Hoodwinked over pay
Regular readers of this newspaper will know that there’s not a lot of love lost between The Oxford Student and Dr. John Hood, the Vice-Chancellor of the university. Whatever can be said about Hood’s record in office to date the news that he has enjoyed a pay increase of nearly 60 per cent in the last three years must surely seem a bit extreme.
What makes the astronomical rise all the more shocking is comparison with other Vice-Chancellors, whose average rises were around the 25 per cent mark, and with lecturers and tutors, whose pay rates fell by an average of 40 per cent over the same period. Admittedly an increase has been offered to the tutors at Oxford, but one and a half per cent is in all honesty little more than an insult in comparison to the Vice- Chancellor’s raise.
Perhaps Hood’s performance in the job has warranted this apparently disproportionate reward; to be frank though, it seems unlikely. His tenure has been volatile to say the least, with many long-standing dons reacting badly to his new-broom style. Unlike former Vice-Chancellors Hood has been criticised for being detached from day to day life of the university.
In contrast to this aloof and often combative management style virtually every student in this university can name a tutor who has gone the extra mile for them. If tutors who organise revision trips during the Easter vac, make themselves almost constantly available to support finalists and mods students, all on top of organising lecture and tutorial courses, are performing so poorly that they deserve a cut it’s hard to imagine what Hood’s doing for his whopping increase.
There can’t be enough hours in the day, surely? Even if there were, it seems hard to believe that the actions of a businessman running Oxford like a for-profit concern are fundamentally more important than those of the teaching staff. This disparity in pay for lecturers and high-level administrators has led, in part, to the AUT’s decision to take industrial action in many universities, including Oxford.
Unfortunately this will affect finalists and other examinees, not just here, but across the country • a fact that has led to many students’ unions backing their university’s administrations rather than the teaching staff. This is a disheartening show of misplaced loyalty and self-interest on the part of these students and it is to the credit of OUSU that they have chosen to back the tutors of Oxford in their campaign for fair pay.
Again, the Oxford Student has a record of disagreements with OUSU, but credit must be given where it’s due. It is undeniably annoying to have any disruption in getting your degree, but asking tutors to maintain their enthusiasm for teaching while slashing benefits is a foolhardy strategy at best. In the long run it is best for everyone, students and staff alike, if tutorial staff get a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work.
As far as the question of loyalty goes, it seems perfectly reasonable that students should support the men and women we see giving their all for our benefit rather than the disconnected, authoritarian establishment which too often seems to view students as an unfortunate side-effect of running a world class research and conference centre. Every student in the university should be getting behind the campaign for better pay for the teaching staff.
It’s not an unreasonable request • all they want is parity.
20th Apr 2006