Is Pride in our University a Sin?

This might seem a rather strange question. The series of Lent talks at our local church this year has been on the seven deadly sins, and 'pride' was the latest in this list of talks. Also last Thursday we had the Annual General Meeting for the University of Birmingham. As ever, this was excellently done, a chance to showcase the very best of the University to the senior leadership and to about 150 ‘friends’ from across the city and beyond. The event was held in Elgar Concert Hall and was compared by our Chancellor, Lord Bilimoria, with an excellent mixture of formal speaking, informal anecdote and obvious pride in both the University and the city. The theme of the whole evening was built on the relationship between the University and the city and the very best that Birmingham (in both senses) has to offer was presented to the gathered audience. It was a truly uplifting evening.

 

So why should such pride be a ‘sin’? On Saturday I travelled down to Swansea to look at possible accommodation as I contemplate starting a new role at a new institution. Does Swansea do these public events with the same panache and style as Birmingham? I have yet to find out. As we drove down we noted that Wales were playing Scotland in the Six Nations at the Millennium Stadium and David, my partner, commented that changing Universities must be a bit like being a footballer suddenly changing teams. While you have been totally committed to Stoke City, for example, for twenty years, and have been telling everybody that this is the best team ever, now you are off to play for Swansea United and suddenly it is Swansea that has the ultimate in footballing prowess. And here is me, travelling from England to Wales, to play, if not for the opposition, or at least for a very different team.

 

One of my colleagues at Birmingham, who has more experience of switching Universities than me, described this situation as a kind of serial monogamy, a total commitment to each institution for the time that you are working for them. I have no particular problem or issue with that and will, obviously, commit myself one hundred percent to Swansea as of May 1^st (while still maintaining a real affection and pride in Birmingham where I have spent the last twenty two years.) That is not really the point that struck me particularly as I sat in the Elgar Concert Hall looking at an amazing 3D film of all the new building works that are being developed around the University of Birmingham campus. That is not why I might call pride in the University a ‘sin’.

 

It was not the knowledge that I was about to jump ship that gave me a feeling of hypocrisy last Thursday. It was more the memory of so many colleagues over the years at Birmingham who would have been sceptical, at the very least, by such a show, and probably down right cynical. It is alright telling us about all the things that are going well, they would have said, but what about all those areas that have suffered ‘restructuring’ when things have gone wrong? What, they would have asked, about the increased workload across the staff base that has made all these wonderful achievements possible? Are the people whose work has created this achievement really getting the credit they deserve? It is true that many of these people, the lecturers, support staff, administrators, cleaners and others, were not in the room that evening.

 

Having said this, I have always been somewhat surprised by those colleagues who do express pride in the University, along side, it must be said, a healthy dose of scepticism and mumbling about all the many problems. I was talking on Wednesday evening to a colleague from another local University and he was complaining about the building work at his institution, hoping that it would not have a negative on the student experience. Interestingly the general feedback from the Birmingham campus, where there is considerable disruption due to the new building work, is a real sense of pride among the students about the investment that the University is making for future generations. I was also surprised, looking at Facebook a couple of years ago, just who did post a comment expressing pride in Birmingham’s achievement of University of the Year. It was not always the people I was expecting.

 

The reference to awards takes me to my last point. On Tuesday I chaired the Athena SWAN working group and later I attended a session for the LGBT mentoring scheme (the only one of its kind in the country!). At both these events I commented on the string of Stonewall awards the University has won this year as a consequence of rising over 150 places in the Stonewall Employers index to establish a place in the top 100. Of course this does reflect some significantly positive work that Birmingham has done around LGBT support and action, both with students and with staff. I am also very conscious, however, that it also has to do with the fact that we decided this year to pull all this work together and to put considerable energy into making the best application that we could. The application was not all spin by any stretch of the imagination, but it did paint some rather mediocre activities in the best possible light, and it did achieve its purpose. The opportunity to say Birmingham University has entered the top 100, that the Rainbow Staff Network has been highly commended, and that we are officially the most improved institution in the Midlands is all very satisfying, and does actually go along way to making that positive spin on the application form a reality going forward.

 

So is pride in the University a sin? Of course not, so long as there is some real achievement underneath the words and so long as we continue to retain a healthy dose of scepticism among all the awards. I now look forward to having the same pride in Swansea over the next few years that I clearly have, and will always have, for Birmingham.