tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28080901.post4343590412811168458..comments2024-03-20T08:37:50.011+00:00Comments on Bullying of Academics in Higher Education: Here you have it: 'Beware Big Brother paranoia 1'Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28080901.post-63357072952485223702007-05-27T23:10:00.000+00:002007-05-27T23:10:00.000+00:00It may well be that not all HEIs are run like the ...It may well be that not all HEIs are run like the Staatssicherheitsdienst (Stasi), but some are.<BR/><BR/>To ignore this reality and call for the outting of those who suffer, is not right.<BR/><BR/>It may well be - as Jeremy states - that these passions exist in all societies, but does this justify them? Why should academia be any different? I don't know Jeremy, perhaps you can think about it...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28080901.post-41620614682795810162007-05-27T21:22:00.000+00:002007-05-27T21:22:00.000+00:00Good Jeremy,now you've got your 5 minutes of fame!...Good Jeremy,<BR/><BR/>now you've got your 5 minutes of fame!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28080901.post-63532648324543763062007-05-27T10:12:00.000+00:002007-05-27T10:12:00.000+00:00I can understand that Jeremy Valentine finds it ha...I can understand that Jeremy Valentine finds it hard to believe that practices such as trawling through staff emails looking for signs of dissent exist.<BR/><BR/>I work in a faculty where I find it hard to believe the practices that I see with my own eyes. I sometimes have to pinch myself to check that I am not dreaming....that I have not slipped into some Orwellian nightmare...some dystopian science fiction. <BR/><BR/>For example....staff who have been the targets of workplace bullying in other universities have moved to the university that I work in and then (I believe) have joined in the mobbing against me...such is the power of the culture of mobbing in my faculty....<BR/><BR/>It is hard to believe that some academics will resort to such disgusting behaviour...in the name of naked ambition...<BR/><BR/>I am sure that there are universities where such practices do not exist...where there is integrity...maybe Queen Margaret University is such a university... where bullying is not condoned... (the burgeoning research literature on wpb has started to explore cultures of bullying)<BR/><BR/>But sadly Jeremy there are some of us working in prestigious research universities who have to rub our eyes daily in disbelief at the playground politics that are the stuff of our daily lives....<BR/><BR/>(It could of course be that I am just a troublemaker who deserves to be bullied..... )<BR/><BR/>Aphra BehnAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28080901.post-5748278053034753892007-05-25T23:49:00.000+00:002007-05-25T23:49:00.000+00:00Someone wrote "Se Maometto non va alla montagna, l...Someone wrote "Se Maometto non va alla montagna, la montagna va da Maometto" (if Mohammed will not come to the mountain, then the mountain must come to Mohammed) in a private email discussion between two colleagues about a burdensome HR directive. The individual was then reprimanded for insulting the head of HR and all staff (at a university!) were ordered not to communicate in any language other than English. We have, incidentally, two national languages of which English is officially the second. Equally incidentally, the two miscreants were employed to study and teach Romance literature.<BR/><BR/>Big brother certainly does have time to pry, and forewarns of prying in the campus email Acceptable Usage Policy - find yours and post it - e.g. "While network traffic is not normally monitored, it may be necessary if there is reason to suspect that this Acceptable Use Policy is being breached, or for the purposes of backup or problem-solving. You must therefore be aware that such monitoring may occur."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com