Two bits of hot gossip direct from the crisis frontline.
Longtime admin staff who have become completely fed up say SLT managers spend too much time slagging each other off outside meetings, sometimes even within earshot of more junior staff. SLT members will also do anything to protect their own necks, and the word is Spiersy is only too happy to let this happen and watch them fight it out. All he really cares about is bowing down to the Board of Governors, especially its Chair.
Second, module leaders in fine art, architecture, etc at KP think the new interim Dean to replace Rhodesy in KSA is a model ‘yes’ woman who will be powerless, will do whatever others on SLT want, and will not be able to defend KSA in the SLT back-stabbing scrum.
The other Deans have allegedly claimed they’ve been ‘subsidising’ KSA for too long (which is a bit rich given all the money being poured by KU into the new Town House and now the Rose again, all approved by the SLT and the Board). Rhodesy was just the first scalp and made it easier for them due to his behaviour. SLT and the Board want more blood. Hence the plan to axe 30 KSA staff.
Good here, isn’t it?
Muckraker
You always know when an organisation has already decided to change something – when it announces a staff ‘consultation’. It sounds democratic, of course: ‘look at us – we are consulting our staff – aren’t we kind’. As business lecturers in FBSS will tell you, though, the meaning of the word consultation has been seriously watered down in recent times by a whole host of organisations in business, banking, retail and now – depressingly – the HE sector. Its got to the point where it has become meaningless, a mere mask to cover real decisions that have already been made. The loss of the KU Nursery underlined this. The recent rolling out of a so-called 46-day consultation on a proposed ‘redesign’ of professional and support services across KU can only mean one thing: more job cuts and further service decline. Professional and support services have already been chopped right down to the bone in previous ‘redesigns’, which saw a collapse in morale and the departure of really experienced and dedicated staff. Now here we go again – to shave off another £2.6m from KU’s grossly mismanaged budgets. Here’s some quick first suggestions for the latest ‘consultation’ – the VC should return his recent pay-rise; he should stop making ultra-bland videos which nobody watches; all SLT members should have a pay freeze; no more money should be wasted on regular SLT away-days (with overnight accommodation) at their fave hotel in Great Windsor Park; an immediate freeze on trips by SLT members to Kong Kong and elsewhere should be implemented; no more subsidies to the bottomless pit of the Rose; no more slap-up meals for the Board of Governors at top eating spots; no more dosh put aside to buy up houses in Pen Road. Just these modest proposals should save a huge sum. Do staff have their own suggestions? Post them here, or send ’em direct to Spiersey. Go on – make his day.
Observant staff have noticed the new PSSR structure can be found on staff space the day prior to the big ‘launch’