readers who haven’t yet ventured back onto campus may be wondering what it’s like these days. Allow subtext to be your guide.

Barclays Bank has gone (currently it’s being used as the Parcel Collection Point), meaning there are now no banks on campus at all, but WH Smith is back! If you’ve not been visiting campus over the last eighteen months then you may not have realised that Smith’s had gone at all, but as one of the first shops to go when the apocalypse hit, seeing it return in mid-September was rather reassuring. The campus asymptomatic COVID-19 testing site is now located in the University Library basement – students and staff can either drop in or book in advance.

This year’s Big New Building is the Management School’s ‘West Pavilion’, which looks nothing like a pavilion and, indeed, looks highly uninspiring from the outside. Head on in, though, and it is really very pleasant indeed, with two well-designed large lecture theatres (15 and 18) alongside several smaller theatres and plenty of office space. It’s a bit like the Engineering Building, truth be told, with plenty of visible staircases and mezzanines, only this time they remembered to include some teaching space.

Eight of the nine college bars are now open on a regular basis, the exception being the Herdwick in Graduate College, which has stayed firmly shut since the apocalypse hit. Whether this is still intended to be ‘temporary’ seems increasingly unlikely.

The marquees, put up this spring in Alexandra Square and also situated outside many bars for reasons of necessity, are mostly still here, and very pretty they look too. Plenty of picnic tables and parasol table sets too, notably in Edward Roberts Court which has become an attractive place to sit outside and dine alfresco. Obviously this atmosphere will be tricky to maintain in the Lancashire midwinter, but when the sun is out it works very well.

The arrows that guided us through a one-way vision of living have been gone since early September, as have most of the scary warning notices. It really is very similar to two years ago…

…which could be a problem, because despite the efforts of the majority of staff to encourage mask use, regular hand washing and social distancing, it’s very clear that the majority of our new students (UK domiciled ones, anyway) are very politely having none of it. They can hardly be blamed, given that last year’s ‘rules and regulations’ are now just ‘advice and guidance’, but even so, as a way of stress-testing the government’s ‘Plan A – a comprehensive approach designed to steer the country through autumn and winter 2021-22’, this term on campus will take a lot of beating. More on ‘Plan A’ (readers will be reassured to know that there is also a ‘Plan B’) can be found online at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-response-autumn-and-winter-plan-2021/covid-19-response-autumn-and-winter-plan-2021

What are the buses like? Rarer than usual, reports your correspondent on the Number 100. For example, on 29 October, 19 buses scheduled to travel to and from campus did not run, all of them departing the bus station between 10am and 8pm. According to the drivers, the problem was (and still is) partly due to there not being enough staff, as so many left Stagecoach during the pandemic, and partly because so many of the remaining staff were (and still are) off sick. Many were (and still are) doing overtime shifts.

Since the start of October, of course, we’ve added several thousand undergraduates into our public transport system, and at peak hours the buses are standing room only.

One year ago, in subtext 195, we commented on a paradoxical state of affairs: ‘for as long as many are avoiding Stagecoach because they’re worried about the risk of travelling by bus, the numbers on the buses will remain so low that the risk is likely minimal. Alas, in true tragedy of the commons style, as soon as enough of us realise this, the numbers are likely to rise until the risk becomes something to really worry about.’ Those passenger numbers are now at their highest since March 2020.

Fingers crossed.

It’s By-Election Fever

Warm congratulations to Jack O’Dwyer-Henry, sometime Labour and then Eco-Socialist councillor for the University and Scotforth Rural Ward of Lancaster City Council, on being appointed Strategy and Communications Officer for the Green Party of Northern Ireland. His departure means that, on Thursday 11 November 2021 (Week 5), literally as subtext 197 finally rolls off the presses, it’s campus by-election fever! Kind of.

Regular subtext readers will know that University and Scotforth Rural Ward by-elections are much enjoyed by electoral observers. The 8 December 2016 by-election, discussed in subtext 156, saw Nathan Burns (Labour) elected with an impressively small tally of 98 votes, on a 7.12 per cent turnout. A letter from then-Cllr O’Dwyer-Henry in subtext 194 noted that 98 votes could well be a record breaker for elections to principal authorities in the UK, ‘as I doubt any other candidate has ever been elected with fewer votes’.

This autumn’s contest has the added frisson of being possibly the last ever election in University and Scotforth Rural Ward. The Local Government Boundary Commission for England has proposed, in its draft recommendations for new city wards, to abolish University and Scotforth Rural, moving the University part into Scotforth East Ward and the Scotforth Rural part into Ellel Ward. The Commission’s justification is that Scotforth Parish Council really, really doesn’t like being in the same ward as the campus, and wrote to the Commission to say so. There were no submissions from either Lancaster University or Lancaster University Students’ Union. Hence, it seems, thanks arguably to a single submission on behalf of the 250 or so residents of Bailrigg, Burrow Heights, Hazelrigg and Langthwaite, the distinctly different representation currently afforded to the 2,500 or so residents on campus is likely to end in May 2023. Read the Commission’s draft report at:

https://www.lgbce.org.uk/all-reviews/north-west/lancashire/lancaster

Comments on the draft recommendations are currently sought from local residents and organisations, with the deadline being 23 November 2021. Submissions should be made via the LGBCE website.

There are four candidates (Con, Green, Lab, Lib Dem) and plenty of visible campaigning (from the Greens and Labour, anyway). If our campus community truly values having distinct city council representation then, well, presumably it’ll turn out in significant numbers, whereas if the election winner once again ends up being elected with a two-digit mandate then, well, defending University and Scotforth Rural from obliteration is going to be a lot more challenging.

Have the campus authorities done their best to encourage civic participation? Let’s give three cheers to the students’ union for plastering campus notice boards with posters advertising the election and assuring residents that they should be able to vote. Let’s offer no cheers to the college accommodation officers who recently sent emails to students displaying political posters, saying that ‘displaying of posters, flags etc in your accommodation that makes it visible from the outside of your accommodation is not permitted’ and that anything on display currently should be removed immediately. Any subtext readers faced with such a letter are encouraged to send a concise reply that includes terms like ‘quiet enjoyment’ and ‘running jump’.

Tolerance News

Lancaster University’s commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) came under focus during July, when a group of Travellers arrived on the 15th and camped on some of the University football pitches for four nights. In response to a letter from Eco-Socialist city councillors for University and Scotforth Rural Ward, seeking assurances that the site need not be disturbed until at least September, the response from our Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Engagement, seen by subtext, was perhaps less-than-inclusive. Noting claims that there had been ‘physical, verbal and racial abuse directed at our students’, our recently ennobled PVC felt that, ‘Whilst we remain courteous and respectful at all times, since their departure we have incurred significant expense to clear refuse and repair damages caused. As I am sure you can understand, such despoiling of our beautiful campus does not epitomise a mutually respectful relationship.’ This framing of a complex situation in terms of waste management was, unsurprisingly, not met positively by the councillors.

Lancaster’s EDI website (https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/edi/) assures us that, ‘We are committed to creating a fairer and more inclusive University for all staff, students, visitors and our wider university community, where equality, diversity and inclusion is an integral part of our University’s plans and activities. We recognise that we all have a key role to play in making this a reality.’ We do indeed!

Roll of (Dis)honour – Update

In subtext 196’s letters page, referring to the previous issue’s article on Lancaster’s honorary graduates, our correspondent Sam Dillane wrote that, as well as Sir Cyril Smith (LLD, honoris causa, 1993), there were two other recipients of honorary degrees that the University might, on reflection, regret awarding. Who could they be?

Step forward, Field Marshal William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim (1891-1970), Burma veteran and former Governor-General of Australia (LLD, honoris causa, 1964) and Prof Mircea Eliade (1907-1986), Romanian historian, latterly of the University of Chicago (DLitt, honoris causa, 1975).

Viscount Slim was one of the first five recipients of a Lancaster honorary degree, alongside luminaries including Harold Wilson, and extracts from the ceremony at which he received his degree are available on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxILwMRwiYg

He was also patron of the Fairbridge Farm school for migrant children in Western Australia. In 2009, long after his death, the ABC broadcast serious allegations of abuse at the school, including abuse perpetrated by Slim, based on David Hill’s 2007 book ‘The forgotten children’ (ISBNý 978-1741666847). In 2019, following a campaign, the Australian Capital Territory agreed to rename a road, William Slim Drive in Belconnen, to Gundaroo Drive. Viscount Slim is of course not around to defend himself, and the University was hardly likely to know about these allegations in 1964.

By contrast, Prof Eliade’s political allegiances during the late 1930s, where he was an active supporter of Romanian fascist party the Iron Guard, were and are well known, although his post-war views are more contested. His politics, including his relationship with Julius Evola, were discussed in the recent paper ‘One Knows the Tree by the Fruit That It Bears: Mircea Eliade’s Influence on Current Far-Right Ideology’ in the journal ‘Religion’:

https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/11/5/250/htm

Was he a wise choice for the University to honour in 1975? Is he still a wise choice to have on our ‘roll of honour’ in 2021? Do send us your letters.

Valete, Team Spineless

Spineless, Lancaster’s alternative source of student news and comment, is no more. This is for the happy reason that the (officially anonymous) members of the Spineless team have now successfully graduated from Lancaster, leaving behind a 16-month archive of articles that dissected University House, the University Council and the students’ union alike. Coverage of the student rent strike in January to February 2021 (see also subtext 196) was particularly detailed. subtext understands that the website, and its contents, will stay live for the time being at https://spineless.uk/. Farewell!

Review – ‘New Perspectives’ at the Peter Scott Gallery in June and July 2021

The pandemic caused many art exhibitions to move online, including our LICA Undergraduate Degree Shows. Previously these were ‘for one week only, never to be repeated’, but since lockdown, they persist as virtual worlds that can be returned to again and again. The Summer 2020 and Summer 2021 shows, ‘Borderless’ and ‘Y/our Perspective’, are available now and presumably for ever more at:

https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/lica/degreeshow/

Both are excellent.

It’s never quite the same as being in an exhibition venue, though, is it? Hence, when the Peter Scott Gallery finally re-opened with an exhibition, ‘New Perspectives’, in June and July 2021, your team went to take a look.

A pre-booking system was in force, but this was entirely painless, with no checks on entry.

The three artists on display were Garth Gratrix, Julia Heslop and Gavin Renshaw, who were ‘proposing how we can connect with the local landscape and community surrounding Lancaster Arts on the Lancaster University campus’. This meant exhibits from three very different people, all of whom were new to subtext, focusing on land and landscapes.

Garth Gratrix’s location photos, taken on our campus, all include someone (the artist?) in the background with a coloured handkerchief hanging from their back pocket, echoing the ‘handkerchief code’, accompanied by deliberately ‘ooh er!’ titles like ‘Gobstopper’ and ‘Snake Charmer’.

Julia Heslop’s work explores land ownership and housing, particularly in and around Newcastle-upon-Tyne. ‘One Hundred and Thirty Million Pounds of Earth’ presents newspaper articles about student housing developments in Newcastle alongside a chart showing where the owners of the properties are based – the winners being Jersey and Luxembourg, alongside Newcastle itself. ‘Felling’ examines the felling of trees in Newcastle – we stand and gaze at bark rubbings from trees that are no more – while ‘Protohome’ is an 11-minute film about a self-build housing project in Newcastle led by Heslop in 2016. ‘The Spider Web City’, meanwhile, is a 21-minute documentary film about an ‘informal settlement’ on the outskirts of Tirana, Albania.

Gavin Renshaw, meanwhile, is fixated on maps, landscape photos and local travel, particularly in and around Preston. The ‘Routes in, Routes out’ project includes a detailed route map of cycle paths in and around the city, together with dozens of photos of Preston city centre, all taken from several miles away. You can download and use a PDF of his (accurate) cycle route map at:

http://incertainplaces.org/project/the-expanded-city/the-expanded-city-gavin-renshaw/

Renshaw’s work ‘Caliban’ contains detailed sketches of the internal workings of the disused (and now demolished) Courtaulds Textiles factory at Red Scar Mill in Ribbleton, at its peak the largest producer of rayon in the UK, while ‘Parameters’ is a two minute film of a skateboarder (the artist?) whizzing around Preston Bus Station.

All the artists are worth investigating.

The Gallery’s current exhibition, ‘Shifting Currents’ on the theme of water, opened on 26 October and runs until Tuesday 14 December. A similar pre-booking system is in operation.

**

Footnote – Rhian Daniel’s review of ‘New Perspectives’ for SCAN is at:

https://scan.lancastersu.co.uk/2021/07/02/reviewing-new-perspectives-reliving-our-campus-experience/

Campus Update: Quieter, But Not That Quiet

What’s campus like this term, then? With even fewer of us likely to be visiting any time soon, your intrepid correspondent reports.

You might expect the answer to be empty, but, despite what you may have read about everyone staying in their parental homes until March, there are still plenty of people around. Some of them never left at all, of course. Reportedly, around 500 students were on campus at the start of January, and that number has grown considerably since then. The Vice-Chancellor observed, at his all-staff meeting on Friday 29 January, that over 40% of campus rooms were currently occupied.

The lack of campus teaching does make the Spine startlingly quiet, even at lunchtime, but people are still there — just not moving around as much. The food outlets are still open and people are still queueing for Greggs.

Security staff seem to be busy preventing illegal parties, which appear to be more prevalent this term, in the residence blocks. Parties of up to 80 people have been reported both on- and off-campus; the BBC picked up on a recent incident in which a warehouse party with 50–70 attendees was broken up on St George’s Quay:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-55989890

Evidently, our students are increasingly disillusioned with the state in which they find themselves, though some are responding more productively than others (see our articles in this issue on the student rent strike).

Our newest facility, the Margaret Fell Lecture Theatre next to Chemistry, is now open — well, the building is, although no-one is currently using it. It’s a pleasant, tiered theatre, shaped a bit like Faraday, but with brown seats. The entrances are at the bottom, rather than the top, so students seeking to sneak into their 9am lecture late without being noticed will be very disappointed.

Much of the buzz on campus, such as it exists, comes from movement in and out of the asymptomatic coronavirus testing facility in the Great Hall.

Whether or not we resume face-to-face teaching on Monday 8 March — subtext, for one, is a little sceptical about this — it seems likely that the current slightly occupied mood on campus will persist for a long while yet.

Struck Off

Lancaster’s student rent strike, which saw thousands of learners organise remotely to challenge the University’s insistence that they pay for campus rooms that they weren’t using, ended last week. The Director of Finance reported, at the Vice-Chancellor’s all-staff meeting on 29 January, that 2,000 students had accepted management’s initial offer of a £400 goodwill payment; this offer was recently doubled to £800, which led to the decision to call off the campaign.

subtext congratulates the organisers, and those taking action, for once again highlighting the consequences of Lancaster’s student residences contract with UPP. As the Vice-Chancellor noted at the all-staff meeting, the University is liable for the rent, whether there are students in the rooms or not.

In a special report, one of the strike organisers gives their own account of the campaign.

Freedom of Peach

Just as subtext was preparing to go to press, the Rt Hon Gavin Williamson MP fired a culture war salvo that we felt merited further discussion.

No doubt eager to divert focus from their contributions to our highest-in-Europe COVID death tally, the government has announced plans to install a national free speech champion with the power to fine universities (and students’ unions) who they believe to have infringed on academic freedom and freedom of speech. This is part of a raft of other measures proposed by the Education Secretary in response to unacceptable silencing and censoring on campuses. Supporters and detractors were quick to voice their thoughts along largely predictable political lines. More at the BBC here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-55995979

As with many hot-button political topics lately, worries about freedom of speech (particularly on campus) appear to be largely imported from the US context which is, as ever, many years and degrees of intensity ahead of us. Crucially, though, it also has a very different legal environment to the UK, which will stymie any attempt to transplant political debates verbatim, as this proposal ably demonstrates.

Lacking the concreteness of the first amendment, defining just what free speech means in the UK is a more slippery prospect. At the pointiest end of the wedge are proscribed terrorist organisations (National Action, al-Qaida, etc.), for whom it is a criminal offence to profess to belong to, to express support for or to arrange a meeting in support of — presumably this will remain outside the remit of the free speech champion.

At the broader end of the wedge is the UK’s (very un-US, very European) landscape of hate crimes and, more importantly, hate incidents — otherwise non-criminal actions that are alleged to have been motivated by hate, which may be recorded as such and which the police may choose to follow-up on. One supportive voice in the BBC article — an Oxford University academic who previously had an invitation to a conference celebrating women withdrawn over her stance on transgender rights issues — could still be liable to find her comments fall afoul of current hate legislation if perceived to do so by others, no matter how protected the underlying act of speech may be. It’s not clear how the proposed measures would address this.

And, finally, outside of the wedge entirely, are those speakers who will test the government’s proposed commitment to freedom of speech to its absolute limits. Older readers may remember groups such as the Paedophile Information Exchange, whose founder (and Lancaster alumnus) Tom O’Carroll advocated for the age of consent to be lowered to four.

On a very different note, there is the arrest of photographer Andy Aitchison on 28 January for documenting a protest outside a controversial refugee detention centre in Kent, and the well-publicised case of the Stansted 15 (see subtext 184) — the latter group may have just been vindicated on appeal, but how certain are we that this government (or any other) is interested in protecting all points of view in equal measure?

None of this is to say that this could not be a laudable initiative, only that it is a more nuanced one than adopted US-centric political talking points let on. There are indeed threats to freedom of speech, and many of them stand outwith the hoary left-right divide. Confucius Institutes are prevalent across the UK higher education landscape, for example, and not without controversy; as Chinese government-funded tools, would they welcome robust discussion on that same government’s alleged crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and elsewhere? Will the risk of finding themselves financially on the hook for hosting such attitudes turn UK universities away from the promise of lucrative foreign investment? And how about actions that indirectly inhibit freedom of speech by limiting opportunities for open discourse, such as Lancaster University’s abolishment of the University Court (see subtexts passim) or overuse of commercial in confidence’ (see subtexts equally passim)?

subtext expects that nobody wishes to see the emboldening of groups like Lancaster’s (seemingly-now-defunct) Traditionalist Society (see subtext Annual Review 2017–18) to populate the airwaves at the expense of the security and safety of others, though we fear that, mishandled, this may well be the result of these measures. We’ll do our best to keep you updated.

Taking Bailrigg Campus by Strategy

The latest draft of the University’s strategic plan for 2020–2025, released following an extended period of consultation with staff, students and stakeholders, is now available to view on the Intranet:

https://portal.lancaster.ac.uk/intranet/news/article/first-look-at-the-new-university-strategy

What sort of place does the Vice-Chancellor think Lancaster will be in four years’ time?

Whereas our previous two Vice-Chancellors had firm ambitions for us to be top in the North West, top 10 in the UK, and top 100 in the world (see as far back as <a href="https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/subtext/archive/issue071.htm” rel=”noopener” target=”_blank”>subtext 71), there are fewer specific targets in this document, and the targets we set are less specific — there’s no longer any mention of us being rated top in the North West or top 10 in the UK and, while the top 100 reference remains, we’ll now just be making further progress towards a top 100 position in key global rankings of universities.

The most laudable, and probably most ambitious, pledge comes near the start: our aim is to be carbon net zero for carbon emissions from electricity and heating by 2030 and net zero from all other emissions by 2035. This has already been agreed by the Council. The document also offers a commitment to the colleges, including exploring the potential for colleges to provide a meeting ground for academic staff from different disciplines and career stages, and considering whether to allow new postgraduate taught students to join any college.

Looking at our research, which is apparently the North Star that will guide our strategy in the coming years, things will be interdisciplinary, with that word appearing nine times in the space of two pages, and have impact, with that word appearing six times in the same two pages. The only specific target for research is a commitment to increase the proportion of our income from enterprise activity from under 5% to 7.5%; the document notes that increasing the proportion of our total income derived from research to more than 25% would bring our income in line with our direct competitors, but doesn’t offer any pledges.

Turning to teaching, our superiors have clearly noticed how thrilled we all are to spend half our working lives on Teams, and want to give us more of it. Lancaster will facilitate delivery at multiple sites and campuses, via online and blended delivery and through the development of a more inclusive curriculum and support our staff and students to participate to their fullest potential in online and hybrid modes of learning and knowledge transfer. It looks like we may be asking alumni to sign up for regular online CPD courses: we are keen that our graduates re-engage with Lancaster throughout their lives to refresh and re-equip and extend their skills as their careers develop. Supporters of our flexible full-time degree structures may be worried at the pledge for a curriculum which is more streamlined, simplified, spans subject boundaries, and exploits synergies with our partners, which suggests fewer courses and no more multi-subject Part I.

Finally it’s time for engagement, or, as the document puts it, to engage actively with our community of communities. This seems to be a mix of high-value, high-impact projects — the Health Innovation Campus, Eden North, Net Zero North and the Lancashire Cyber Foundry — and a wish to get more heavily involved in our local FE colleges, specifically Lancaster & Morecambe, Furness, Carlisle and, most intriguingly, Blackpool & The Fylde, where apparently we’re going to create a Multiversity, whatever that is.

The final version of the strategy will be presented to the Council’s March meeting for approval, so those seeking to comment have around a fortnight to do so — any contributions should be sent to strategy@lancaster.ac.uk.

Testing Testing Testing

Our lateral flow coronavirus testing facility, located in the Great Hall, is now open. Staff and students are being encouraged to make use of it:

https://portal.lancaster.ac.uk/intranet/cms/coronavirus/staff-asymptomatic-testing

It’s all very efficient, with stewards directing you towards the (short) queue and handing out barcoded entry tickets. The process of registering the information from that ticket, via your phone, takes a bit of learning. After scanning the barcode with a QR code reader, you’re asked whether you want to register with or without the NHS app. Your correspondent blundered at this point by selecting the NHS option, only to be told by the helpful steward, it’s easy, just make sure you don’t select the NHS option! Five minutes later, having waited for a registration email that never came, the same steward advised going to one of the helpfully-provided iPads in the lobby, where the non-NHS registration process was completed in under a minute.

Onward, then, to the Great Hall, where you’re directed to one of around 16 booths, in which a helpful assistant takes you through the process of taking a swab, rubbing it on your tonsils (pause for gagging) and then sticking the same swab up one of your nostrils, until you feel resistance, rotating it a few times, and then withdrawing (you’ll want to blow your nose at this point).

That’s it. In and out in fifteen minutes. The result comes within half an hour, via text message. All done, until the next appointment — you’re encouraged to book a repeat session three days later.

Tranquil Repose

subtext usually tries to avoid telling its readers about things they already know, such as new features on campus, but this term — well, it’s a bit different. Many staff haven’t been back since evacuating in March and may be wondering what the place is like these days; allow us to be your guide.

In short, it’s peaceful. During the day you might only pass 20–30 people, though all the terrifying Protect and Survive-style posters give the place a slightly eerie atmosphere.

Facilities staff have done wonders with signage, hand sanitiser stations and other nuts-and-bolts provisions to minimise any risks. The one-way system in most buildings is usually surplus to requirements, as your chances of passing someone on your corridor are fairly minimal.

WHSmith is closed with no indication of when it will re-open, but Greggs and the ice cream parlour are still trading, whilst Costa is open for take-away drinks and food only.

The campus SPAR on Edward Roberts Court, largely unchanged since it moved into that unit at the end of the ’90s, has had a major makeover. The external fascia has been replaced, the corridors are wider, the coffee machine is near the entrance and the checkout area has been remodelled. The selection does seem to be slightly reduced — one of the appeals of the old SPAR was the bargain warehouse that’s packed to the rafters effect — but the overall shopping experience is a great deal more pleasant. It’s (almost) worth a journey.

The new 400-seat lecture theatre between Faraday and County South seems to be close to completion (from the outside, anyway) and it looks attractive. The Management School extension is almost finished too, although style-wise this resembles a giant Portakabin.

All the college bars, except the Herdwick, re-opened at the start of term — and were well-used during Welcome Week — but now that we are officially a Tier 3 campus, only Fylde’s and Cartmel’s are still trading. The system for ordering food and drink takes a bit of time to get used to (go in, sit down, scan QR code on the table, go to online menu, order, wait for person to approach asking for payment, pay by card, wait for order, receive it in a few minutes) but is well-run. Watching groups of suitably-distanced staff and students sat outside Fylde bar, one could almost forget the odd times we’re in.

In the evenings you often see clusters of students sitting outside (no more than six at a time, of course) on the steps of Edward Roberts Court or Alexandra Square, socialising as best they can. Student societies are mostly meeting online, but there are still plenty of event posters adorning the campus noticeboards.

Because parcels are no longer delivered to colleges, there is now a central parcel collection point on Edward Roberts Court, which has taken over the unit previously occupied by the St John’s Hospice charity shop, who have sadly left campus with no plans to return. This has led to very long, socially-distanced queues of students forming at most times of the day, often snaking all the way down past Furness. Some students have rightly complained that the collection point, and in particular the marquee-style tent erected outside it, is currently blocking the wheelchair access route up to Alexandra Square, thus requiring students in wheelchairs to take the long way round via the lift outside Pizzetta.

The underpass has an efficient one-way system in operation, with one staircase down only and the other staircase up only; so efficient, in fact, that one wonders why they didn’t think of this before. Buses are running as normal (see our bus update later in this issue) but cycle use has increased.

The overall effect is rather like the one year later… coda you often see at the end of a disaster movie, where, even in the face of catastrophe, the signs are that things might just, one day, return to normal. Let’s hope so.

Demanding an Unsafe Teaching Environment

Amongst the many strange bits of guidance issued to staff in recent weeks, Managing a Safe Teaching Environment, a set of rules on masks and social distancing issued on 2 October 2020, is well worth a closer look. Many teaching staff will have been wondering whether, faced with a potentially difficult situation in a teaching space, they should put health and safety considerations first. There is now a definitive answer from the University – no.

The document is officially unauthored, but the file properties credit Prof Alisdair Gillespie (Law School) as the creator.

Staff are reassured that masks aren’t really needed in the first place: if a person is in a class without a mask then, so long as social distancing is maintained, the risk of transmission is not increased significantly. The word significantly is doing some heavy lifting there.

Social distancing regulations are treated very seriously and can be enforced by Security. If a student refuses to maintain social distance, you can ask them to leave and take a note of their name. If they refuse to leave, you may need to contact Security or end the class.

But as for masks – well, there are valid reasons why some students are exempt from wearing them. They may choose to wear a sunflower lanyard to indicate their exempt status, or use an e-exemption card on iLancaster, but this is not a requirement. In a classroom situation, students and teachers will understandably be concerned if someone turns up not wearing a mask or displaying a sunflower lanyard. What should the teacher do?

The University’s official advice is: you must do nothing, even if you believe the student may be putting others at risk, or if other students have indicated their concern. There is no requirement for students to inform the tutor that they have an exemption in advance of the session. Politely asking to see a student’s e-exemption card, or discreetly inviting a student outside to have a socially distant chat about safety, may be embarrassing or exclusionary. If other students voice their worries, your duty is to remind them that some students are exempt, and do everything you can to ensure that students not wearing a mask don’t feel uncomfortable. The most you can do is note the offending student’s name and take it up with them afterwards. Could be a bit late by then!

Ah well, at least we’re not allowing students who are coughing and sneezing to stay in our seminar rooms. What’s that… we are? Yes, we are. Remember, students with colds are entitled to attend classes and asking a student to leave the class when displaying symptoms of a cold is likely to prove highly embarrassing and distressing to a student, potentially leading to complaints. Well, at least we know they’ll be wearing masks… oh…

As an aside, it’s interesting that the risk of Lancaster receiving a (possibly vexatious) complaint seems to alarm senior management more than the risk of staff and student infection.

Prof Gillespie’s guidance received endorsement from a surprising source on 15 October, in an email from Lancaster UCU to its members. Having sought clarification from HR and the Safety Office about face coverings in classrooms, and what to do if students don’t wear them, the union’s stance is that, it’s tricky – but the short answer, reasonably, seems to be that we can and should do NOTHING.

subtext readers are reminded that, according to section 44 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 on workplace health and safety, they have the right not be subject to any detriment by their employer if, in circumstances of danger which the employee reasonably believed to be serious and imminent and which he could not reasonably have been expected to avert, he left (or proposed to leave) or (while the danger persisted) refused to return to his place of work or any dangerous part of his place of work. If you think someone is potentially putting you and your students in danger then you are within your rights to leave, bringing your students with you.

Roll of (Dis)Honour

So, vale Dr David Starkey. Barely a week after subtext 194 hit virtual newsstands, the not-so-good doctor was expounding his take on the history of slavery – a topic on which, as a monarchical historian with an emphasis on the Tudor period, he was no doubt the most pre-eminent expert that the YouTube show Reasoned could find. Cue an angry response, and hurried efforts to disown the man once called the rudest man in Britain by no less a renowned bastion of civility than the Daily Mail.

A little under a month later, on 24 July, our own institution announced in a press release that it had revoked Dr Starkey’s 2004 honorary degree. Many will be happy, but we here in the subtext warehouse remain sticklers for proper process. Surely the final decision on revoking a degree should have been taken by the full Senate, not a hurriedly-convened huddle of senior managers?

The press release states that Dr Starkey could no longer be regarded as an appropriate role model for current and future students of Lancaster. This is curious, given that the university roll of honour continues to list one Sir Cyril Smith MBE DL, awarded an LLD (Honoris Causa) in 1993, following seven years’ service as our Deputy Pro-Chancellor between 1978 and 1985. Could this be the same Cyril Smith who, after his death, was found to have been a prolific abuser of children?

The complete list is available here:

https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/about-us/ourpeople/honorary-degrees/

You Are Ordered to Return Whether You Want to or Not

Spare a thought for our returning second-, third- and fourth-year students; particularly those with rooms on campus this year. It seems that, whilst first-years were offered rooms on relatively flexible terms this year, including the option of studying remotely over Michaelmas Term and only beginning to pay rent after Christmas, returners are being held strictly to the conditions they signed back in December. The university’s stance is: You signed for the room, so you’ll pay for it from October, whether you’re occupying it or not. Students who decided to study away from campus, and hence declined to start paying rent, are reportedly now receiving formal letters demanding payment from college accommodation staff.

The University makes it clear in Our Promise to new students:

https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/our-promise/

that for those unable to join us on campus in September, a warm welcome will await you later in the year. Specifically, for all new students, accommodation contracts will only begin when students collect their keys, which means that if you need to move in later than expected, accommodation fees for the period before you arrive will be waived. What about returning students, though?

The official terms and conditions, at:

https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/accommodation/terms-and-conditions/

make a strict distinction between contracts accepted on or after 23 July, where deposits will be returned if the agreement is made remotely and not completed by the collection of the keys in the presence of the Lancaster University member of staff, and contracts accepted before 23 July, where no such exception applies. Hence our promise to returners seems to be pay up or else, despite the goods not exactly being supplied as originally promised.

The city councillors for the campus have pressed senior university officers on this point, most recently on 22 October:

https://www.facebook.com/LancsUniLabourCllrs/posts/1571437339725303

The councillors feel that no one should have to pay for accommodation they are not living in. As reasonable as that sounds, it appears that Lancaster University begs to differ.

Bailrigg Garden Village Update

Lancashire County Council has just opened an official consultation on remodelling Junction 33 of the M6 and creating a link road to enable drivers to by-pass Galgate on their way to and from campus and the proposed Bailrigg Garden Village. Simultaneously, they’re consulting on a Movement and Public Realm Strategy for Lancaster City Centre, asking what should be done about the one-way system. City residents have received a letter and a glossy Transforming Lancaster Travel newsletter (that promises to be but the first of many issues). The deadline for responses is 6 December 2020 and you can find the documents at:

https://www.lancashire.gov.uk/Transforming-Lancaster-Travel/

For the Galgate by-pass, there’s a short engineering options document and a very long environmental options document.

The engineers note that: The development of the South Lancaster Strategic Growth Area [i.e. building the Bailrigg Garden Village on Burrow Heights with 3,500 homes] will depend upon providing new infrastructure including the re-configuration of Junction 33 (J33) of the M6. According to the environmental options document, the scheme’s objectives are to improve Junction 33, create a link to the Bailrigg Garden Village and improve air quality in Galgate. The University is mentioned only in passing, in the environmental options document, which notes that: As the expansion of Lancaster University and Bailrigg Garden Village begin to take effect, the options for travel along the A6 highway corridor will become restricted as more demand is placed on the existing road network.

Residents are presented with six route options.

There are two Eastern Routes, linking J33 with Hazelrigg Lane to the south of campus, via routes to the east of the M6. There are a few challenges: Eastern 1 involves severing Stoney Lane in Galgate and Eastern 2 involves removing Hampson Farm near Galgate. There are two Central Routes, also linking J33 with Hazelrigg Lane, but this time heading parallel to the M6 and just to the west of it. Central 2 offers an additional link to Ashton Road but is otherwise the same as Central 1. Finally there are two Western Routes, both heading north west from J33 (Western 1) or a point slightly north of J33 (Western 2), crossing the Lancaster Canal on a new bridge and ending up in Burrow Heights.

All six routes involve continuing Hazelrigg Lane to the west at its junction with the A6, heading under the West Coast Main Line and joining Burrow Road, to give access between the A6 and the Bailrigg Garden Village. The cutting for the underbridge would be 2.4m below the level of the nearby Ou Beck and, consequently, the drainage of this area would need to be by pump. There is very little detail on the environmental impact of effectively turning the A6-Hazelrigg Lane junction into a giant crossroads. Residents of Leach House Lane, located just to the west of the existing junction, are unlikely to be happy.

The engineers strongly prefer Central 1 as it’s the cheapest route, it doesn’t involve crossing the Lancaster Canal and the drainage is superior.

The environmental report prefers Western 1 and Western 2 from a noise reduction point of view, but opts for Central 1 from a traffic flow reduction point of view: Central 1 is the only route option achieving a reduction of flow in the A6 through Galgate in both directions, in all peak periods and years modelled. The Central 2 option might actually increase traffic flow due to cars cutting across between the A6 and Ashton Road.

The simultaneous consultation on the Lancaster one-way system has a prettily designed options document offering eight future visions that are, roughly: do nothing; return the loop to two-way traffic; keep the loop but make one lane for buses and cycles only; two-way to the west, buses and cycles only to the east; two-way to the east, buses and cycles to the west; no through city centre traffic; no through city centre traffic during the day; and a £12 congestion charge. There is a distinct lack of costings for any of the options, but the congestion charge is appraised as the greenest choice.

Following the consultation, Lancashire County Council’s Cabinet will make its final decision on the options in February 2021. This doesn’t seem like a lot of time to analyse the responses, but of course, they may want to get their decision over with before the whole council is up for re-election in May.

Bus News

subtext‘s intrepid Stagecoach correspondent reports…

Worries about virus transmission on public transport to and from campus have been, justifiably, one of the main concerns expressed by staff and students alike. So, how safe are things on the ground?

Signs as you embark ask passengers to sit in a window seat, with an empty row in front and behind you, but are these rules being enforced? Not really, but only because the buses are so sparsely populated that the risk now seems quite small, with many who would normally travel by bus opting to walk, cycle or drive instead. Your correspondent has only seen one example of a bus full sign being displayed, on a number 100 as it whizzed past the Infirmary; every other time, there have been at most 10 people on each deck.

The don’t sit next to anyone advice is adhered to rigorously, whilst the make sure there’s an empty row in front and behind you advice is being interpreted more flexibly: complied with if the numbers (or convenience) allow it, but not if they don’t. Almost everyone is dutifully wearing a mask, although this is reportedly not the case on some of the city centre shuttle services. Usually there will be at least one window open, so pack a parka.

subtext‘s paradoxical conclusion: for as long as many are avoiding Stagecoach because they’re worried about the risk of travelling by bus, the numbers on the buses will remain so low that the risk is likely minimal. Alas, in true tragedy of the commons style, as soon as enough of us realise this, the numbers are likely to rise until the risk becomes something to really worry about.

Maybe we shouldn’t be printing this story.