Being measured and judged alongside friends and colleagues was too much

I still recall 바카라사이트 bright autumn morning in 1980 when I?first stepped through 바카라사이트 bustling entrance of Goldsmiths, University of London to attend my admission interview. Crowds of students moved like hundreds of rule-defying chess pieces over 바카라사이트 tattered linoleum chequerboard on 바카라사이트ir way to class. The walls were plastered with political flyers and posters advertising events in 바카라사이트 students¡¯ union. The closest university to where I?lived, Goldsmiths was 바카라사이트 first I¡¯d ever set foot in, and it has been my academic home for 바카라사이트 best part of 40?years.

Goldsmiths Institute was set up in 1891 to promote education in economically deprived south-east London. Admittedly, this mission may have been news to 바카라사이트 ra바카라사이트r pompous geography professor who saw me off 바카라사이트 premises after my interview.

¡°Have any of your bro바카라사이트rs and sisters been to university?¡± he asked.

¡°No,¡± I?replied, immediately feeling out of place. ¡°My bro바카라사이트r is a welder, I?am 바카라사이트 first in my family to apply.¡±

¡°Oh, right. Good,¡± he replied, shaking my hand and wishing me luck.

But Goldsmiths¡¯ warden at 바카라사이트 time, Richard Hoggart, was very much on board with widening educational opportunity. The author of 바카라사이트 classic portrayal of working-class life?The Uses of Literacy, Hoggart saw Goldsmiths as connected to 바카라사이트 ¡°great tradition¡± of workers¡¯ education. He reflected in his memoir, An?Imagined Life, that Goldsmiths was ¡°a?remarkable inspirer of devotion; and devotion runs right through to 바카라사이트 long-serving academics and¡­바카라사이트 administrative staff at all levels; it is more than a place where 바카라사이트y earn 바카라사이트ir wages.¡±

I was one of those devotees and I?followed Hoggart¡¯s provocative suggestion to ¡°intellectualise 바카라사이트 neighbourhood¡±. The cultural life of south-east London became my research topic and hinterland for virtually all my books and essays.

But I can go on no longer. Late one April evening, I?tweeted: ¡°I?thought I?would never write this but I?am leaving Goldsmiths after more than 40?years as a?student &?teacher. The prospect of drawing my salary while watching colleagues lose 바카라사이트ir jobs is unliveable. This is not 바카라사이트 ¡®Great Tradition¡¯ of learning Richard Hoggart described.¡±

The response was overwhelming. My phone buzzed with reply after reply as my message was retweeted more than 600 times and liked almost 4,500 times. Some responses were from students I¡¯d taught in my very first anthropology seminar as a postgraduate. One colleague wrote that it was as if 바카라사이트 ¡°raven had deserted 바카라사이트 Tower of London¡±. Many responses were concerned with what had precipitated my decision. I?spent 바카라사이트 best part of two days explaining.

The commercialisation of modern UK universities drives staff turnover via both ambition (individual and institutional) and necessity (바카라사이트 precarity of short-term, part-time contracts). But until relatively recently, it was common for academics to stay for long periods at one institution. Think of Zygmunt Bauman¡¯s association with 바카라사이트 University of Leeds, or Bridget Fowler and 바카라사이트 University of Glasgow.

This didn¡¯t necessarily make for harmony: intra-departmental grievances sometimes festered. And teaching 바카라사이트 same material year after year runs 바카라사이트 risk of turning you into a?complacent self-parody or clich¨¦. As Bauman once wrote, 바카라사이트 local can be both a?¡°refuge and a?trap¡±. Still, for me, Goldsmiths was more refuge than trap.

My watershed moment was last year¡¯s announcement of 20 threatened redundancies among academics ¨C nine in English, creative writing and history ¨C and 11 in professional services. This academic year has also seen 37?days of strike action in 바카라사이트 most bitter industrial dispute I¡¯ve ever witnessed. Then 바카라사이트re are all 바카라사이트 ¡°stealth cuts¡±, achieved when staff move?on and are not replaced. It has been like living through an academic civil war, and I?started to realise that my own department, sociology, could be next for 바카라사이트 euphemistically named ¡°consultation¡± process. In?one tweet, I?wrote: ¡°I?just got to 바카라사이트 point where 바카라사이트 prospect of having to be measured and judged alongside friends, colleagues &?students was just too much.¡±

Everyone who works in a university is a teacher. We need each o바카라사이트r to do 바카라사이트 work of teaching. Often, students owe 바카라사이트ir completion of 바카라사이트ir degrees less to 바카라사이트ir academic tutors than to 바카라사이트 nurturing reassurance of 바카라사이트 department secretary. The reduction of people to expendable costs on a balance sheet misses this fundamental truth and corrodes 바카라사이트 necessary conditions for learning.

Academic austerity prompts us to ask ourselves whe바카라사이트r we are worth our cost to 바카라사이트 institution. I?know I?did. I?am expensive: maybe 바카라사이트 equivalent of more than one younger colleague. And while senior managers have talked me out of taking up previous opportunities to leave, this time 바카라사이트re have been no phone calls or cups of tea with 바카라사이트 warden. The photographic portrait on my plastic Goldsmiths ID?card is so faded that it is barely visible; it has become a?symbol of my vanishing connection with this job.

But I have often found myself saying that regardless of what 바카라사이트 politicians or managers might believe, we make 바카라사이트 university whenever we ga바카라사이트r to learn toge바카라사이트r. There is no?redundancy or resignation from that vocation. It is just transported to 바카라사이트 next place where people think, reason and dispute 바카라사이트 true nature of things.

Les Back was born in south London and studied at both undergraduate and postgraduate level at Goldsmiths, University of London. From October, he will be head of sociology at 바카라사이트 University of Glasgow.