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[TEU-academic] ] TEU update

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Fri Oct 27 2023 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)

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University elections. Eligible members will have received notification from Wendy Verschaeren (on behalf of the Returning Officer, Adrienne Cleland) of elections of staff to various university committees, including Council. We encourage you participate by voting, but we particularly encourage you to vote for candidates who, following serious deliberation and recognition of the qualities of each candidate, received the endorsement of the branch committee. These are members in good standing who understand the values and goals of our union, and who commit to actively represent staff interests. They deserve our support. Members will have also received a list of endorsements from our Whip, Jennifer Frost (History). Voting opened on Wednesday and closes at 12 noon on Wednesday 8 November 2023.

VC’s all-staff forum. This month’s forum, held on Wednesday, was focused on cybersecurity and Generative AI. TEU member Ulrich Speidel (Computer Science) has long been sensitive to and aware of the implications of both, especially for academic integrity. His reaction to the discussion on Wednesday: “This week's forum concentrated on topics around generative AI which impacts on many areas of university activity - from being a great research asset to being an IT tool in the hands of hackers wanting to attack us, and of course something we'll want our students to use effectively and productively in their careers, while simultaneously wanting to ensure it's not replacing all intellectual effort and competency on their part. From an academic integrity perspective, generative AI is proving to be a big disruption, with universities responding along the entire spectrum from opening the flood gates and even paying for subscriptions for student use, to banning it outright. From my perspective, a significant percentage of students will now use ChatGPT or similar for their assessments - whether allowed or not. Beyond the risk of producing graduates who cannot function even at a basic level without AI assistance, we must also contemplate how much human resource we want to dedicate to providing feedback on AI-generated content. Do we really want to be slaves to the machines and give feedback on their output - output that even the commissioning students may not be familiar with and feedback they won't read? I am currently wading through a stack of nearly 70 wordy postgrad assignments where generative AI wasn't explicitly banned. Around half of them show signs of ChatGPT use. Off to serve my new master...”

Teaching awards. TEU members almost had a clean sweep of teaching awards recently announced. Congratulations to Alys Longley (CAI), John Egan (FMHS), Andrew Brown (Engineering), and Sereana Naepi (Arts)! And to Danping Wang (Arts) to whom we add: it is not too late to join us.

Humans of the BC. At our branch AGM, we welcomed a long-time member and union activist to the Branch committee. Sione Ma’u (Mathematics) tells us that he enjoys research and teaching but hates the time-consuming nature of administrative work. Join the club! “I've been here for 11 years and seen how a few things work at university. I look forward to seeing more as a unionist on the branch committee and building a powerful organisation that defends workers effectively! I like places with big trees, like the neighbourhood where I live, and the Auckland Domain. If I have time after lunch I sometimes go there for a walk. I like a range of music: some classical, Tongan folk songs, popular music from the 20th and 21st centuries”.

Inexorable managerial creep. Philip Hill (U Otago) and colleagues outline the various familiar downsides of rising managerialism in the tertiary sector: misplaced cost-cutting; faux consultation; diminished autonomy of decision-making; workload increases; increased power, pay, perks, and prestige for those tempted into management...Read more herehttps://stuff.pressreader.com/article/281835763385065. We are yet to read a reasoned current defence of it but are reminded that the late VC, Stuart McCutcheon, once tried: Managerialism and the modern university https://www.universitiesnz.ac.nz/latest-news-and-publications/chair-managerialism-and-modern-university

The squish and slush. University leaders, foundation executives, newspaper editors, corporate spokesmen, politicians, and movie stars all fill the air with their pious affirmations of civilization’s dependence upon the humanities. And yet…The burden of the humanities, by Wilfred M. McClay | The New Criterionhttps://newcriterion.com/issues/2023/11/the-burden-of-the-humanities. And to what ends are disciplines directed? Should academic disciplines have both a purpose and a finish date? | Aeon Essayshttps://aeon.co/essays/should-academic-disciplines-have-both-a-purpose-and-a-finish-date

Kvennafrí. Earlier this week, Iceland’s Prime Minister, Katrín Jakobsdóttir, actively participated in a nationwide strike in support of gender equality and pay equity. Women across Iceland, including the prime minister, go on strike for equal pay and no more violence | Stuff.co.nzhttps://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/gender-and-society/300996358/women-across-iceland-including-the-prime-minister-go-on-strike-for-equal-pay-and-no-more-violence. See also Some call us ungrateful middle-class feminists – but this is why women went on strike in Iceland | María Hjálmtýsdóttir | The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/25/middle-class-feminists-why-women-went-on-strike-iceland

Switching off. Our modern, digital work lives raise serious questions about how we limit after-hours contact to maintain a boundary between work and non-work time. TEU member Amanda Reilly (VUW) explains: https://theconversation.com/nzs-always-on-culture-has-stretched-the-8-hour-workday-should-the-law-contain-a-right-to-disconnect-215444

Personally, I blame Rodney Hide. bFM is under financial stress: Student radio, like the rest of the industry, faces the rise of streaming and 'non-linear' entertainmenthttps://thespinoff.co.nz/media/06-09-2023/ten-crucial-revelations-from-new-zealands-most-important-media-data, and advertisers spreading their spending across multiple platforms. The Detail: Radio's 'Media Cockroach' Needs Rescuing | Newsroomhttps://www.newsroom.co.nz/podcast-card/radios-media-cockroach-needs-rescuing

Reminders:

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Barry Hughes, PhD School of Psychology Faculty of Science Phone: +64 9 923 5265 Extension: 85265

Website: www.psych.auckland.ac.nzhttp://www.psych.auckland.ac.nz/ Address: Science Centre, Building 302, Level 6, 23 Symonds Street, Auckland 1010 | Private Bag 920129, Auckland 1142, New Zealand