I was supposed to be working my non-academic job today but this year's bout of chronic asthma means I'm off work from that & simultaneously unable to participate in the #UCUstrikes in person. However, I have a little energy & a laptop. So I have 2 stories on acaemic precarity 1/

Once upon a time I was teaching a 2nd year course on my favourite subject. I was basically running the entire course & convening it but for a variety of reasons somebody else was down as the administrative convenor. This was totally fine. I really like that person & it worked 2/

The course was very well-attended by students. It was an optional course and had been running for a few years under me and I loved it. Much of my income was based around it continuing to run. However, the administrative convenor had research leave approved mid-course. 3/

I knew they were applying for it and was pleased for them. They had a whole project mapped out and it was going to be great. I was basically running the course anyway so it should've been fine. Should've been. 4/

It turns out though that the decision had been made a few levels above us to not offer any courses that the other academic was attached to. They wouldn't be given as options for students to take & they wouldn't run in the new academic year. So how did I find out about this? 5/

My current students at the time asked me why the course wasn't being offered to the following year as they'd recommended it to other friends who were freshers. I found out that I was unemployed because my students told me. 6/

When I raised this as a fairly signifcant problem with the relevant people I was told that an 'administrative issue had taken place and they would bear it in mind for the future'. 7/

A year or so after this I was asked to take part in an open day event (originally asked for free but then begrudgingly paid). I needed the money so said yes. I arrived at the back of the lecture hall at the perfect moment... 8/

The person at the front was explaining to the prospective students & families how fantastic the staff were (true) & how expert they were (also true) & how the university valued their students so much that they would never... pass them off on hourly paid staff & phd students 9/

It was at that moment they looked up and saw me at the back of the room. For a moment their expression shifted before carrying on. Later they would apologise by saying 'when I meant hourly paid & phd students I didn't mean you or any of your colleagues'. 10/

I gave a sample seminar to a group on that day and it was good and then I was asked/told to help man the Q&A desk with another senior staff member for the rest of the afternoon. At one point a mother & son arrived and said they wanted to ask a few questions... 11/

Their first question was on rising fees and the commercialisation of academia. Good questions. The staff member agreed and said so. They then turned to me in front of them and said; 'you're not allowed to talk now' before giving a carefully crafted response to them. 12/

And the end of the day ( a Saturday) I left. I was not thanked. It was not fun. 13/

I told the latter of those stories to some friends last night. You know what's interesting? I'd actually forgotten about both of these until something then jogged my memory. Not because they were not memorable but because they are not particularly unique. 14/

I've not said where these things happened. What stage of my career I was at. I don't intend to. Largely because it doesn't matter. I've worked at a lot of unis and have lots of friends at various institutions. This is not about specific places or people... 15/

The problems in academia are institutional. I've seen people I know and care about get chewed up by them at every level from PhD student to Professor & Head of Department. The slogan and symbol on the University doesn't matter. Academia is broken. 16/

So are many of the people struggling to survive in it. Some of you may recall a thread I wrote about my academic situation (below) earlier this year. I don't want to revisit it now because this isn't about me but simply; this year has ended very badly 17/ https://twitter.com/ChrisKempshall/status/1120279864513376257

But it is ending very badly for lots of people. There is a mental health crisis in academia and Universities seem just about barely interested in its effect on their students. They seem utterly disinterested in their staff. 18/

I know a lot of people in academia. Both in permanent posts, casual ones, and PhD students. I'm hoping that change can come for all of us but, if I am honest, I am often most concerned with the next generation. Is this the academia current & future PhDs deserve? 19/

I think of the amazing academics who have inspired and mentored me and how encouraging they've always been. And then I think of the undergrads or the MAs who've asked me for advice on being an academic & I wonder what we are supposed to say to them? 20/

'Go back? There are dragons ahead' seems the honest answer. But I don't want to be afraid of dragons and I don't want those behind me to be so either. These #UCUStrikes may be too late for me now, it's hard to tell. But it's not to late for them. So I'm on strike. End/

The typos in this thread are causing me almost as much concern as both my lungs and the neo-liberal model of academia.