You can always tell a manager from their predilection for euphemisms (as well as their general incompetence). Following rumours about the fate of the double-double-barrelled member of the Senior Mismanagement Team, we are now informed that our teaching tsarina Lesley-Jane Eales-Reynolds “has decided to leave Kingston University to pursue other opportunities.” Sounds just like when a politician is given the sack. Quite why L-J amongst the SMT rabble has been singled out for the push is not immediately obvious, perhaps something to do with the overall poor NSS scores, or maybe the antipathy between her and Quiller McQuillan, the Dark Lord of KU.
Most of us long-suffering muggles who make up the staff of Kingston would happily see the back of a few more, especially McQuillan who might just be one of the nastiest, such is his reputation for bullying. But of course there is the lamentably incompetent Tuninga, a bumbling troll causing havoc in B&L. Will he be next? What is running through the minds of the Ministry of Magic, otherwise known as the Board of Governors, once enchanted by the illusion that Kingston could be turned into a real research university overnight with a few waves of Ratty’s wand? The goblins are running wild. Is our Chief Architect Spier a Dumbledore who can rescue the situation, or is he just another dumb manager? One thing’s for sure: L-J’s replacement, Clarissa Wilks, is no Harry Potter, nor Hermione Granger for that matter. Voldermort lives.
Happy New Year.
Sadly, the writing is on the wall. Kingston as a new university has regressed so considerably in terms of academic standards and its management (both inextricably related) that it has reached the point of no return. My suspicion is that the university will close in the next few years, its facilities to accomodate Kingston College.