When you're a pleb...


Jamie123
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When you're a pleb like me, on the very bottom rung of the academic hierarchy, it doesn't always pay to engage Important People in casual conversation.

 

When I arrived in the building this morning, I stepped into the lift, and just as the doors were closing who should appear but the Acting Dean. So naturally I held the door open for her. She was thankful and I asked her how she was, and pleasantries were duly exchanged. I asked her if she was still Acting Dean (she has been since the last proper dean retired earlier this year) and she said she would be until January.

 

Then I made my big mistake: I asked her if the new dean had been appointed. She said "Yes, it has been announced. It was in the Vice Chancellor's newsletter!"

 

So now...as if I don't have enough to worry about...the Acting Dean knows that I don't bother to read the Vice Chancellor's newsletters.

 

And this is quite true: I occasionally scan them through for "juicy bits" (like the recent accusation that the university has been encouraging hate speech http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/11870429/British-universities-that-give-the-floor-to-extremist-speakers-are-named-and-shamed.html) but mostly they go straight into a file marked "VC's Newsletters". I'm far more interested in what my students are doing than in the high-level politics of the university.

 

But such parochial attitudes can bite you in the butt if you're not careful! Be warned!

Edited by Jamie123
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