Notices by Pauline von Hellermann (pvonhellermannn@mastodon.green), page 3

#ClimateDiary

Seven confirmed dead in 'catastrophic' Central Europe floods as evacuations continue

The Austrian province surrounding Vienna has been declared a disaster area, with its leaders speaking of "an unprecedented extreme situation"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cdrjjl3mmy8t

Extremist settlers rapidly seizing West Bank land #FreePalestine

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c207j6wy332o

#AcademicVenting 🧵#Redundancy Further twists and turns in the last couple of weeks: AFTER 62 of us accepted enhanced redundancy and 18 took fractional contracts (forced by deadlines), SMT and union struck a deal that the remaining 11 - the ones going for appeal - would be reinstated. Allowing both SMT and UCU to collude on a “no compulsory redundancies” narrative; UCU widely celebrating this as a union victory. A bit galling.

#AcademicVenting 🧵#Redundancy then I spent this last week with two very different but equally misery-inducing aspects of extrication:

a) sorting out future of my PhD students (4 current, 2 that were due to start now) - many conflicting emotions, and it’s all just so sad;

b) battling with the intersection of email, Outlook, Google, Teams, Adobe, Microsoft, etc. The horrors of this really showed how helplessly entangled we all are in all these platforms! (Not asking for tech advice).

#AcademicVenting 🧵#Redundancy But by yesterday afternoon I somehow turned a corner; I am beginning to work out strategies for being an environmental anthropologist in my own right, even without institutional backing. I may have a new book contract; a small consultancy for the RSPB; and some teaching for the wonderful New School of the Anthropocene. No huge earners but all really helping psychologically right now. Here’s to #RegenerativeAnthropology!
#ClimateDiary

https://www.nsota.org/

@bifouba it is awful beyond words that all these red lines are not even talked about anymore.

Also, do you remember when those foreign aid workers got killed and there was so much outrage that it felt like a turning point? At the time i was angry that this (not deaths of Gazans) would be a turning point, now I wish it had been.

Palestine is the world’s moral compass and it is completely, completely off.

(Bad selfie at this week’s Eastbourne #Gaza protest)

#AcademicVenting this coincides with the UK government’s calamitous attempt to combat “net migration” by reducing the number of international students; they are no longer allowed to bring dependents (neither are care workers. The cruelty!) This is a tweet by our lovely prime minister. We have a government that is actively hostile to HE (one of the economically most important sectors in the country)

https://x.com/RishiSunak/status/1790692815111926010

#AcademicVenting They tried to go one step further by abolishing the current work visa for international students (allowing int students to stay for 2 years after graduating). Luckily the Migratory Advice Committee firmly pushed back on this last week, and hopefully none of this will come to anything once Tories are out, but it’s impacting
International students decision making - we already have offer holders pulling out of our MAs.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/article/2024/may/14/no-evidence-foreign-students-abusing-uk-graduate-visas-review

#AcademicVenting Just to say again: all this is so stressful- losing 50% of your salary for a marking boycott that maybe won’t make any difference, given the wider hostile environment. It’s not even about the reality of challenges; it’s the fact that all these reports are out there, right now. It gives ammunition to those wanting to fire us, and weakens our case.

#AcademicVenting The crisis in HE (higher education) is so tangible it’s making headline news; our dangerous exposure to changes in migration/visa regimes and therefore whims of government ever more apparent.

Who is completely silent on all this (as fas as I know), as on everything else? Starmer, Labour. It would make a massive difference, and would work for them. But no. Everyone beholden to the same - imagined! - anti-woke, anti-immigration, anti-university voter.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/may/19/rishi-sunak-faces-cabinet-backlash-over-plans-to-curb-foreign-student-visas

#AcademicVenting Anyway, here a nice comment piece by Polly Toynbee

“Tories and their pollsters see as clear as day that the growth in highly educated citizens, above the OECD average, is a social and political revolution not in their favour: the more educated people are, the less likely they are to vote for what John Stuart Mill called “the stupidest party”.”

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/17/tories-foreign-students-universities-crisis-economy-soft-power

#AcademicVenting I haven't been writing much here as it's just been too stressful. We are now officially in Stage 2; none of the counterproposals, none of our objections during "collective consultation" made any difference; still planning to make over 130 of us redundant. But we are resisting! Students have occupied Deptford Town Hall! #NotADoneDeal #UCU @ucu

#AcademicVenting if anyone wants to know what Stage 2 of the redundancy process is like:

#HungerGames with mitigation forms.

#AcademicVenting #HungerGames

Today our “Individual Assessment Form” (IAFs - formerly known as SMQs - “skills management questionnaires” - no idea why the name change but who cares)
are due in. We all have to attach things like student evaluations and progression data as well as publications, grants, etc. Then we will be scored against each other and some of us selected for redundancy. I am in a pool of 4 (with 3 wonderful colleagues) - we are going down to 2.

#AcademicVenting #HungerGames for the last two days i have been getting the loveliest student testimonials and frankly been in a complete state. All that kindness and caring. But i can’t bear that simultaneously these are also instruments of potential harm against my colleagues. I have not even started work on my IAF, partly due to other deadlines, partly because i simply can’t bring myself to.

#AcademicVenting #HungerGames Here is my lovely colleague Michael Rosen at the picket line yesterday, asking:

how will they score “We Are Going On A Bearhunt”?

https://x.com/GoldsmithsUCU/status/1803077036061151286

#AcademicVenting Did this post separately but want to add to 🧵 😊

https://mastodon.green/@pvonhellermannn/112664947922775683

#AcademicVenting Well, we all submitted our "Individual Assessment Forms" last Wednesday. Now looks like ALL cuts in my department will be made at my level, Senior Lecturer; 3 out 5 of us are supposed to go.

It is absolutely INSANE how all this is unfolding; the kinds of people who are in charge of all this. We are supposed to hear on Friday who it will be.

#HungerGames

#AcademicVenting Surreally, I am on my way to a big conference, Anthropology and Education. Doing a panel on regenerative anthropology. But the conference cost an obscene £320, that I only secured at the last second - we don’t have a research budget anymore, but suddenly we did get one now (in June). Meanwhile of course also #redundancy looming. We so desperately need a new everything. #RegenerativeAnthropology, #RegenerativeAcademia, everything.

#AcademicVenting 🧵

For the (self-pitying) record: we will hear Monday or Tuesday who will be made redundant. “We” being those of us still in scope; there has been a bewildering reduction of “in scope” groups this past week, after everyone spent days and days on their IAFs (see above).

I am in scope; all reduncancies in my dep are at SL/Reader grade. 5 of us scored (out of “90”) and ranked. Top 2 stay, bottom 2 go, middle gets 0.5. It is psychologically torturous. We are friends! #HungerGames