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I once asked a mystic who dwelt atop a mountain what the secret of a contented life was, and the mystic replied: "Act as though your actions might get written up in the news media if they obviously make for good headlines". I wonder what he meant by that.
https://thetab.com/uk/leeds/2020/09/22/leeds-uni-security-are-breaking-up-flat-parties-with-dog-squads-52193
https://thetab.com/uk/leeds/2020/09/22/leeds-uni-security-are-breaking-up-flat-parties-with-dog-squads-52193
MMU, likewise, more or less writing its own negative press at the moment: https://twitter.com/Gabriel_Pogrund/status/1309907164560060416
There's a certain inevitable interplay of cause and effect in these situations, which some of us can see, and some of us can't.
A surprising number of the people who can't see it turn out to be making high-level decisions at universities. https://twitter.com/LevinsLaw/status/1310008628771008512
A surprising number of the people who can't see it turn out to be making high-level decisions at universities. https://twitter.com/LevinsLaw/status/1310008628771008512
Fair play: as bad actions go, this statement is less bad than previous bad actions.
It does rather leave you wondering what the "assert arbitrary powers that melt on exposure to a moment's lawyerly attention" phase of the charm offensive was in aid of. https://twitter.com/helenpidd/status/1310249296135106560
It does rather leave you wondering what the "assert arbitrary powers that melt on exposure to a moment's lawyerly attention" phase of the charm offensive was in aid of. https://twitter.com/helenpidd/status/1310249296135106560
Update: so-called "rule of law" may be operative in UK, applicable to universities, warn legal professionals https://twitter.com/LevinsLaw/status/1310567997648637953
Meanwhile, back over in Leeds, one of our highly responsible private accommodation providers appears to be going with "Maybe we could try burning the students?" Again, I can't say I'm 100% sure that's going to turn out well for them. https://twitter.com/g_louise02/status/1310652165560635392
Top tips for academic success:
1. Always do your referencing as you go along
2. Don't subject your students to false imprisonment
3. Don't go out of your way to make it easier for your students to perish in a fire
1. Always do your referencing as you go along
2. Don't subject your students to false imprisonment
3. Don't go out of your way to make it easier for your students to perish in a fire
Ah, I need to add an important clarification: the fire exit (identified by a fire exit sign reading "Fire exit") is, per @leedsbeckett, not a fire exit.
...actually, it might be clearer if we dispensed with the clarification.
" https://twitter.com/mralanjohnsmith/status/1310637625364164608
...actually, it might be clearer if we dispensed with the clarification.
" https://twitter.com/mralanjohnsmith/status/1310637625364164608
I'd just like to point out that iQ's containment strategy, as such, seems to have been to remove the cable ties, which didn't show up very clearly on camera, and construct something you could virtually sell to Alamy as a stock photo to be tagged "health and safety breach".
Meanwhile in Edinburgh.
It's the "twice" that gets me here. https://www.itv.com/news/2020-09-29/university-covid-crisis-muslim-student-stuck-in-self-isolation-served-ham-sandwiches
It's the "twice" that gets me here. https://www.itv.com/news/2020-09-29/university-covid-crisis-muslim-student-stuck-in-self-isolation-served-ham-sandwiches
OK, let's run through it again, because some people at the back are clearly not getting it.
When you perform "actions", there follow what we call "consequences". They are, if you like, the "consequences of your actions". For instance, https://twitter.com/jim_dickinson/status/1313448538123239424
When you perform "actions", there follow what we call "consequences". They are, if you like, the "consequences of your actions". For instance, https://twitter.com/jim_dickinson/status/1313448538123239424
You would have hoped that "Number of incidents that end up with fire services having to explain to universities that they are prohibited from burning their students" was not the kind of value on which you could keep a running tally. https://twitter.com/ucu/status/1317005527218589696
Brief (hopefully) reactivation of the "actions have consequences" thread, and this time, I'm saddened to say, it's my own employer: https://mancunion.com/2020/11/05/breaking-manchester-university-to-remove-lockdown-fencing-as-students-gather-in-protest/
I don't get it. How could they possibly have imagined this would play out any way but the way it did?
I don't get it. How could they possibly have imagined this would play out any way but the way it did?
Also: why do institutional damage-limitation comms always make the same unforced error of qualifying the acknowledgment with a touch of vaguely pass-agg self-justification? It can't help but look either petulant or clueless. Just say you messed up and will try not to do it again.
Ten points and a coconut to anyone who saw the UoM announcement saying they'd be taking the fencing down tomorrow and said "I don't think you'll need to be doing that..." https://twitter.com/themancunion/status/1324449448861278209
UoM response thread: https://twitter.com/OfficialUoM/status/1324454941319139328
Taking this in good faith, I can't help but feel that putting up a fence around people without prior warning or explanation in a bid to make their distress levels go *down* rather than *up* is culpable behaviour in its own right.
Taking this in good faith, I can't help but feel that putting up a fence around people without prior warning or explanation in a bid to make their distress levels go *down* rather than *up* is culpable behaviour in its own right.
Just found this @MENnewsdesk report from before the protests, in which my employer's spokesperson is quoted as stating that the fence "is designed to help highlight main entrance areas".
I'd have used signage myself, but what do I know? https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/manchester-university-installs-new-lockdown-19228777?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar
I'd have used signage myself, but what do I know? https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/manchester-university-installs-new-lockdown-19228777?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/manchester-university-installs-new-lockdown-19228777?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar
Because Twitter, the @themancunion tweet with the video above garnered at least one reply along the lines of "pah, there's only about 30 of them."
Reader, there were not only about 30 of them: https://twitter.com/rentstrikeUoM/status/1324458044479184903
Reader, there were not only about 30 of them: https://twitter.com/rentstrikeUoM/status/1324458044479184903
One thing that throws the terrible state of my employer's comms into particularly sharp relief is the fact that the affected students' comms are very good: https://twitter.com/HeartNWNews/status/1324622441977700352
In this piece, published late this morning, our Vice-Chancellor is quoted as stating that she does not know who approved the fencing-in of the residences, and is relying on the enquiry to find out.
This is, once again, a big problem in its own right. https://thetab.com/uk/manchester/2020/11/06/university-of-manchester-has-launched-an-immediate-inquiry-into-the-fences-49572
This is, once again, a big problem in its own right. https://thetab.com/uk/manchester/2020/11/06/university-of-manchester-has-launched-an-immediate-inquiry-into-the-fences-49572
Can only guess the thinking from my employer here is "We overpoliced our way into this mess, and we'll overpolice our way out of it": https://twitter.com/BenMcGowan_/status/1326942914765860864
This is going to be very, very expensive in bad PR, lost goodwill, and... actual money. https://twitter.com/GBCMANCHESTER/status/1326997596439793664
Apparent UoM game plan:
1. Single-handedly create the social media framing "puts students in jail" around yourself
2. Take all possible steps to reinforce this framing and spread it to traditional media ( https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/manchester-university-students-complain-prison-19273425.amp)
3. ???
4. Profit!
1. Single-handedly create the social media framing "puts students in jail" around yourself
2. Take all possible steps to reinforce this framing and spread it to traditional media ( https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/manchester-university-students-complain-prison-19273425.amp)
3. ???
4. Profit!
For a moment when I saw there had been an incident I selfishly hoped it wasn't gonna be us again this time. But, of course... https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/nov/15/manchester-student-alleges-he-was-racially-profiled-by-security-guards
(The complaint may or may not wind up meeting the legal standard of proof that this was in fact what it looks like it was.
What definitely is evident is that there'd have to be something deeply wrong with the institutional culture for what we see in the video to happen at all)
What definitely is evident is that there'd have to be something deeply wrong with the institutional culture for what we see in the video to happen at all)
Yup, that's gonna happen.
And check the comments. A Phil (not all Phils etc) chips in with some now-deleted-but-easily-surmised bigotry; a parent responds with "No, my daughter's there and it happened the way they say it did." https://twitter.com/themancunion/status/1328410559738474496
And check the comments. A Phil (not all Phils etc) chips in with some now-deleted-but-easily-surmised bigotry; a parent responds with "No, my daughter's there and it happened the way they say it did." https://twitter.com/themancunion/status/1328410559738474496
Professor Rothwell is, of course, at some level and within certain limits my boss, and I don't want to labour the point. But this really, really isn't working. https://twitter.com/rentstrikeUoM/status/1329502547925737480
There's a common context, I think, between the business of the fence and the more recent unsavoury developments. They're both results of drawing a line between a student enclave and a here-be-monsters zone outside it and imagining that line can be policed. https://twitter.com/ISmitheman/status/1329734144721645568
Apologies are usually a wise move. But this one is very obscurely expressed.
The only interpretation I've seen anybody offer is that Prof Rothwell routinely delegates correspondence signed in her name without requiring sight of the results, and+ https://twitter.com/themancunion/status/1329891217715367941
The only interpretation I've seen anybody offer is that Prof Rothwell routinely delegates correspondence signed in her name without requiring sight of the results, and+ https://twitter.com/themancunion/status/1329891217715367941
saw no reason to depart from that arrangement in this hugely sensitive case.
I would not like to assume that to be true, but I don't have any better interpretation of the phrasing "I said that I had written to the student [but] in fact that was not included in correspondence".
I would not like to assume that to be true, but I don't have any better interpretation of the phrasing "I said that I had written to the student [but] in fact that was not included in correspondence".
(The formulation "that was not included" is a weasel passive. No, I'm not calling my employer a weasel. That's just the accepted term of art for that move. It is basically prohibited in the academic culture I belong to. If a student does it, I'm supposed to point out the error.)
April McMahon, VP (= PVC in old money) with responsibility for students, interviewed yesterday: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/students-rent-strike-manchester-university-b1759108.html
Again, the fact that my employer is routinely making some of the worst comms decisions I've ever seen in my life is thrown into pretty sharp relief by the protestors' own publicity being very much on point. Look at this: https://twitter.com/studentsb4prof/status/1330650592709120007
(And, as someone points out in the replies, it adds some much-needed interest to the Bean Tin's outer wall.
As I understand it, Uni Place is a classic Looked Good In The Renderings But. Also there was meant to be some kind of fun cladding that got cost-shaved out of existence.)
As I understand it, Uni Place is a classic Looked Good In The Renderings But. Also there was meant to be some kind of fun cladding that got cost-shaved out of existence.)
*breathes normally; thanks stars it's at least not Manchester*
Dear HE institutions: you cannot do this. It is not legally enforceable. If you attempt to do this, lawyers will cheerfully step in and advise the students, at which point you will back down. https://twitter.com/jim_dickinson/status/1331836102701948928
Dear HE institutions: you cannot do this. It is not legally enforceable. If you attempt to do this, lawyers will cheerfully step in and advise the students, at which point you will back down. https://twitter.com/jim_dickinson/status/1331836102701948928
I say this with some confidence, not because I have any legal expertise or am gifted with clairvoyance, but because that's just what happens whenever anyone tries this nonsense on.
Remember, the "actions" and the "consequences": they are "linked". Your job is to find the links.
Remember, the "actions" and the "consequences": they are "linked". Your job is to find the links.
Haven't had much to add to this thread for a while, and was hoping not to have anything at all to add today, what with the whole Christmas Eve thing and all. But Sussex, alas, is being Sussex:
https://twitter.com/Dra_m_a/status/1342100869559558146
https://twitter.com/Dra_m_a/status/1342100869559558146
Was reminded of this tweet from August, which, it turns out, was by me: https://twitter.com/JamesBSumner/status/1299628277326372865
I see @ManchesterSU is holding a vote of no confidence in the VC in March. First time this has ever happened.
WHO COULD POSSIBLY HAVE PREDICTED THIS? https://themanc.com/news/university-of-manchester-students-to-vote-on-president-nancy-rothwells-future/
WHO COULD POSSIBLY HAVE PREDICTED THIS? https://themanc.com/news/university-of-manchester-students-to-vote-on-president-nancy-rothwells-future/
^and also the Registrar, the Deputy VC, and the two most relevant PVCs: see https://manchesterstudentsunion.com/articles/your-students-union-elections-are-coming
Whether or not you agree with the campaign, this framing suggests it's well-informed about what happens and clear about what it wants.
Whether or not you agree with the campaign, this framing suggests it's well-informed about what happens and clear about what it wants.
(Because Twitter: *please* don't start listing the names of everyone who could possibly have predicted this in the replies; there are at a conservative estimate several hundred thousand)
More details at @nancyoutuom.
(Be it noted: the SU can't literally vote the VC out. The question of how practical it would be for the VC to continue in post, if the SU voted no confidence, is uncharted territory. Size of turnout would no doubt be an important factor.)
(Be it noted: the SU can't literally vote the VC out. The question of how practical it would be for the VC to continue in post, if the SU voted no confidence, is uncharted territory. Size of turnout would no doubt be an important factor.)
Quick bump for this thread, because the "doing things may result in news reports about those things" principle doesn't seem to have reached the brass at Leicester yet: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/apr/08/university-leicester-strip-professor-title-social-media-barbs
