Down with that sort of thing

[nmg]

While buying a round of tea in the Students' Union this lunchtime, I noticed that the chap standing next to me was wearing a t-shirt which read:

Students Against Lecture Strike Action - salsa.susu.org

This makes no sense on a number of counts:

• There is no "Lecture Strike Action", because teaching is proceeding as usual.
• If they're referring to people with teaching duties, they should be aware that these are called "lecturers". As an aside, if the students can't distinguish between "lecturers" and "lectures", we're doing something seriously wrong.
• This industrial action is not limited to lecturers, but to all members of AUT and NATFHE, a group which includes research and academic-related staff: librarians, administrative staff, system support staff, and so on
• The strike action (meaning complete withdrawal of labour) was limited to a single day in March. They're complaining about what AUT/NATFHE distinguishes as "action short of a strike".

The URI doesn't point at anything in particular, redirecting to the SU homepage.

Being a mild-mannered academic, I of course said nothing.

Comments

[mr-tom.livejournal.com]

Yes, but that wouldn't have a snappy acronym.

Besides, they're against their colleagues[1] being paid properly. What sort of shit does that?



[1] Is there are better way of describing the lecturer/student relationship?

[nmg.livejournal.com]

Yeah, SAIABLRAOARS[2] sounds pretty poor.

I realise that NUS should represent the best interests of its members, but it's a bit short-sighted to look only at this year's graduands-to-be, rather than at the long-term effects of increasingly demotivated teaching staff.

Of course, SUSU isn't even affiliated with NUS, but that's because Southampton tends to attract large numbers of right-of-centre students from the Home Counties. It's at times like this that I'm glad I chose Warwick over Southampton for my first degree (the decision was almost a coin-toss).

[2] Students Against Industrial Action By Lecturers, Researchers And Other Academic-Related Staff

[brisingamen.livejournal.com]

it's a bit short-sighted to look only at this year's graduands-to-be, rather than at the long-term effects of increasingly demotivated teaching staff.

Couldn't have put it better. But as I am increasingly noticing, the NUS/local SU seem to find it very difficult to see beyond the end of their own stint at university, or as union officials.