The everyday blog of Richard Bartle.
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10:06am on Friday, 28th June, 2024:
Anecdote
I went to the university's Summer Reception yesterday. This is an event attended by local dignitaries, university high-ups and partners from other universities. I was invited because apparently I'm one of the university's longest-serving members of staff.
It was OK. I got a free cup of tea and three macaroons out of it.
I recognised the faces of some emeritus professors, although I didn't know the people concerned well enough to go and say hello. There were only two people I could have had a conversation with (both from Computer Science), but they were shmoozing at the time so I thought I'd better not interfere. One of them was the incoming Acting Vice-Chancellor, who starts in August, so I was unlikely to be able to chat to her anyway.
The outgoing Vice-Chancellor gave a report in which he kept using the same turns of phrase ("truly delighted" being his favourite). I don't think ChatGPT was involved. The Chancellor, who is an author of a whole four books, managed to split infinitives with impunity (although not as often as the narrator of a couple of videos did; I don't think any passed her lips without being split).
In the anodyne Q&A at the end, the second questioner (we never got to the third) told us to give the VC a standing ovation, which can't have pleased the Chancellor; she'd clearly been intending to make such a call as the finale of her own concluding speech. I didn't stand for either of these ovations: peer pressure doesn't work on me. That doesn't mean I always sit down when there's a standing ovation, but I only stand up if I think the recipient deserves it. Our VC merits a healthy round of applause, but he over-expanded the university and lumbered us with worrying levels of debt. He should have been more cautious. It's one thing to boast that Essex has a world-class Department of Government, but if the people there don't know how the political situation affects our sector, or they do but weren't asked, that doesn't mean much in practice. If we've enough accommodation for 20,000 students but only have 16,000 students, well, I can see why none of the candidates shortlisted to become the next VC accepted the job, meaning we had to go with a data scientist to sort out the mess.
My sense of ennui is ever-present now.
Earlier in the week, at a departmental meeting, we had a presentation from the manager of the team in charge of exchange student arrangements. She kept referring to an organisation called YUFE ("Young Universities for the Future of Europe") as "yoofy" when it's obvious that the acronym was chosen because it looks as if it's a hip and trendy way to say "youth". The marketers who created it must be in despair. The presenter then went on to use the word "criterias", as a plural for "criteria". If she'd been a non-native English speaker then fair enough, but she wasn't. I witnessed the use of English change before my very eyes.
These are just tiny, nit-picking examples. Being one of the longest-serving members of staff means I can how far standards have fallen in multiple dimensions over the years. They've improved in some, but even then the improvements have have retreated from their peak. I assume that the same observations can be made by those of the other people present at the Summer Reception who, like me, are older than the university itself. Universities really aren't the places they used to be.
No wonder so many academics retire early.
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Copyright © 2024 Richard Bartle (richard@mud.co.uk).