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INKYTEXT 285
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UNCONDITIONALLY OPPOSED TO BOMBING AS A TEACHING TOOL
NERC approves transfer of Merlewood Research Centre to Bailrigg
Welcome to new readers in Trinidad, Stockholm and Hiroshima
Issue No 285 Tuesday 30th March 1999
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Editorial correspondence should be sent to InkyText@lancaster.ac.uk
Subscription requests to Inkytext-distribution-request@lists.lancaster.ac.uk
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AGENDA
Minutes, Amendments, Matters arising
1. Editorial: Raising standards of critical scepticism and ironic awareness
2. News: Announcements, Merlewood, Personalities, Senior Lectureships, UMAG,
Salaries, Naval visitors, Serious virus warnings.
3. Search Engines [Sorry held over yet again]
4. The Keele books saga limps on [Held over]
5. Small Ads: Room wanted, Short term theatrical accommodation wanted,
Vauxhall Calibra and VW camper for sale, Bed-sit to let, Cartoonist wanted,
Serbo-Croat translation, Printer wanted, Cupboard, Laminating,
Plant sale, Mail BA tokens, House for sale.
6. Readers' Letters: the ILT Proposals, More anagrams, IELE, Appeals to the Visitor.
Reviewing Council's effectiveness.
MINUTES, AMENDMENTS, MATTERS ARISING
------------------------------------
LAUT PRESIDENT Prof Kirby has explained that his assurance of support
at Council meant that, in the event of a salary award which created
difficulties for the university, he was sure the local branch would
cooperate in finding ways in which it could be paid in full.
FIONA AIKEN, who visited Lancaster last week and is currently
house-hunting, is understood to be taking up her post as new University
Secretary on 1st July.
EMILY LOMAX successfully recorded her interview in Harrods with its
owner Mohammed Al Fayed, who concluded their discussion by offering her
a job when she has finished her Ph.D.
1. EDITORIAL: RAISING STANDARDS OF SCEPTICISM AND IRONIC AWARENESS
------------------------------------------------------------------
War devalues life, truth and language. In time of peace each single
death is the object of painstaking investigation (save perhaps where
the victim is a black teenager...) In warfare, enemy deaths are not
particularized. Individuals become low level 'assets' that are 'taken
out'. Even the 'accidental' deaths of those one purports to save become
mere 'collateral' damage.
It is ironic but apt that the week of the Passover should be marked by
events reminiscent of the Exodus: a reminder that throughout recent
millennia the teachings of the great monotheistic religions have not
yet been quite so effective as their founders may have wished.
Visiting plagues upon the heads of the unrighteous, be they plagues of
locusts or of missiles, remains a prerogative of the Almighty. For
mortals to arrogate such a role to themselves is to commit a terrible
sin whose name I've forgotten - but remember what such hubris did for
Prometheus, Icarus and Lucifer.
For a defensive alliance to wage war in the name of a claimed
humanitarian duty or right may momentarily seem just until its
pragmatic crassness becomes too painfully apparent. To claim that such
behaviour is 'lawful' is to place some transcendent sense of the just
above black-letter law in a manner unwonted in diplomacy.
One longs to know the views on this matter of our own Professor Rowe,
a specialist in the laws of war. But perhaps that is mere academic
curiosity in a land where respect for the authority of law has been
shatteringly debased. When five learned law lords appear totally to
have overlooked the key significance of a date which became central to
the judgment subsequently (and somewhat fortuitously) delivered by
their seven brother lords, the rest of us may be forgiven for losing
faith in absolutes of legal right and wrong.
We listen as the Minister of Defence, pathetic and blustering,
switches unconvincingly from one alleged and contradictory goal to
another (humanitarian obligation, preventing spread of conflict,
'punishing' or merely 'hitting' named leaders). Meanwhile events give
the lie to his mutterings at an accelerating pace.
The Prime Minister, angelic-faced as ever and fresh from church on
Sunday, dismisses as nonsense what everyone can see to be true, and
continues to assert without evidence that virtue is on his side (even
if efficacity manifestly is not).
As for the Foreign Secretary... to hear the arch-debater and
passionate pacifist of CND days claim 'no alternative' is to grimace
sardonically at the though of what, in opposition, he would have made
of such limp cliches had it been the hapless John Major who had
launched us into the Balkan imbroglio.
It gets worse. Listening to an expert in 'strategic analysis' from
King's College claim that the allied strategy is 'working according to
plan' but is nonetheless likely prove a total failure, one increasingly
had the feeling that a piece of John Wells satire was being broadcast
in the middle of the news.
And saddest of all... two thirds of our population are reported to
accept this atavistic tribalism and manifestly self-defeating
'strategy'. They may be wrong, but at least their errors are those of
the government.... Can there be a better illustration of the dangers of
the 'nationalisation of thought' and totalitarian teaching that
Professor Roberts denounced in the last issue?
The need to 'do something', as Matthew Parris has admirably pointed
out, should not be misinterpreted as a need to 'do anything'. Patience
is one truly heroic virtue. There are moments when masterly inactivity
may well be difficult yet still the most or only statesmanlike course.
But where are our statesmen? As at the time of the general election,
few have sounded quite so intelligently and soberly persuasive as Alex
Salmond MP or Dafydd Wigley MP. Save perhaps, whisper it, the Right
Honourable member for Chesterfield, Mr Benn.
2. NEWS
-------
GEORGE EASTON, son of Professor Easton (Marketing) and a 2nd Year
Philosophy student, died on March 17th after a long illness borne with
the greatest lucidity and stoicism. A memorably uplifting service of
celebration was held in the United Reformed Church last Friday. A fund
in his name has been established to assist students who, though they
may not themselves be cancer victims, find their life and studies
blighted by the cancer of loved ones. Donations to this fund in
George's memory may be sent to Preston, Ireland and Bowker, Funeral
Directors, of Queen St, Lancaster. Every sympathy goes to his family
and friends.
MERLEWOOD: At its council meeting last week the Natural Environment
Research Council agreed in principle to transfer its freshwater biology
research outpost from Grange-over-Sands to Bailrigg. Some talk of a 5m
pound contribution towards costs as well. Much negotiating still
remains but this wonderful news would bring a further 60 or so
externally funded staff (all grades) to the Institute of Environmental
and Biological Sciences.
NERC is one of the seven UK Research Councils which fund and manage
research in the environmental sciences. The move is still contingent on
the success of our related bid for a share of the Office of Science and
Technology's competitive Joint Infrastructure Fund, but success now
seems assured. Revised plans for the new building mean it will be
integrated with the existing one.
CONGRATULATIONS TO LOUIS BARFE, former SCAN editor, who since
September has been a staff writer for Publishing News and has fulfilled
a long-time ambition by becoming a regular (if anonymous) contributor
to Private Eye.
BEST WISHES TO VOLCANOLOGIST JOHN SHEPHERD, currently visiting
Bailrigg but newly retired and resident in Trinidad rather than his
beloved Montserrat.
ADMIRAL SIR JOHN KERR, former chair of the audit committee and for
five years a member of the university council but sadly turned down for
the office of Pro-Chancellor, was instantly snapped up by Manchester
University, where he is now a member both of Court and Council. He is
also one of the 16 members of Sir Michael Bett's Independent Review of
HE Pay and Conditions.
CONGRATULATIONS TO MASTER MARINER KLAUS SCHMIDT (German) who already
had a first officer's ticket when he came to university and returned to
sea after a spell of hospital portering. He has been plying the Irish
sea in a Manx tramp and last year took time off to study at Fleetwood
for his master's ticket which he has duly obtained. Now captain of his
vessel, he is still circling between Douglas, Belfast, Liverpool, Dun
Laoghaire and Glasson Dock but hoping to go deep sea next year.
CONGRATULATIONS TO NEW SENIOR LECTURERS Gordon Blower (Mathematics &
Statistics), Geoff Coulson (Computing), Gerry Harris (Theatre Studies),
Linda Hendry (Management Science), Sally Hollis (Mathematics &
Statistics), Roger Jones (SPAC), Paul Klumpes (Accounting & Finance),
George Long (Marketing), Tony McEnery (Linguistics and MEL), Steve
Rimmer (SPAC), Thomas Rohkramer (History), Emma Rose Art), Alan Shirras
(Biological Sciences), John Stewart (Applied Social Science), Linda
Swanson (SPAC), Carol Thomas (Applied Social Science), Scott Wilson
(English).
[NOTE: 17 posts in all. Mutterings in high places that recent efforts
to give due weight to teaching merits and not almost exclusively to
research have begun to be neglected once again. Concerns in other
quarters that admin promotions and regradings, decided at the same
time, are not only not pubished but no longer reported in detail to
Council (Ed.)]
ACADEMIC PAY AWARD: On Friday 19th, AUT's negotiators reported to
delegates at the Pay Day Conference in London that they had rejected an
offer of 3% from the 1st April.The offer is only for the pre 1992
institutions, but clearly will affect post 1992 institutions whose
settlement date is 1st September. Though UCEA admitted that
productivity in HE had grown and that salary levels had declined, they
were only prepared to offer a pay rise this year slightly in excess of
inflation.
Other aspects of the pay claim were either considered to be matters to
be dealt with institution by institution, or things that would be
contained in the Bett Report. In particular, and disappointingly, it
was said that London Weighting would have to be dealt with institution
by institution.
The AUT National Executive met on Friday, 26th March and decided to
initiate a ballot on industrial action.
SERIOUS VIRUS WARNINGS: usually, of course, virus warnings are
themselves the virus, but these are credible for once since circulated
by our own cautious but sceptical Dave Bleasdale from ISS.
1) A Word/email macro virus called 'W97M/Melissa' is spreading through
Outlook 97/98. If you receive a message with the header
Important message from (name)
do not open the attachment (which is usually called List.doc)
2) A new Outlook WORM 'virus' has also been reported by reliable
sources. It is called 'X97M/papa' and spreads through an attached Excel
file that emails out 60 copies of itself to addresses from your
personal addressbook. The subject line reads:
all.net and Fred Cohen
The body contains an attachment called 'path.xls'. There is potential
for this virus to spread very fast but reports so far suggest that it
is not yet widespread.
WHAT TO DO: Replace your copy of 'Extra.drv' with the one provided via
the link below.
http://www.lancs.ac.uk/users/isstrain/a-virus/extra.htm
The above Extra.drv contains fixes for all previous viruses and replaces the
existing Extra.drv.
UMAG noted that the academic element of the Corporate Plan is now
largely completed but the sections on Estate and Financial Strategies
are 'awaiting inputs from appropriate groups'. Much discussion of the
need to state more bluntly where support would be withdrawn in order
to generate the redirection of resources for cited strong areas.
Because of the need to sustain income, and the time scale involved in
replacing income related to activities which run down, it was deemed
counterproductive to anticipate such areas in advance and before
opportunity had been given to areas to redeem adverse financial and
academic positions....
A FLOTILLA OF ADMIRALS from several countries attended last week's
services dining club and Martin Edmonds' conference on the navy's
contribution to joint operations in times of peace and war. The new
first sea lord, Admiral of the Fleet Sir Michael Boyce, had planned to
attend but was (understandably) engaged elsewhere. His immediate
predecessor Admiral Sir Jock Slater, former chief of defence staff, was
present, along with numerous other military eminenti, and Sir Michael's
place was taken by the commandant general of the Royal Marines.
3. SEARCH ENGINES
-----------------
[Sorry - held over yet again]
4. THE KEELE BOOK SAGA LIMPS ON
-------------------------------
[Held over]
5. SMALL ADS
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FOR SALE Vauxhall Calibra 2.0SE, 1993 K reg, blue. Full electrics,
ABS,PAS, One lady owner since 1994. 6 speaker radio/cassette, 12 months
MOT, full Vauxhall service history,low mileage-50K. 5,750. Contact
Anne on 65918 or 07930 320025.
-------------------
ROOM WANTED: I'm a PhD student currently looking for somewhere to
live, preferably with one or two other post-grad students. If you have
an available room in your house or you are also looking for somewhere
to live and wish to share, please contact me at
c.graham@lancaster.ac.uk or on extension 93405 (day).
--------------
BED-SIT TO LET: pleasant bed-sitter at the rear of our house with its
own kitchen, bathroom and entrance, in a garden setting, available for
rent, furnished. We are close to the Castle and the station and there
is room to park a small car. It would suit a single person who must be
non-smoking. 270GBP pcm., all inclusive. Contact Stephen Watson on
93998 or s.watson@lancaster.ac.uk"
---------------
SHORT TERM ACCOMMODATION WANTED: The Nuffield Theatre is looking for
accommodation around Lancaster for two groups. (1) A theatre group
working in Stalmine, so they could stay anywhere around Lancaster,
Garstang and Poulton Le Fylde. Cottages, caravans etc to sleep 4 women
and 5 men. 28 March - 17 April 1999
2. A theatre group working in Morecambe need a house with a double
room and two singles for 18 April - 1 May and again 9 May - 15 May 1999
Contact Amanda J. Mortlock , Live wire Project Administrator on xt.
594160 a.mortlock@lancaster.ac.uk
--------------
FOR SALE: VW CAMPER. Off to Cornwall to see the Eclipse? Travel in
style aboard your own motor-home and forget about having to fight over
precious, price-inflated accommodation. Yours for around five thousand
pounds, this five berth VW Caravelle high top Camper is fully equipped
for the trip having such luxuries as electric hook-up, gas cooker and
3-way fridge. The vehicle was registered in 1986 (D), is taxed until
the end of May and will be sold with a full twelve months MOT.
Interested parties should contact Mandy Jackson: 01524 65201 ext 92158;
a.j.jackson@lancaster.ac.uk or leave a message on 01524 848605.
--------------
CARTOONIST WANTED: The Interculture Project is looking for someone who
can draw simple cartoons, for a piece of work we are planning to
produce by May. We don't have a lot to spend on this but if you would
like to find out more please contact Jessica Abrahams on 592670 or
j.abrahams@lancs etc.
-----------------
FOR SALE: Mitsubishi 23" FST T.V. with remote control 60 pounds; AIWA
Mini Hi-Fi - CD, stereo cassette receiver(LCX-9). Powered sub woofer
speaker and 2 satellite speakers 60 pounds; Pioneer Hi-Fi System with
Philips CD Player 40 pounds; Hoover vogue cylinder vacuum (hardly used)
30 pounds; Hoover Turbomaster vacuum 40 pounds; Small fridge with
icebox, used as second fridge 8 pounds. Telephone Pat on Lancaster
60441
---------------------
SERBO-CROAT TRANSLATION WANTED: Last year, along with many others
around here, we sent a Christmas box for a child in the former
Yugoslavia. This week, to my astonishment, we received a short letter
and a photo of two small girls with an address in what appears to be,
Heaven help them, Kosovo. Can anyone help with the translation please?
We would be very grateful for any help. Please ring Lancaster 64053 or
email JClarke783@aol.com
-----------------
PRINTER WANTED: Does anybody have an inexpensive 9 pin Dot-Matrix
printer for sale. If so, please phone ext.93078 or e-mail
a.muirhead@lancaster.ac.uk with details and price.
----------------
FOR SALE: solid wood 3-DECKER CUPBOARD, 7' tall, with adjustable
shelves and 2 drawers below middle section (one partitioned for
cutlery etc.) Suit dining-room, flat or kitchen (too good for a
garage or shed) Tel. = 841169, e-mail lynda@castletrans.free-online.co.uk
-------------
Laminating Service available at the Security Department. A4 at 60p a
sheet A3 at 85p a sheet. 10 Sheets discount 10p off each sheet.
--------------
PLANT SALE
BIOLOGY FIELD STATION
Wed 28th and Thurs 29th April 1999
12 noon to 2pm
Geraniums, Bizzy Lizzy, Petunias, Marigolds, Pansies,
Asters, Tomato, Pepper and Vegetable Plants, Houseplants, Herbs
---------------
MAIL ON SUNDAY TOKENS: Just wondering if anyone has 2 Sunday Mail
tokens for half-price BA flights from Sunday 7th and 14th March, that
they don't need? I have 6 spare Daily Mail tokens if anyone wants
them? Sally Wigmore (01524 35491 or swigmore@globalnet.co.uk)
--------------
FOR SALE: Detached family house. Five bedrooms, two reception rooms,
study, etc. Located in Scotforth, South Lancaster within easy reach of
the University, schools and the centre of the city. Asking price:
145,950 pounds. For details, please contact: Susan Bridges, Independent
Estate Agent, Tel: 01524-68811 Fax: 01524-844277 OR: E J Dunn -
01524-63668.
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5. READERS' LETTERS
-------------------
Thank you for publishing Richard Roberts' critique of the Institute
for Learning and Teaching's proposed accreditation framework. At the
risk of identifying myself as an "older reader" (your words), I can
tell you I relished it as a refutation not merely of ILT's odious
proposals but of the impoverished thinking they represent and the
policing system that sustains it.
We should, moreover, resist the implication which I think I detected
that such formulations are more appropriate to "secondary schools" and
"school teachers and former polytechnics" than to universities. Maybe
you meant they have been embraced more readily in those sectors (though
that too would be questionable), or that they were first promulgated in
those sectors (which may be historically correct). In any event,
reductionist thought is reductionist thought: full stop.
Assuming there were a distinction (as opposed to productive synergy)
between the imparting of information and skills on the one hand, and
critical and creative thinking on the other hand, it would surely be a
horizontal not vertical one. The former seem to me to be intrinsic to
education at all levels, universities included. Like the editor, and no
doubt colleagues in other disciplines, I regard the imparting of
(sometimes regrettably elementary) information and skills as a
necessary part of the educational process. But I also know that real
education is concerned with developing the critical and creative
intellect. For the health of our society as well as for our own
self-interest we need to maintain that this is equally true at the
primary and secondary levels.
That nuance apart, we can all agree - can we not? - on the following:
1. That the QA business (for that is what the pseudo-profession has
become) is a self-serving parasite, impeding true education and
instilling mediocrity and impoverished values.
2. That it has arisen from a narrow philosophical materialism and
seeks to impose its simplistic nostrums through a regime of
intimidation and fear. (The blatant attempt to license university
teachers is only an extension of existing forms of intimidation:
inspections, league tables, pressure on individuals to conform,
threatened withdrawal of funding, etc.). In this sense, its origins in
the agenda and tactics of the new right of the 1980s are plain enough,
though it has been readily absorbed by the new left and internalised by
some within our own institutions. The fact that it disrupts and
discourages true education is therefore not an unfortunate bye-product
of a benign process pursued to excess, but is embedded in the agenda
from which it has arisen.
3. That we need to resist the regime by exposing its conceptual
feebleness and demeaning effects at every opportunity. InkyText's
record is second to none. And it was encouraging to see ILT proposals
roundly dismissed in Lancaster's institutional response. But we have
also to ask: what on the earth is the CVCP doing in fostering this
cuckoo? Is it going to disown the ILT Secretariat for producing such an
alarmingly half-baked set of formulations? Or will it in due course ask
us to buy a three-quarters-baked version of them?
------------------------------
Surely the University management will think twice before destroying
yet another of Lancaster's international initiatives?
According to a review quoted in The Higher last week, there is 'an
insatiable demand for high-quality, cost-effectively delivered,
tertiary education in English' and that the global requirement for HE
will more than double to 97 million people seeking courses by 2010,
from just 48 million in 1990.
Which faculty could afford to see the support given by IELE removed?
with international postgraduates at a premium?
--------------------------------
News from the British Council confirms other people's impression that
there are good signs of recovery in the international student "market",
particularly in Korea. In march '99 more than 10,000 students and
parents attended the two-day Study USA fair. The main subject of
interest was English language courses. Given such encouraging signs it
would be somewhat foolish to weaken IELE's and the University's ability
to respond positively to the demand that is there.
---------------------------
The NUS have done every student sterling service by producing a set of
excellent 'Good Practice' guides ranging from subjects such as
complaints procedures and academic appeals, to specific topics like the
challenges of dyslexia and, inevitably, discrimination.
I was particularly taken by the appendix on the function of university
visitors found in both the guide on complaints procedures and the
companion on academic appeals. Some time ago I asked somebody in
University House how one would go about contacting the Visitor in
connection with a grievance. I was told that the procedure was to go
through the University Secretary's office. I found this slightly odd
given that a grievance could easily concern that office.
Imagine my delight to discover a clear, concise explanation of the
correct procedure in these NUS guides. All institutions that have a
visitor are listed with the relevant person or body indicated. In
Lancaster's case I find that the Lord Chancellor acts on behalf of HM
Queen.
The correct procedure, then, is to take your case directly to the Lord
Chancellor's Office. All internal procedures must be exhausted before
making an appeal to the Visitor and rulings can only be made in
relation to a failure to follow statutes and internal regulations,
though issues of natural justice are also open to a visitorial ruling.
The guides are generally excellent and are recommended to all; if LUSU
stock a supply they will be doing many students a service.
------------------------------------
I was surprised to hear that Mr Heron was not wholeheartedly in favour
of immediate compliance with Dearing's wish for a review of Council
effectiveness. He has reportedly made 'compliance' (whatever that
actually means) with Dearing one of his great objectives. The cynic in
me wonders if that was one that the CUC weren't so keen on.
As for David Martin's desire to see such a review carried out as soon
as possible, I suggest that another course is open to those desirous of
a far-reaching review of institutional working.
I refer to the option of using the quite clear powers of University
Court to "discuss any matters relating to the University and to convey
its opinion thereon to Council or to Senate." (Statutes 8.10). It is
worth pointing out that Court is also quite free, under Statute 17, to
appoint a committee with regard to whatever matters it sees fit.
There is an excellent case for using these powers, which in no way
conflict with the unchallenged supremacy of Council as _governing_
body, to conduct a review of the institution over whatever timescale
may seem appropriate. There is no requirement for the review to be
carried out solely by a university's council.
The Dearing Report is extremely keen on institutions being accountable
to the wider communities of which they are a part and specifically
singles out university courts as an example of one mechanism by which
this requirement might be met (Dearing 15.51 - 15.53).
Given that our Court has grown moribund and introspective, might not
giving it at least some of the responsibility for carrying out
institutional review serve as a means to revitalise this valuable arm
of our governing structures _and_ contribute to the interests of the
university and the community it serves?
Nick Bardsley
-------------------------
Here in Japan I have acquired a new e-mail address. This is fine. But
it appears that I can no longer obtain InkyText through my normal
e-mail address. Is it possible to send InkyText to me here on
kjm@ipc.hiroshima-u.ac.jp; and suspend mailing on my former address
until further notice?
This would relieve my withdrawal symptoms and please those here who
have become addicted during the period before my e-mail address was
changed.
Keith Morgan
[NOTE: Professor Morgan, currently a Visiting Research Fellow in
Hiroshima, formerly of the Chemistry department, was senior Pro-VC at
Lancaster during the Reynolds era before moving to Newcastle, NSW as
VC. (Ed.)]
---------------------------
A few more anagrams, probably from the same source.
Desperation = A Rope Ends It
Animosity = Is No Amity
Snooze Alarms = Alas! No More Z's
Alec Guinness = Genuine Class
Semolina = Is No Meal
The Public Art Galleries = Large Picture Halls, I Bet
The Earthquakes = That Queer Shake
Eleven plus two = Twelve plus one
Contradiction = Accord not in it
George Herbert Walker Bush = Huge Berserk Rebel Warthog
George Bush = He bugs Gore
Ronald Wilson Reagan = A long-insane Warlord
Ronald Reagan = A darn long era
Leroy Newton Gingrich = Yon Right-winger Clone
Margaret Thatcher = That great charmer
The Conservative Party = Teacher in vast poverty
---------------------------
ISN'T IT QUIET?
MORE AFTER EASTER NO DOUBT