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INKYTEXT 337
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Issue No 337 Monday 28th February 2000
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Editorial correspondence should be sent to InkyText@lancaster.ac.uk
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AGENDA
Minutes and Matters Arising
1. News: Continuation Audit, Andy Morley, Preston King, Squash Ladder,
Gift shop, Court Supper Club, Y2K bug.
2. Guest Contribution: Bay City Express Route and questionnaire.
3. Readers' Letters: International Women's Day, Camping in Square, Austria,
Sugar house.
4. Small Ads: Works, Print Room Open Day, Captaincy seminar, Live Band.
MINUTES AND MATTERS ARISING
---------------------------
For "Mckinley" read "McKinlay". Sorry.
For "intransigeant" (gallicism) read "intransigent"
1. NEWS
-------
WELCOME TO THE CONTINUATION AUDITORS, who will be here all week. Good
luck to those interviewed by them.
BEST WISHES TO DEPUTY PRO-CHANCELLOR MARTIN who was injured quite
painfully in a domestic accident last week.
CONGRATULATIONS TO ANDY MORLEY (Cartmel) who has been accepted on to
the post-graduate conducting course at Trinity Schools of Music.
SATURDAY'S ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION reported at length Professor
King's reconciliation with the judge who sentenced him. See
http://www.accessatlanta.com/partners/ajc/epaper/editions/today/news_4.html
"Professor, judge meet to discuss, let go of past.
Macon -- Preston King made a special journey here Friday to shake
hands with the federal judge who sentenced him to prison nearly 40
years ago, and who recently urged the president to pardon King for
refusing to obey his draft board.
"Hello, so good to see you," the 63-year-old professor, who is black,
told Judge William A. Bootle, who is white, when the judge appeared at
the door of his brick ranch house in suburban Macon.
"Mr. Preston King," the 97-year-old Bootle replied as a cluster of
reporters, cameras and King family members watched in silence broken
only by occasional laughter at such jokes. (Not being addressed as
"Mr." because of his race was one of King's complaints against his
draft board.) "Welcome to America and to my home."
[...]
As he rode through southwest Georgia and north on I-75, King remarked
on the changes around him: the wide highways, the necessity of driving
everywhere, the billboards, the signs advertising strip joints for
truckers, and the sadness of what he gathered was continued racial
disagreement in his native town of Albany, despite all the great
improvements."
PLANNING PERMISSION has been sought to change the use of the former
North Spine Gift Shop on the corner of the Square from a retail unit to
'financial services'. Not sure what this means but it's long past high
time something was done with it.
FRIDAY NIGHT'S COURT SUPPER CLUB was attended by about 30 lay members
of Court (including Lord Taylor, Sir Kit Audland, the Mayor, Tom
Watkinson, Bill Pearson) and a number of retired members of the
University Staff. These included Prof Woolrych, Prof Shennan and former
buildings officer Donald Smith, all looking remarkably youthful. They
enjoyed appetising food prepared by the Management School restaurant
and listened to the Academic Registrar's illustrated talk on the
pre-history of the university (before Bailrigg). Alan Whitaker spoke on
the present organisation of the university and raised the question
'where does power lie' (since he suspects it doesn't lie with UMAG).
The editor represented the 'lower quartile' of staff and spoke on
vice-chancellors he had known. (Edited text (no jokes) below.)
THE NEW LANCASTER UNIVERSITY SQUASH LADDER becomes live on Wednesday
1st March 2000. Mark Bryson has set up some great Web pages for it, so
anyone interested just needs to check out
http://domino.lancs.ac.uk/pub/squash.nsf/
TOMORROW IS 29th FEBRUARY when the Y2K bug may well strike for real at
date-crucial software. Worth checking whether or not your computer's
internal calendar updates itself properly.
2. GUEST CONTRIBUTION: BAY CITY EXPRESS ROUTE - TIME TO HAVE YOUR SAY
---------------------------------------------------------------------
By David Bousfield, Jon Sear and Professor John Whitelegg
The Bay City Express Route project is up and running, and local people
are being invited to get on board and have their say. The concept was
developed by three local men who want to see high quality public
transport running from Heysham through Morecambe and Lancaster to the
University.
Over 200 businesses and other local organisations will be receiving
letters this week inviting them to submit their views, but the opinions
of local people are equally important.
John Whitelegg said
"The Bay City Express Route might use trams, buses or trains - but
what matters now is finding out what type of service people want. By
completing our short questionnaire, people can have their say about
fundamental things such as fares, frequency and the quality of the
service."
"We want to hear from as many people as possible about their ideas and
priorities, as this will enable us to develop options for schemes that
will be popular and effective at taking traffic off our congested
roads. People can pick up a copy of the letter and consultation form
from the libraries in Lancaster, Morecambe and Heysham, or receive the
e-mail version by sending a request to baycity@joymail.com"
Jonathan Sear said
"It is too early to talk about how much the scheme will cost. We need
to investigate how much funding is likely to be available from
different sources and compare the cost of the various options with
their effectiveness at getting traffic off the roads. However, an
investment of millions of pounds will be necessary to deliver a scheme
that is of high enough quality to be popular with the majority of
potential users."
David Bousfield said
"The express route would be a major boost to regeneration north of the
Lune. The train from Lancaster to Morecambe takes only 10 minutes, but
does not carry anywhere near enough passengers at present. If we can
provide all the other things people want from a quality transport
system without increasing the journey time substantially, then that
will be a big step towards transforming rundown parts of Skerton,
Morecambe and Heysham into places where people want to live, work and
do business."
Traffic congestion, resulting mainly from journeys wholly or partly
within our urban area, is contributing to serious economic, social and
environmental problems in Morecambe and Lancaster. We believe these can
only be tackled effectively if people are offered sufficiently
attractive alternatives to car travel, regardless of whether any
further road building takes place locally.
In the past, the three of us have had our own ideas for public
transport solutions. However, we have now brought together our
experience in engineering, transport and the environment with the aim
of ensuring that an effective system, which has the support of local
people, goes ahead as soon as possible. =20
The name 'Bay City Express Route' purposely does not specify a
particular type of system. That is because we first want to ask the
question 'what do we want to achieve?', before proposing how best to do
it. We do envisage one system running close to most of the District's
key destinations, along a 'transport corridor' between Heysham and
Lancaster University. However, buses, trams, trains or anything in
between are all possibilities. The only things that are definite are
that the new system must be of sufficiently high quality to appeal to
lots of people, and that it must be a realistic proposition.
The first stage of our process is to find out what people want. We are
writing to you to find out whether you agree with the principle of
radically improved public transport, and to give you an opportunity to
comment on some important issues. If there is sufficient public support
for the idea, we will use everyone's comments to develop some options.
We will then apply for Government funding to carry out the main
investigation and consultation stages, testing the options for
feasibility, value for money, affordability and public support.
We enclose a short form, and would be very grateful if would return it
to the address below by Saturday 11th March. We look forward to reading
your suggestions.
Bay City Express Route Questionnaire
This form gives you the opportunity to tell us what type of service
you would want from the Bay City Express Route. Please answer as many
questions as you can, and feel free to add further comments, and to
make copies for friends or colleagues. Please return this form to 52
Willow Lane, Lancaster, LA1 5PS by 11th March.
1. Are you in favour of a very high quality public transport system,
along a route from Heysham through Morecambe and Lancaster to the
University? (Answering yes to this question does not commit you to
supporting any particular scheme)
Yes, in principle
No
Not sure
2. Are there any specific places you think the Express Route should
run close to?
3. How far would you be prepared to walk from your home or destination
to the Express Route? (It takes about 10 minutes to walk 1km or just
over half a mile) please circle one answer
500m (or 550yds)
750m (or 820yds)
1km (or 0.6 mile)
1.5km (or 0.9 mile)
2km (or 1.2 mile)
4. What do you think is a reasonable fare for a single journey between
Lancaster and Morecambe (or a similar distance)? please circle one
answer
75p
1.00
1.25
1.50
1.75
5. What do you think is a reasonable journey time between Lancaster
and Morecambe (or a similar distance)? please circle one answer
10 mins
15 mins
20 mins
25 mins
30 mins
6. How often should services run during the day? please circle one
answer
every 5 mins
every 6 mins
every 8 mins
every 10 mins
every 12 mins
every 16 mins
every 20 mins
7. How often should services run on Sundays and after 7pm? please
circle one answer
every 8 mins
every 10 mins
every 12 mins
every 16 mins
every 20 mins
every 25 mins
every 30 mins
8. What would you like to see at the stops? please tick as many as
you like
Timetable information
Seating
A phone link to the person in charge
Vending machines
Bright lighting
Cycle stands
A screen showing exactly when the next service will arrive
Local information e.g. street plan, nearby shops
Dry and draft-free waiting area
Level access onto vehicles
Anything else?:
9. What would you like to see on the vehicles? please tick as many as
you like
Wide doors
Clean seats
Space for luggage
On board announcement of stops
Space for pushchairs/wheelchairs
A conductor
Space for bicycles
A smooth ride
More leg room than a normal bus or train
Tables, so I can work during the journey
Anything else?:
10. How would you prefer to pay for journeys? please tick one box
only
Pay the driver/conductor (even if this makes the journey take longer)
Buy a ticket from a machine at the stop
With tickets bought in shops/pubs/at work
With a card like a phonecard that I can buy almost anywhere
With a season ticket or pass
11. If you have any further comments to make, please write them here.
We're keen to hear your ideas and anything you feel strongly about.
Your Name:
Organisation (if applicable):
Address:
Phone: E-mail:
Please return this by Saturday 11th March 2000
Thanks for your help - look out for the results in the local newspapers.
3. VICE-CHANCELLORS PAST AND PRESENT
------------------------------------
[...]
I suspect some people think I dislike vice-chancellors and might be
rude about them. Nothing could be further from the truth. On the
contrary I very strongly approve of universities and VCs are the acme
of their embodiment being both their leaders and representatives. Some
of my best friends are vice-chancellors!
I may criticize but not necessarily adversely. Indeed I'd prefer the
fashionable term 'appraisal'. Upwards appraisal of course. The idea
that we should be appraised by our superiors is reactionary and
regressive. Appraising our superiors, on the other hand, is the
commonest of all activities but rarely practised in public, which is a
pity.
Vice-Chancellors, like clog-dancing and breakfast, or mushy peas and
Dandelion & Burdock, are a quaint but precious English institution,
once much envied in wiser lands. Even in Scotland their equivalents are
first and foremost "Principals"; elsewhere in Europe they are Rectors,
in the USA they are "Presidents". Most polytechnics, ominously, had
"Directors".
Nomenclature does matter. Their title is a reminder of their modest
"deputizing" status, day-to-day executors on behalf of the "real"
Chancellor, a regal, ecclesiastical or otherwise unreproachable
figure-head, whose name they should hesitate to link with scandal or
public controversy.
Lancaster is and has always been a proper little hotbed of budding
vice-chancellors actually, both among students and staff. In recent
years in addition to Professor Finch at Keele we have Alfred Morris at
West of England, an accountant without a first degree who did our MA in
Financial Control in 1970, not to mention a Buddhist monk from
religious studies who is a vice-chancellor in Sri Lanka, the rector of
the University of Tlemcen in Algeria and the president of a chinese
university. And Prof McClintock reminds me of Anne Wright (Sunderland)
who was a lecturer in English.
Previously Professor Morgan of Chemistry went as VC to Newcastle NSW,
and of course Professor Osborne went from the Classics department which
we closed down to a chair in Melbourne and thence the
Vice-Chancellorship of Latrobe, one of the most dynamic and fastest
growing universities in the southern hemisphere. And of course looking
round at our present officers we can see all sorts of potential future
vcs among them.
Vice-chancellors and their office have changed over the past 40 years
or so. Not necessarily for the worse, though arguably one might be
tempted to believe that the Kingsley Amis omnipurpose educational adage
'More means worse' holds good for them a least as much and prolly
rather more than for students.
The first VC I ever saw, as an 18 year old, was Sir Edward Appleton, a
physicist after whom the Appleton Layer in the upper atmosphere is
named and a Nobel Prize winner. He was already aged 70 and sadly died
in office while I was still an undergraduate. His successor was
Professor Sir Michael Swann FRS, later Lord Swann, who presided over my
graduation. Not for us a genteel handshake from a princess: at
Edinburgh you are 'capped' by being hit on the head with a bonnet made
from John Knox's trousers, which thus combine the twin Edinburgh
virtues of presbyterianism and economy.
Later Lord Swann, a molecular biologist, went on to be VC at Sussex
and Master of Worcester College.
Sir Edward and Lord Swann are reminders that VCs used to be mainly
scientists. There were two reasons for that. Firstly only scientists
knew the kind of money that's required to run science departments.
Secondly they have often finished their best work by the time they are
50 whereas historians, for example are only beginning theirs.
They were also very senior gentlemen. One cannot today imagine a VC of
73, although people like Lord Annan and General Sir John Hackett were
exrtraordinarily creative thinkers and energetic until a very advanced
age. But it was not only possible but desirable to be old in those
days. Wisdom, which prolly does come with years, is a quality we are
urged by our charter to promote.
It was possible then because their duties were to reconcile the
warring departmental factions that constitute any university; they
safeguarded students and academic values within and outside their
institution; above all they tried to wring money out of governments and
others, using their diplomatic skills to fight on our behalf.
Other functions include making speeches that get reported in the
press, eating on our behalf with outsiders, selflessly sacrificing
their figure for the sake of ours, opening flower shows and having
their portrait painted.
The generation of new VCs at the universities of the 60s were still
white and male but visibly younger. They also heralded a change because
the first VCs were specifically NOT scientists. Deliberately so one
might think. Asa Brigss at Sussex was a historian, Albert Sloman at
Essex was a linguist, Geoffrey Templeman at Kent was an administrator,
Eric James at York was a schoolmaster (though I'm told he was a chemist
in an earlier existence).
In those days VCs like Prime Ministers and leaders of the Conservative
Party, emerged. Traditionally anyone who actually wanted the job could
be instantly written off, certainly anyone who APPLIED. The ideal
candidate used to have to be dragged up reluctantly (like Mr Speaker)
and genuinely saw the job as an honour, a duty and a chore.
One of these VCs of the 60s was our own, an economist, Sir Charles
Carter. I confess to having rather a liking for Sir Charles, to the
perplexity of my radical friends in whose eyes he represented the
establishment and authority. I was even jeered during an occupation and
called "VC lover" which did nothing for my radical credentials.
Sir Charles was, IS, a gentleman, a scholar, a highly effective
planner and administrator. He had, as Philip Reynolds said, the rare
gift of taking an acute interest in the minutiae of detail without ever
losing sight of the overall picture.
He was an austere man, a Quaker and almost a tee-totaller. I say almost
because when he attended events he used to accept a small sherry, which he
did not drink. Nicknamed Ebenezer Sponge in Jeffrey Richards' satirical
series Olaf B Dossier.
At his retirement dinner after the bust of him that stands in the
foyer of the Great Hall had been unveiled he arose and remarked that as
he looked around he could see he was surrounded by the evidence of his
past mistakes.
People sometimes thought him a philistine but he remarked that busts
were very useful things because one could jeer them and cover them with
paint to express disapproval, which he would rather not be done to him.
On his retirement he published a slim book that has sunk without trace
called Higher Education For the Future (Blackwells) and deserves re-reading.
It charts a future for an expanded higher education that is the antithesis
of what we have witnessed.
In 1978/79 our procedure for appointing a new VC was exaggeratedly
democratic and the short listed candidates were also 'interviewed'
successively by largish committees of academics, administrators,
assistant staff and students.
People we ignored included Shirley Williams. People we turned down
usually went on to better jobs, including the vice-chancellorships of
Keele and Exeter (Harrison), Kent (Ingram), Southampton (Higginson) and
Cambridge (Williams). The job was eventually unanimously offered to Sir
John Wood, QC, arbitrator to the Football Association and subsequently
president of the Employment Appeals Tribunal. He turned it down.
The search restarted, this time with the acting VC, Professor
Reynolds, as a candidate. He was appointed. Professor Reynolds had been
one of the country's youngest professors at 31, he held the chair of
International Relations from the start and was another of our founding
fathers.
Prof Reynolds had been one of the founding fathers of Lancaster. An
urbane and dominant figure - in Jeffrey Richards satire he was
nicknamed Grant St James. His convivial parties he hosted, a college at
a time, helped us through the morale crisis of the early 80s.
In 1985 a tighter and more confidential procedure was used. Professor
Hanham was then Dean at MIT and thus acceptable to the scientists, but
also a historian and thereby attuned to Lancaster's mild Arts/Social
Science bias. Internal lobbyists, including a former colleague of his,
arranged for him to be nominated by the chair of the then SSRC.
Professor Reynolds, the then VC, declared he was far too eminent to be
interested in us. He was the unanimously popular choice, and rightly
seen as someone who was not a loser and would not be willing merely to
manage our decline.
Had he turned us down the alternative (and almost as popular) was
Professor Dorothy Wedderburn, who got Royal Holloway College instead.
At that time she would have been the first woman VC, but since then
there have been Baroness Blackstone (Birkbeck) and the civil servant
Pauline Perry (South Bank, now Lady Perry), Professor Finch (Keele),
Professor Christine King (Staffordshire) and others.
The governments of the 1980s (for whom all institutions were
essentially grocery stores) preferred to see Vice-chancellors as chief
executives, occupying the top managerial post in a public service
corporation with a £60 million turnover, and attracting the kind of
person to whom such phraseology appeals....
Recent government and the like-minded civil servants they have
promoted have little respect for constitutional niceties. They
unashamedly want VCs to be Executive Managers, responsible to the HEFCE
and its offspring, tamely accepting national diktats. The majortiy of
the CVCP have silently, sometimes with alacrity, accepted that role.
Indeed with the appointment of Baroness Blackstone, ex-principal of
Birkbeck, as minister for higher education and Baroness Warwick,
another government peer as general secretary of the CVCP, government
has effectively integrated into it a cowed university system.
That change has come about through financial pressures and means that
nowadays of necessity a vice-chancellor is someone trained in the
system and in the ways of government rather than being an outsider
anxious to promote ideas of his own.
Even today the greatest have accepted such duties and still managed to
enhance their own stature and that of their university: people like Sir
Edward Appleton, Lord Swann, Sir David Smith, Sir Stuart Sutherland.
Such men also bellowed their disgust at current policies every time they
spoke or burst into print. It was this, indeed, that got Professor
Osborne simultaneously denounced in the Australian Senate by the
Minister of Education and appointed VC at La Trobe.
[...]
4. READERS' LETTERS
-------------------
At the Second International 1910, Clara Zetkin proposed that March the
8th be observed each year as International Women's Day. This particular
date was chosen because it commemorates March 8th 1907 when women
garment workers in New York demonstrated against their atrocious
working conditions. This demonstration was broken up amid violent
scenes by police. The following year women again marched, again in
protest against their working week and for the right to vote. Clara's
proposal was accepted by the International and since then March 8th has
been used to highlight women's lives and work.
It has always amused me that although Mother's Day is a massive
commercial enterprise , International Women's Day is seen as " tainted
" because it is seen as " feminist " Amazing then isn't it that
actually it was set up to commemorate a struggle from within the heart
of the capitalist /industrialised nation of America.
Although we are constantly being told that here in the West, women do
"have it all", we know very well this is totally untrue. Look at the
juggling working mothers have to do in order to continue with their
careers. How many women Professors do we @ Lancaster have? We do not
even have ONE woman lecturer in the Dept. of Politics. Look @ the
differentiation in salaries between women and men in many professions.
Whilst we in the so called developed nations debate
careers/childcare/employment discrimination, women in the developing
countries face far different problems. Education, access to
contraception, basic healthcare, often sweatshop working conditions,
are all problems women are facing daily .
So, then, women still meet on March 8th, it is a truly international
day for us, we celebrate our achievements, and there have been many, we
talk to women we may never have met before, we do network, it is
important that we do have one day at least set aside for women's
issues. To that end Cartmel Bar will be one of many venues being used
to promote this day.
Early evening there will be a quiz organised by LUSU, later,Trish
McGrath (singer songwriter) will entertain, and throughout the day
there will be coffees, teas, and chocolates.
And yes, men are welcome, after all women are educators also!
Hope to see you , March 8th
Cal Giles
Licensee/ Senior Tutor Cartmel
-----------------------------------
The issue regarding the Sugar House guest list seems to me to be
rather petty and in the grand scheme of things insignificant. Yes the
sabbaticals, along with Sugar House staff not working that night, are
put on the guestlist, and this is only right and proper.
The President and General Secretary are trustees of the Union, and
since the Sugar House is entirely owned by the Union, they are
effectively directors; therefore to suggest that they should pay is a
ridiculous notion as it is akin to making lecturers pay to enter a
lecture theatre.
The remaining four sabbaticals are also guestlisted but this is
perfectly acceptable once you consider the fact that, as sabbaticals,
they are invited to sit on the Sugar House Management Committee to
represent student opinion, where the primary decisions regarding the
club are made. It is therefore necessary that these four officers are
aware of any problems at the Sugar House that occur and the best way to
do this is for them to attend the club. As it is part of their job
description, as sabbaticals, it would be highly unfair to expect them
to pay.
Chris Reich
[NOTE: Absolutely agree, it is not something that exercises me in the
slightest. The nature and status of the 'arrangement' with the Carleton
does seem worth establishing though, especially if a big outfit like
Luminar (the owners of Liquid) are seeking something similar. (Ed)]
-----------------------------
I certainly do not think that Gerd Nonnemann's interesting and
thoughtful piece on the Austrian 'situation' reveals him to be a
crypto-fascist or xenophobe. Indeed I, think he raise many important
issues and, to make explicit what I believe he was implicitly
suggesting, he gives we in the UK much food for thought.
It seems astonishing that the new political consensus in Europe is
that democracy, essentially, is bad. We saw it with Kosovo, we see it
almost daily with the continuing bombing of Iraq, we see it with the
secret conference on 'e-security' held only days ago in this country,
we see it in the structures of the EU, and in the posture, rightly
described as hysterical, adopted by the EU countries over Jorg Haider.
To me the fascinating point is that the Commission were not behind the
wave of pseudo-diplomatic protests and prolly illegal sanctions
initiated by those who do not like the cut of Mr Haider's jib. The
enemy really is within, the politician's strategy, perpetuated by each
generation, of blaming civil servants has been punctured - not many,
alas, have noticed this.
As for Haider, Gerd Nonnemann makes all the most telling points. I
would only add my conviction that an open admirer of Stalin's
'employment policies' (leaving aside the point about context for the
moment) would not be demonised in this way. I also believe that if the
only thing that was different about Jorg Haider was that he liked the
EU (and given certain of the aims of the German National Socialists
this is not a bizarre proposition), he would not be demonised in this
way.
I visited Austria shortly before they joined the, then, EC.
Apprehension and distrust of the whole enterprise was palpable in the
air - this was a Northern mountain resort, a lovely place called
Westendorf, I can't speak for Vienna, etc. etc. This mood has clearly
never gone away and, as is suggested by many, will probably have
received a nice boost courtesy Mr Cook et al.
Europe, cradle of democracy, has acted in an attempt to stifle
democracy and all the while saying that it is in the defence of
democracy. The only response to such a spurious argument, so clearly
related to the much-lauded 'humanitarian' bombing campaign, is, GARN!
The Austrians will, I am sure, have their own equivalent response.
Meanwhile, in Zimbabwe, democracy rears its head in a country hitherto
run like a banana plantation, and, in Iran, a civilised people move
ever closer to the democratic ideal. While, of course, in Britain, the
democratic calculus consists of 60,000 votes producing a loser when the
winner gains 20,000. A truly Modern and European result.
Democracy, of course, can be characterised as the tyranny of the
majority over the minority. I would point out that the scope for
tyranny becomes the greater, therefore, as the electorate becomes
larger. The only answer is education. I venture to assert that if
politics were taught from the age of, say, 14 (and I mean _politics_
not some bogus discipline that might be called 'citizenship') our
democracy would be far more healthy than it presently is. Alas, this is
a notion that most would 'laugh out of court'.
Nick Bardsley
------------------------------
Saturday morning, it's 3-4 am and I am walking across campus.
Alexandra Square meets me with a pleasant surprise: A tent! Three
innovative students have decided to camp. What an absolutely great
idea, I thought.
Having noticed that a contemporary student's ways of life is very
different from those 'glory' days of counter-cultural rebellion, this
was at least an act of disobedience; and a very non-violent, indeed.
Immediately I felt sympathy for their cause, whatever it might have
been, if they had one at all.
This notion, however, was not shared with the (dressed-in-) black sign
of authoritarian and institutional presence: Security does not allow
three students to peacefully sleep in their tent on the square. Whereas
it used to be, to a certain degree, socially acceptable to occupy
University House, it is now beyond any doubt totally disorderly to
sleep in a tent and it MUST be stopped.
Needless to say it was a very disillusioning experience. Three
students well mannered with a sound sense of humour turned the
infertile square into a sphere with a bit of life in the middle of the
night. I should of course, in order to avoid misunderstandings about
this article, point out that the Security-officer was merely doing his
job. (Whether he thought it was appropriate or not is another matter
that I shall touch upon!)
In retrospect this experience triggered speculations on the nature of
the square: Why is it so plain, dull and lifeless? Why is it not the
students' square? Why can't three peaceful students put their tent
there for the night? Did the 'sending away' of the 'rebels' really
reflect the policy of Lancaster University?
These thoughts culminated with the surrender to the fact that we DO
live in an institutionalised factory. A factory that produces soldiers
for the corporate wars. This is, I certainly hope, survivable, but more
hopefully subject to possible change. One should always bite off more
than one can chew. No one should be granted reasonable grounds for
accusing me of encouraging disobedience and rebellion. Such grounds
should not exist anyway, because such rebellious actions ought not be
subject to accusations in a University environment, but rather be
welcomed as fruitful initiatives. But this is another matter, I must,
in the spirit of academia, stick to some red thread in this contingency
of letters. And despite you, dear reader, having a notion of
nonsensical babble preceding we have reached the conclusion: Why is
there no tree in the middle of Alexandra Square??
Nina and Martin
-----------------------------
5. SMALL ADS
------------
Microsoft works v 2 and 3 very old disks but usable free to good home
with manuals. Buyer collects. Ring x93964 Natalie Tidy.
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Print Room Open Day
Wednesday 1st.March 10.00am.- 4.00pm.
in the print room A43 University House.
The event will include demonstrations of our New high volume
network colour copier/printer also demonstrations on the Magic Touch
transfer system. On the day we will allow guests two enlargements
of a favorite photo FREE OF CHARGE along with t-shirt and mouse mat
printing (donation to charity.)
Tea, coffee & biscuits will be provided FREE OF CHARGE.
This is an informal event to which everyone is invited.
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RESEARCH FORUM
Saturday, 4 March 2000
CAPTAINCY & PSYCHOANALYSIS'
Mike Brearley (Psychoanalyst, former Captain of Middlesex & England)
Venue: LT 4 (Management School)
Time: 11 am
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LIVE BAND IN PENDLE BAR
Thursday 2nd March 8.30-11.00
"The Section" - Rhythm and Blues Band
Everyone welcome.
ALSO Upcoming a Wine Tasting event - venue and date to be notified and
a tour round a Brewery - keep (as they say) watching this space!
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