Last week I was wearing rose tinted glasses and I invited Vision’s readers to do the same. Well two weeks later and two week wiser, I’m afraid the glasses are going to have to come off. The elements of York I lauded last week were the achievements of students; the rugby team and the volunteers and even, a little self indulgently, of this paper itself. They’re fine. The happy innovation of this campus may continue without my comment. Instead, I’d like to attack The Administration.
Sounds like the title of a bad film, but forget Tim Ngwena and his cohorts, the real power at this University is Mr Brian Cantor and his team. They’re the ones with the unenviable task of managing such a complex community. Ensuring that students, academics and staff alike are all kept happy.
The only problem is that, as of late, they haven’t been doing a very good job.
The loss of twenty-four hour portering might seem to some like a necessary cut in what is a difficult time financially, but regardless of economics it has betrayed to the student community the lack of concern, and perhaps more importantly, understanding that Cantor et al have for us.
Barricaded away in Heslington Hall, that nook of traditional beauty in an otherwise concrete campus, the administration escape the duty of transparency and accountability that we expect in our Sabbatical Officers. Instead they hide behind the veil of Press-officer David Garner as they close bars without warning and declare with cavalier disinterest that porters are not part of the formal welfare system. Nightline can put as many posters up as they want, but they still rely on the student coming to them. In contrast I can remember countless times when my confused wanderings past the porter’s lodge in Vanbrugh have prompted unsolicited help, an enquiring word, or even just a joke. My first year memories are full of encounters with the porters due, mostly, to the fact that I had an alarmingly habit for locking myself out of my room. But what does Brian Cantor know of this? Who amongst the student community has even met the man?
A delightful character, who the inhabitants of the Vision office deal with on quite a regular basis, is the university press officer David Garner. A man whose job seems to be to make the information surrounding campus events as bland and as difficult to extract as possible. It is university policy that staff should not talk directly to the press and that all statements should go through Mr Garner. Understandable, of course; staff are liable to express opinion, to not agree with the official line and to perhaps get the university into trouble. But the problem is that this sanitising of events reduces any accountability. Vision’s request to speak to Keith Lilley, Director of Facilities Management over this important issue of Portering was met with rude exasperation and disinterest. When we finally were granted a Q&A, through the sanitising process of Garner, we were treated to such gems as:
Q: ‘Some porters have complained of becoming “glorified receptionists”. How would you answer this accusation?’
A: ‘This is not a concern which has been raised by porters with management. Porters’ duties have always covered a range of skills.’
Brilliantly banal. Not only does Lilley ‘skilfully’ evade the question, which I will acknowledge makes no attempt to hide its agenda, but he also betrays the administrations complete lack of regard for anything but the official line. In the absence of an official complaint, it would seem that to Mr Lilley, there is no problem.
But Lilley and Garner are missing a trick: students are definitely not willing to remain in the dark over matters that affect them, but with due understanding and rationale will back down. Thus if cutting the availability of night porters really is the only way this university can save a few bob then I for one will begrudgingly accept the change. However I fail to believe that amongst all this bad management, all this rash and damaging cost-cutting there isn’t a way we can avoid losing our porters and, in the process, angering the students that make up the University of York.