Dissenter was not tempted to go along to the newest DVC’s “keynote speech” last month, a gentle parody of which you can read below. Really the speech was beyond parody — it is already a self-parody. One might ask what function a university secretary has. In the case of Mr Hilton it would seem to be none at all, bar the production of long tracts of management-ese, the purpose of which is to avoid the real problems of the University, principally caused by the management, while attempting to fool the staff that improvements are underway. But no one is fooled. One suspects that Hilton knows exactly what he’s doing, or is he as stupid as the waffle he spouts implies?
Ratty certainly knows what’s going on. Orwell would have recognised this kind of writing, its intentional obfuscation, though he might have been surprised to see it used in a seat of learning (haha) rather than the halls of political power. Oppression by bullshit. Could be the University’s new motto.