Adequate is enough – and some days we won’t manage even that

Yes, Petra Boynton is correct. This is a time for transformation and kindness in the academy. Having worked in higher education for 40 years in five different institutions from Oxbridge to red brick I shudder to consider the fact that in their rush to survive economically (during the brutalised years of neo-liberal political philosophy that damaged academic values); universities over-recruited and short-changed many international students. A damaging bullying culture was rife across the academy. Universities ignored the need for staff development to address the many diverse cultural and pedagogic differences but also put staff lives in danger from the ‘virus soup’ on campus at the start of each term without any thought apart from economic survival. We cannot go back, but in trying to get that balance of speaking truth to power, but we must do so in love and not continue with the damaging blue-print of the past. The opportunity to change the ‘globalisation of indifference’ is in our hands so let’s not waste this chance for kindness to staff and students.