We Are The University

[TEU-academic] ] TEU update

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Fri Mar 22 2024 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)

Tēnā koutou katoa

Bargaining. I send this from a meeting of TEU representatives across the sector at National office. With branch committee member, Antonia Verstappen (FMHS) and our organisers, Nicole and Andy, we have been discussing strategy and claims that bridge the tertiary sector, as well as advising other branches as to our site-specific issues. We came away with many ideas on both fronts with well- developed timelines. Members will be receiving more information in the next month or so. Noel has been organising meetings to discuss our plans and claims for this year and we have brought many of these with us to Wellington. If you are interested in getting involved in the campaign this year, please email noel.zeng@auckland.ac.nz

All-staff forum next Wednesday. The session is to include feedback from the recent Senior Leadership Team Strategic Planning Day and an update on the Annual Report and finance, all themes that promise to be relevant to bargaining and much else.

Reminder: Pay Equity claim meetings. Claims for low-paid university library, clerical, and administrative staff are underway, and our organiser Nicole reports that the meetings have been well attended with great conversations about the many ways in which your job, on paper, does not resemble your reality. Remember that claims can only be assessed accurately if the real nature of your work is well understood.

The TEU is continuing to run a series of meetings for members and non-members under the claim to: discuss what happens next with the pay equity claims; develop key information about the real nature of your work; describe the way your roles will be assessed; and offer advice on how to talk about your work in a way that communicates your responsibilities.

The final meetings will be held next week. Please attend the meeting that works best for you. We have spread the meetings across campuses to make it more convenient, but feel free to attend whichever meeting you wish.

Monday 25 March 2024 1230 – 1330 FMHS Rm 507-LG045 Grafton Campus Tuesday 26 March 2024 1230 – 1330 Northey – Law Rm 801-204 City Campus

Yoga classes for TEU members. It is not too late to join in. Thursday mornings weeks 2-6 (inclusive) of semester 1 from 8 to 8:55 am at the Mclaurin Chapel. The classes will be led by Reha Kumar, winner of the Yoga Teacher of the Year Award from Sport New Zealand in 2023 and active yoga advocate and educator. Reha teaches accessible yoga for all body types. Each class is capped at 20 students and free for TEU members. Non-member guests are welcome but will need to bring a $10 contribution. You can register here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1yvJWm665HZv7xRhs7sdoVFZotquo4LWxCPgZj_q2fz0/edit In the second half of the semester the class will be offered at the Grafton campus, so if you are based there, please keep an eye out!

A note on such links as follow. I occasionally receive correspondence from members objecting to the inclusion of items with which the members disagree, or by writers of whom they disapprove. No endorsement need be presumed or read into the inclusion here. Decisions are based on presumed relevance or interest to members, not presumed consent or agreement.

“All levels of research are being changed by the rise of artificial intelligence (AI). Don’t have time to read that journal article? AI-powered tools such as TLDRthishttps://www.tldrthis.com/ will summarise it for you. Struggling to find relevant sources for your review? Incitefulhttps://inciteful.xyz/ will list suitable articles with just the click of a button. Are your human research participants too expensive or complicated to manage? Not a problem – try synthetic participantshttps://www.syntheticusers.com/ instead.” Alexandra Gibson and Alex Beatie (VUW) on the intrusion of AI into their research. Something felt ‘off’ – how AI messed with our human research, and what we learned theconversation.com

American Psychological Association policies on use of Generative AI. Not everyone uses the APA style manual, but this might be useful for those who do, or those who teach research students. Or just teach. APA Journals policy on generative AI: Additional guidancehttps://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/resources/publishing-tips/policy-generative-ai. See also Lin, Z. (2024). Towards an AI policy framework in scholarly publishing. Trends in Cognitive Sciences (available through library) The American “university campus is rapidly becoming a locus of infantilizing social control that any independent-minded student should seek to escape”. The Coddling of the American Undergraduate | The Hedgehog Reviewhttps://hedgehogreview.com/issues/missing-character/articles/the-coddling-of-the-american-undergraduate

Vale Frans de Waal. Emory primatologist Frans de Waal remembered for bringing apes ‘a little closer to humans’https://news.emory.edu/features/2024/03/er_frans_de_waal_16-03-2024/index.html

Other reminders.

Please consider sharing this and subsequent Updates (electronically or print) with colleagues who may benefit from knowing what we are doing.

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Barry Hughes, PhD 302.363 Science Centre School of Psychology University of Auckland / Waipapa Taumata Rau