The folks at Swansea University started their own blog where they share details of their struggle. Check it out here and send the link to your friends.
I really admire these people because they are not giving up. I wish academics in this country start learning how to fight for their rights and follow the example of their colleagues at Swansea.
8 comments:
Well I am showing this around at school, because perhaps that will generate more letters in support of Swansea and perhaps people will realize what we can lose if we don't act (although it is not clear to me what would be effective) -- but this is very distressing and I hope it doesn't give the administration any new ideas (that it hasn't already had). Somehow I'd rather just be cut than be asked to reapply for my job ... these tactics are so demeaning!
Thank you, Clarissa, for pointing us to the blog.
Hopefully your blog (on Blogger) is behaving a little better.
I dutifully E-mailed a protest to the administrators of Swansea as you requested, but question if it will help or hurt the case of Modern Languages there. My impression of the leadership at Swansea is that they may be that class of cloistered academics for whom the outside world is a nuisance. They may resent a non-academic daring to criticize their decision since for them language may be a purely academic subject with no relevance to the outside world.
The administrators of Swansea (just like the administrators everywhere else, unfortunately) resent any criticism of what they are doing whether it comes from academics or non-academics. That's actually the root of the problem: they think that they know best. They show up in our classes, research conferences and meetings to offer advice which betrays an ignorance of staggering proportions. If I gave you some examples of that type of advice, you would surely think I'm making it up. I know entertain people at parties with stories about the gaffes our administrators make.
So of course they will dismiss what we say. Unless we inundate them with letters and protests. That's the only hope I see for now.
Adelaide: Thank you for noticing my tweets. :-) Now I don't feel like I'm sending them into an indifferent universe. :-)
You're right Adelaide, our administrators (in their official capacity, perhaps not at home with their kids) really do not see the connection between the world and language and languages.
xx from Swansea
I've often considered starting a blog entitled "The Things Administrators Say..."
As a former student affairs administrator, I've been subjected to numerous daft suggestions from other administrators.
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