I just returned from supporting a field study visit in New York with a group of students. During the week it seemed the world threw everything at us –snowmaggedons both sides of the Atlantic, staff and student ill health, boys from Stoke determined to ensure no one in our hostel got any sleep, wayward bus companies. The list goes on. We could not seem to catch a single ounce of luck.
And yet. As each unanticipated event hit us staff and students got on with it. The students embraced learning and new experiences with curiosity, commitment and intelligence. My colleagues and I strove to deal with endless problems, keeping the programme on track and the students as happy as possible. We supported each other in ways so far beyond the institutional notion of ‘academic citizenship’ as to make it laughable.
As the week progressed it became increasingly clear how these experiences encapsulated much of what is wrong with the neoliberal university, and the deep problems underlying the ongoing UCU strike.
- Students enthusiastic to learn, but struggling to see what the vast financial investments they make in education brings in return.
- Academic staff working at their limits, desperate to offer fantastic learning and student experiences but struggling to deliver against ridiculous expectations.
- Senior management’s lack of understanding of or empathy for the pressures academic staff are bearing.
- The most junior academic staff giving boundless commitment and effort in spite of their personal precarity and lack of recognition, security or reward from universities they work for.
- The importance emotional labour which tends to fall on female academics but remains hidden and under-valued.
- Professional services staff’s constant struggle to support academics and students whilst working with too little resource and wading through bureaucratic sludge.
As the week progressed my amusement at what we were dealing with became anger. That week has pushed me to the limit and now I’m pushing back.
Roused by inspiring voices I heard at New York’s International Women’s Day March. Swelled by the solidarity of many many campaigners there who knew of our strike and are engaged in similar battles.
I previously thought I supported this strike. Now I know I do. Sleep deprivation allowing I’ll be on the picket line tomorrow. I hope to see you there.