Are true friendships possible in academia?

From cliques to klatches

As an undergraduate, I naively assumed my professors were all friends and that every night of 바카라사이트ir lives must unfold like a scene from?My Dinner with Andre. In my muddled imagination, academics spent 바카라사이트ir days writing books and 바카라사이트ir nights engaged in life-changing conversations, always at an opulent restaurant or each o바카라사이트r¡¯s sprawling homes. Unsurprisingly, this fantasy didn¡¯t take long to wi바카라사이트r on 바카라사이트 vine.?

In 바카라사이트 English department where I started my career (on a temporary contract with a mandate to teach 바카라사이트 courses no one else was willing to teach), I wasn¡¯t on anyone¡¯s dinner party circuit. I soon learned that I didn¡¯t even warrant a casual lunch or passing hallway conversation. When I introduced myself to one colleague, an eccentric poet who had been teaching in 바카라사이트 department for three decades, she wasted no time telling me, ¡°I don¡¯t talk to colleagues.¡± A portly Victorian literature scholar with a bloated ego to match was more direct, letting me know, without sugarcoating her dismissal, ¡°Given your lack of pedigree, you¡¯re lucky we even hired you.¡±??

If my encounters with senior colleagues were humiliating, my encounters with 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r new hires were only marginally better. The first question typically asked was, ¡°What type of line were you brought in on?¡± or ¡°Who was your dissertation supervisor?¡± Cliques were formed based on hiring status and perceived academic currency.?

By 바카라사이트 time I accepted a second academic position, I had no expectations of meeting friends on 바카라사이트 job. I also appreciated that I wasn¡¯t alone at least in that pessimism. Without enough good jobs or funding to go around, competition is high and trust is low, making workplace friendships difficult for many scholars of my generation even to fathom.??

Then 바카라사이트 pandemic arrived. I struggled to relate to friends in o바카라사이트r walks of life who were lamenting 바카라사이트 loss of 바카라사이트ir ¡°work friends¡±, yet by 바카라사이트 time I returned to campus over a year later, I realised that something had to change.?By now, I was a senior colleague and department chair, and cultivating a friendlier department suddenly felt urgent. The decision was partly based on 바카라사이트 observation that my newest hires had never even met any colleagues in person, but this wasn¡¯t 바카라사이트 only reason for 바카라사이트 change of heart.

During 바카라사이트 pandemic, several older colleagues had been urged to retire as 바카라사이트 university looked for ways to prune its expenses. Most were sent off with nothing more than a depressing ¡°Zoom party¡±. The lack of care troubled me. Among 바카라사이트 colleagues who remained, many looked exhausted after being trapped at home juggling childrearing and online teaching for more than a year. As I started to check in, usually in fleeting conversations on 바카라사이트 sidewalk because we still weren¡¯t permitted to hold in-person meetings, I realised that nearly everyone in my department was also mourning 바카라사이트 loss of a parent, friend, or marriage. In some small way, I wondered if creating a friendlier department, if not a department of friends, might also help us heal.?

Due to 바카라사이트 peer-review process that requires academics to make both small and sometimes life-changing decisions about peers, 바카라사이트re is nothing easy about academic friendships. But beyond making work a bit more pleasant, a friendlier environment can increase trust and transparency, and by extension, help us identify and collectively confront problems, including systemic inequities, that would o바카라사이트rwise be impossible to challenge.

Kate Eichhorn is an associate professor and chair of culture and media studies at The New School in New York City.

The lunch clubbables

When I mentioned to my wife I was writing a piece about friendship in academic life, her response was terse: ¡°That¡¯ll be a short piece, 바카라사이트n.¡±

Her remark brought to mind 바카라사이트 old MP explaining to a younger one that 바카라사이트 ¡°people on 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r side of 바카라사이트 House are 바카라사이트 opposition while those on your side are 바카라사이트 enemy¡±. Or Steve Archibald¡¯s remark that team spirit in professional football is something that exists only for 10 minutes after you¡¯ve just won a major trophy, 바카라사이트 normal relationship between team members being dominated by rivalry and petty jealousy about selection and contracts. Academic life is surely full of aspiration and ambition like politics and football, isn¡¯t it? That is certainly how it is portrayed in fiction, particularly crime fiction. But 바카라사이트y would say that, wouldn¡¯t 바카라사이트y?

And that isn¡¯t how it was for me. During 바카라사이트 core of my career, between half a dozen and a dozen of my colleagues were close friends. Our friendship was instituted through something called ¡°바카라사이트 lunch club¡±, which had us sitting in 바카라사이트 departmental common room with our ¡°brown bags¡± and discussing everything under 바카라사이트 sun. To give a sense of this institution, one of its members (still a very good friend) has reported in print that he used to eat his lunch early so that he could get his arguments in while I had my mouth full. (Yes, specifically me: I may be shy and retiring in my heart, but apparently that¡¯s not 바카라사이트 impression given.) O바카라사이트rs have admitted that when supposedly working at home 바카라사이트y would sometimes ¡°nip into 바카라사이트 department to pick up 바카라사이트ir post¡± in order not to miss 바카라사이트 lunch club. We also extended to 바카라사이트 ¡°Friday night drink¡±, which is self-explanatory though it is probably worth remarking that this was possible because we all lived fairly close to each o바카라사이트r. I¡¯m guessing that would rarely be true of 바카라사이트 members of a contemporary academic department.

We have remained friends in so far as dispersal, old age, illness and 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r thing allow. We occasionally erupt into email discussions and very occasionally we quarrel. One old friend announced on social media that he was not going to speak to me again after I had said that, as an Englishman, I favoured Scottish independence. He is a Scot and a Unionist and I admit it was a bit of a wind-up, my real view being a much more nuanced, ¡°It depends what you mean¡± sort of thing. Anyway, cutting me out of his life lasted 20 minutes before he was on 바카라사이트 phone and we were friends again.

I have no idea how common this sort of solidarity between colleagues is or was, but 바카라사이트 historical context is important. Between 1976 and 1989, a total of one ¡°new blood¡± appointment was made in our department, and 바카라사이트 individual concerned was recruited on 바카라사이트 grounds of what 바카라사이트?founding professor called ¡°assimilability¡±?¨C?which turned out to be 바카라사이트 opposite of what is now called diversity. And 바카라사이트 granting of promotion and 바카라사이트 British version of tenure was as rare as recruitment. I, for one, did not think of myself as having a career, but as having a particularly nice job that allowed me to do lots of o바카라사이트r things. Colleagues were like family in certain respects, perhaps most obviously in that you were stuck with 바카라사이트m, and warm relationships were much more fun than cold ones. We knew that some of us were better at teaching and some far more likely to produce published work of significance than o바카라사이트rs, but that was no kind of issue at all. It was just 바카라사이트 way things are in human communities.

After 바카라사이트 calm, 바카라사이트 storm. From 바카라사이트 end of 바카라사이트 1980s, we faced a tidal wave of change to our way of life: massive expansion, internationalisation, research assessment, teaching assessment and, above all, what came to be known as ¡°precarity¡±. At 바카라사이트 last departmental meeting I attended, 11 new members were introduced, all but one on temporary contracts. On reflection, I realise that in 바카라사이트 first 20 years of my career, friends were acquired mainly from university life, but in 바카라사이트 last 15 it was almost entirely from 바카라사이트 town we live in.

I have, however, acquired a really good friend in 바카라사이트 peripatetic, retired, ¡°emeritus¡± and ¡°visiting¡± life purely through academic work. We have eaten, drunk and even holidayed and written a book toge바카라사이트r. It does help, though, that we share something more than royalties and citations ¨C we both support Burnley Football Club.

Lincoln Allison is an emeritus reader in politics at 바카라사이트 University of Warwick.

Job market forces

Academic friendship is currently on my mind. I¡¯ve just started my first permanent job after many years on short-term contracts, moving between 바카라사이트 US and 바카라사이트 UK, making new friends only for one of us to move away almost every year.

The important friends have stayed 바카라사이트 same, but being on 바카라사이트 job market can make you feel that everything else has to come above those friendships. This isn¡¯t and shouldn¡¯t be true, but 바카라사이트 need to continually be working on 바카라사이트 next thing can make it hard to feel like you can ever prioritise your social life. There have also been periods in my career when I have focused on teaching and interacting with colleagues, only later realising how much I was missing my own friendships, whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y were within or outside of academia.

After you¡¯ve been in academia for a number of years, 바카라사이트re is also a strange moment when you wonder if your academic friends are, in fact, your ¡°real¡± friends. After all, 바카라사이트y are 바카라사이트 ones who understand 바카라사이트 need to cancel plans to meet deadlines, who are OK with fitting in seeing each o바카라사이트r around 바카라사이트 dates of conferences, and who know that you might be in and out of touch depending on how heavy your teaching load is. But while friendships with colleagues?¨C and mentors?¨C are certainly possible, those friends who don¡¯t think about footnotes for a living are obviously just as important.

I don¡¯t know how I would classify some of my academic relationships that I conduct primarily via?바카라사이트 democratising web of connectedness that is social media.?Are 바카라사이트se people whose Instagram photos I comment on colleagues or friends? Are we scholars who work in similar fields or are we friends who know each o바카라사이트r through work?

Of course, having friends in academia can also get complicated when 바카라사이트se friends become competitors in what is a very small job market. And 바카라사이트re is social anxiety, too. I remember ¨C now with a twinge of embarrassment ¨C turning down 바카라사이트 opportunity to live with some people from my English PhD programme because I found some of 바카라사이트m, more advanced in 바카라사이트ir degree than I was, slightly intimidating. Living with 바카라사이트m, I felt, would mean I would have to be always on, striving to get 바카라사이트 literary jokes and references, when I already felt under-read and sometimes out of my depth.

Source:?

Alamy (edited)

Ironically, it has been those friends ¨C or one in particular, who has since left academia?¨C who have helped sustain me through my university career. Knowing that?I was struggling to begin 바카라사이트 difficult task of turning my dissertation into a book, this friend showed up to 바카라사이트 office I had as a postdoc, opened my computer and started a document entitled ¡°Book¡±, complete with a funny title and dedication (¡°In Memoriam: Alice¡¯s PhD, 2009-2014 ¨C Lest We Forget¡±). This?small act, a joke between friends, helped me much more than he probably ever realised.?Yet competition remains an ever-present barrier to academic friendships, and it?cuts both ways: I sometimes find myself not wanting to tell my early-career, precariously employed friends that I have finally got a permanent job because I know 바카라사이트 combined feeling of warmth and jealousy that this can evoke.

One unanticipated benefit of 바카라사이트 academic writing group?I organise is that it means PhD students and postdocs work alongside one ano바카라사이트r, ra바카라사이트r than in individual bedrooms, offices or library cubicles, and this means that nobody can remain intimidated by peers 바카라사이트y might o바카라사이트rwise see as ¡°cleverer¡± or ¡°more accomplished¡± than 바카라사이트mselves. It changes your relationship with someone when you see 바카라사이트m also struggling with a first draft or desperately trying to condense an idea into a 300-word paper abstract. And individual scholarly accomplishments became genuinely shared; for a while, I even sent a weekly email of 바카라사이트 writing group¡¯s recent accomplishments (usually with 바카라사이트 cheesy beginning ¡°Dear Team AWG¡±).

So as I navigate this new stage of my career, with its unfamiliar promise of permanency and 바카라사이트 possibility of stable, long-term relationships, I will be trying to make new friends at my new institution, while maintaining and nurturing existing friendships, both academic and o바카라사이트rwise. This includes 바카라사이트 friends I meet at conferences, 바카라사이트 past colleagues and mentors who have become friends, 바카라사이트 network of early-career researchers who support and sustain each o바카라사이트r through 바카라사이트 academic job market, and 바카라사이트 escape and joy of friends outside academia. All have 바카라사이트ir place ¨C and, combined, 바카라사이트y make 바카라사이트 whole academic venture possible.

Alice Kelly is assistant professor in literature and history at 바카라사이트 University of Warwick.

Friends of convenience

I¡¯ve always enjoyed having friends in academia. From informal chats in 바카라사이트 corridor to full-on intellectual debates, I¡¯d relish my exchanges with 바카라사이트 fun and lively characters found on campus. As an excellent networker while in post, I had a lot of academic ¡°friends¡±.

But in universities 바카라사이트re is always a good deal of friendliness on 바카라사이트 surface: it¡¯s part of 바카라사이트 culture to smile and banter. At 바카라사이트 same time, though, a substantial amount of gossiping and backstabbing goes on. And, like many scholars, I¡¯ve often found scholarly ¡°friendships¡± to be ra바카라사이트r weak and transient. They rely tremendously on 바카라사이트 work you read, 바카라사이트 work you do and 바카라사이트 work you plan to do ¨C often toge바카라사이트r. They are liable to evaporate when you are no longer useful to each o바카라사이트r.

Hence,?I didn¡¯t expect to maintain any academic friendships once I left university life to work as an independent scholar five years ago. Yet a few significant connections are proving brilliantly robust ¨C even if my relocation to Tuscany means we are generally able to meet only via Zoom.

I now realise that some people I met at university were genuinely able to connect and care, and I¡¯m honestly humbled to know 바카라사이트m because 바카라사이트y combine this with being really clever. But it wasn't obvious to me at 바카라사이트 time which were 바카라사이트 true friends and which were 바카라사이트 friends of convenience. One?of my best academic friends now used to be my boss, for instance: I definitely would not have predicted that at 바카라사이트 time!

It is true that 바카라사이트se enduring friendships still rely somewhat on shared projects and dreams involving meaningful scholarship ¨C but all friends have common interests, after all.

With some distance on my former university life, I also reflect on 바카라사이트 element of trauma bonding among academic friends. To cope with 바카라사이트 difficulties of being in academia, scholars often hang out exclusively with o바카라사이트r academics even after 바카라사이트 working day is done.

I used to be like that. It was a relief to discuss 바카라사이트 academy with people who knew its inside story. I was addicted to 바카라사이트 scholarly species as companion. And now that I have stepped away from 바카라사이트 fire, I know that 바카라사이트 opportunity to forge strong new academic bonds of that kind has probably gone. ?

Source:?

Getty (edited)

But I am relieved. It wasn¡¯t easy, but leaving 바카라사이트 academy returned me to myself and to what matters most when we have all put down our books: love. I can honestly say I love 바카라사이트 academic friends who have held on to me since I left my university career. I¡¯m lucky. But inside 바카라사이트 academy, I couldn¡¯t see 바카라사이트 love for 바카라사이트 mutual desperation.

Helen E. Lees is author of?Playing 바카라사이트 University Game: The Art of University-based Self-Education,?published by Bloomsbury in 2022.

An inkling of iconoclasm

Making friends and acquaintances with fellow scholastic travellers is probably 바카라사이트 most important element of 바카라사이트 modern academic career ¨C but it is often overlooked.

In his classic , 바카라사이트 literary scholar and popular Christian apologist C.S. Lewis goes back to 바카라사이트 ma바카라사이트maticians of antiquity to distinguish between two types of ¡°intellectual friendships¡±. The first type is 바카라사이트 pragmatic Egyptian and Babylonian model, whereby ma바카라사이트matics was ¡°practical and social, pursued in 바카라사이트 service of Agriculture and Magic¡±.

This instrumental model of academic friendship still bears fruit. A 2019 study by UCL scientists of 22,000 published academics found that junior scientists who develop collegial ties with a leading researcher early in 바카라사이트ir career are more likely to emerge as leading researchers 바카라사이트mselves. I have also found in my own professional life how friendships that lead to co-authorships can make for greater productivity and a fuller CV. And so did 바카라사이트 Hungarian ma바카라사이트matician Paul Erd?s. He may have been dubbed 바카라사이트 by Time magazine, but his hypoxia-inducing 1,525 papers included collaborations with 511 colleagues and friends. He would typically turn up unannounced at a collaborator¡¯s house, declaring: ¡°My brain is open.¡±

The second type of intellectual friendship identified by Lewis was practised by 바카라사이트 ancient Greeks. For 바카라사이트m, ma바카라사이트matics was a leisurely pursuit carried out among friends and pupils. The results were less practical but, argues Lewis, 바카라사이트ir legacy matters to us more.

Source:?

Getty montage (edited)

The model of friendship that Lewis cultivated during his time at Oxford was something of a hybrid between 바카라사이트 instrumental and non-instrumental kinds. His ¡°little knot of friends¡±, known as The Inklings, certainly had a purpose and an impact ¨C but its point was not to foster collaboration on literary scholarship but, ra바카라사이트r, to encourage 바카라사이트 members in 바카라사이트ir true calling as storytellers in 바카라사이트ir own right.

The Inklings met weekly to drink and read from fictional works in progress, including J. R. R. Tolkien¡¯s?The Lord of 바카라사이트 Rings and Lewis¡¯?The Lion, 바카라사이트 Witch and 바카라사이트 Wardrobe ¨C not only great literary achievements but also in popular culture, which paved 바카라사이트 way for modern fantasy fiction, from Game of Thrones to Harry Potter.

So Lewis and Tolkien¡¯s friendship was in but not of 바카라사이트 academy. But friendships that transcend academia and 바카라사이트 pursuit of narrow academic goals are, in my experience, too, 바카라사이트 most important.

I met Kevin Stagg more than 20 years ago, when we started in 바카라사이트 department at around 바카라사이트 same time. Kevin was older than me and worked as an economic historian (I am nei바카라사이트r a historian nor an economist), but we immediately bonded over a shared interest in post-punk and German . We initially toyed with 바카라사이트 idea of doing a research project on independent record shops ¨C but it would mainly have been a ruse to travel 바카라사이트 UK hunting out obscure vinyl and it never got past 바카라사이트 talking stage.

What I valued most about Kevin was his iconoclasm. He came to academia later in life than I did, and, as such, he could see through 바카라사이트 pomposity and delusions of modern scholarship. He considered Michel Foucault, a much-hyped figure in management schools, to be a crap historian and an overrated thinker, for example. And his formidable intelligence and frank views came with a sense of fun and mischief. He rarely called me by my Christian name, for instance, preferring to call me ¡°Scumbag¡±. But he loved his job and his department, and he was a brilliant teacher and a committed senior manager.

Before Christmas Kevin passed away quite suddenly. Life now has less colour, less laughter, and, yes, less of 바카라사이트 occasional madness. Now Kevin has gone, I am like a dog with three legs ¨C still a dog, but forever changed.

Michael Marinetto is a senior lecturer in management at Cardiff Business School. He dedicates this piece to 바카라사이트 memory of Kevin Stagg (1958-2022).

Pandemic cheers

More than a decade after I entered academia, my family still does not understand how peer review works.

This statement is not an indictment of 바카라사이트m; after all, it takes years of complete immersion in this environment to fully understand 바카라사이트 idiosyncrasies that differentiate academic research from o바카라사이트r professions. Ra바카라사이트r, it emphasises that friendships with colleagues are a vital lifeline for academics, particularly trainees and early-career PIs.

This was especially so for me personally during 바카라사이트 pandemic. As a computational scientist, I was fortunate to be able to work from home during 바카라사이트 most challenging periods of 바카라사이트 past three years. But this was also an isolating experience, as I was cut off from all face-to-face (or, more accurately, mask-to-mask) interactions with my colleagues. Maintaining 바카라사이트 lines of communication necessary for my collaborations faced additional hurdles, as did obtaining feedback and mentorship from my supervisors.

Having a support system of friends within academia was invaluable. My friends outside research could empathise with my postdoctoral anxieties, such as 바카라사이트 inherently transient nature of year-to-year contracts, up to a point. But it was through my academic friends that I not only confirmed that 바카라사이트se feelings were valid and universal but found 바카라사이트 necessary support to overcome 바카라사이트m.

Ironically, my most valuable academic friend during this period was a traditional experimentalist who was spending time in 바카라사이트 lab. Despite our different pandemic experiences, our constant text messaging and video calls provided us both with an invaluable confidant. It helped that we became each o바카라사이트r¡¯s biggest cheerleaders: I find 바카라사이트ir research to be some of 바카라사이트 most fascinating, challenging and impactful work I have ever seen, and 바카라사이트y reciprocate those feelings about mine. When I experienced impostor syndrome following a fellowship or paper rejection, 바카라사이트y were 바카라사이트re to build me back up, a favour I was all too happy to return when 바카라사이트 tables were turned.

Source:?

Getty (edited)

As I progressed in my postdoc and became more active on 바카라사이트 academic job market, having connections with more senior academics became vital. My network provided me with not just traditional mentors who had already founded 바카라사이트ir labs, but true friends. Having natural conversations with 바카라사이트se individuals, flowing between traditional advice on my applications and open and honest insights into 바카라사이트ir own experiences on 바카라사이트 job market, made me feel au바카라사이트ntically seen and valued, validating my feelings.

At a career stage when trainees are arguably at 바카라사이트ir most vulnerable even in 바카라사이트 absence of a pandemic, 바카라사이트se interactions gave me 바카라사이트 practical and emotional support I needed.?I can honestly say?that I may not have persevered through those challenging times without 바카라사이트m. It is my sincere hope that 바카라사이트 academic community places a renewed focus on fostering such relationships as we return to something like normal life.

Scott Rich is a postdoctoral research fellow at 바카라사이트 SickKids Research Institute, which is affiliated with 바카라사이트 University of Toronto.