E25 - Shaping for Mediocrity

For this episode, in light of the current sector wide university crisis in the UK, we present the recording of a seminar with Ronald Hartz, David Harvie, and Simon Lilley about their book Shaping for Mediocrity. In 2021, as part of a programme called Shaping for Excellence, bosses at the University of Leicester made redundant numerous scholars in what was simultaneously an attack on academic freedom and trade union organisation. The authors of Shaping for Mediocrity not only had front-row seats in the campaign against these mass redundancies, they were in the ring – both as targeted employees and as trade union officers and negotiators. Shaping for Mediocrity tells the inside story of these attacks and the campaign against them. It situates this story within a longer history of struggle to make the university a place where critical thinking is possible, showing how events in Leicester are both reflective of higher education in the UK following four decades of neoliberal ‘reform’ and a particularly egregious instance of the increasingly authoritarian management of public institutions such as universities.   The crisis in our universities has only worsened since 2021. Three-quarters of institutions are predicted to face financial problems in 2025, dozens are undergoing some form of restructuring and thousands of university workers risk losing their livelihoods.   In this recordings, three of Shaping for Mediocrity’s authors – Ronald Hartz, David Harvie and Simon Lilley – will be discussing their book and exploring the possibilities for resisting mediocrity and remaking the university.    Ronald Hartz is Research Assistant at Technische Universität Ilmenau, Germany. He is interested in organisation and management studies, alternative forms of work and organisation, and the discursive constitution of organisations. Recently, he became interested in the critical exploration of the transformation of higher education. David Harvie was, until 2021, associate professor of finance and political economy at the University of Leicester and Communications officer and, for nine days before his dismissal, vice-chair of Leicester UCU. He is now a deprofessionalised intellectual and a founding member of inCommons. He’s approaching the end of a two-year term as UCU’s (national) honorary treasurer.   Simon Lilley is Professor of Organisational Studies and Management and Director of Research for Lincoln International Business School, University of Lincoln, U.K. Simon has a first degree in Psychology from University College London and a PhD from the University of Edinburgh. He has previously taught at the Universities of Edinburgh, Manchester, Glasgow, Keele, Lancaster, Leicester, the University for Humanist Studies, Utrecht and the International Business School, Budapest. His primary research interests are around Organisation Studies, Social Studies of Science and Technology, Social Studies of Finance, and Digitalisation. Intro / outdo music: Mission of Burma - Academy Fight Song (1980) The Minor Compositions podcast is in made in collaboration with Firefly Frequencies: https://fireflyfrequencies.org