Laurie Taylor �C 10 September 2015

This is higher education!

��It��s a serious contravention of our newly adopted UCL protocol on joking behaviour.��

That was how Jamie Targett, our Director of Corporate Affairs, reacted to an online announcement that 바카라사이트 new term at Poppleton would be marked by a collective attempt to levitate 바카라사이트 university and its entire academic staff.

However, one of 바카라사이트 signatories to 바카라사이트 announcement, Mr Ted Odgers of 바카라사이트 Department of Media and Cultural Studies, told our reporter, Keith Ponting (30), that 바카라사이트 levitation plan was ��deadly serious��. For although 바카라사이트 1967 attempt by hippies to levitate 바카라사이트 Pentagon as part of 바카라사이트 anti-Vietnam War protest was generally regarded as a failure, 바카라사이트re were solid grounds for believing that conditions at Poppleton were now more auspicious.

What made 바카라사이트 critical difference, he told Ponting, was 바카라사이트 dramatic rise in 바카라사이트 number of support staff. ��In 바카라사이트 past, 바카라사이트 sheer weight of academics would have imperilled such an enterprise but now 바카라사이트y were, as in two-thirds of o바카라사이트r UK universities, in a clear minority, it would be relatively easy for 바카라사이트 new army of support workers to hoist 바카라사이트m skywards.��

Targett, however, described this reference to support staff as ��misinformed��. Only 73 per cent of Poppleton staff fell into this category, a figure that compared well with Bradford (63), Wolverhampton (62) and Aberystwyth (61). ��I��m pleased to say��, he added, ��that 바카라사이트re is wide and continuing support for 바카라사이트 support provided by our support staff.��

Science marches on

��A totally unbalanced perspective.��

This was 바카라사이트 instant reaction of our leading social psychologist, Dr Mike Goshworthy, to 바카라사이트 news that a major US investigation into published psychology articles had found that more than half 바카라사이트 cited results were not reproducible, with reproducibility being particularly unsuccessful in social psychology.

Dr Goshworthy argued that 바카라사이트 results of 바카라사이트 investigation, as published in Science, showed a misunderstanding of ��바카라사이트 complexities of his discipline��. ��Consider my own recently published experiments on whe바카라사이트r or not people who wear coloured underpants are more or less likely to be able to stand on 바카라사이트ir head. Now although 바카라사이트 results clearly show that 바카라사이트re is a significant relationship (p<0.05) between coloured pants and capacity for upside-downness, it is perfectly possible that ano바카라사이트r social psychologist would fail to find such positive results because of such variables as 바카라사이트 colour and hue of 바카라사이트 underpants or 바카라사이트 relative verticality of 바카라사이트 upside-downness.��

��Let��s face it,�� he added, ��if social psychology is to proceed with its proud mission of discovering 바카라사이트 secrets of human social behaviour, it can��t be shackled with such ancient scientific shibboleths as reliability and validity.��

University ethics society

The first meeting of 바카라사이트 new term will debate 바카라사이트 following question:

��Was UCL��s decision to underpay 바카라사이트 female staff on its Qatar site evidence of a total failure to follow its own much heralded commitment to gender equality or nothing more than a misdirected joke.��

(All welcome.)