[Minorcompositions] Minor Compositions Podcast Episode 25 Shaping for Mediocrity

[Minor Compositions]

*Minor Compositions Podcast Episode 25 Shaping for Mediocrity*

For this episode, in light of the current sector wide university crisis 
in the UK, we present the recording of a seminar with Ronald Hartz, 
David Harvie, and Simon Lilley about their book Shaping for Mediocrity.

In 2021, as part of a programme called Shaping for Excellence, bosses at 
the University of Leicester made redundant numerous scholars in what was 
simultaneously an attack on academic freedom and trade union 
organisation. The authors of Shaping for Mediocrity not only had 
front-row seats in the campaign against these mass redundancies, they 
were in the ring – both as targeted employees and as trade union 
officers and negotiators. Shaping for Mediocrity tells the inside story 
of these attacks and the campaign against them. It situates this story 
within a longer history of struggle to make the university a place where 
critical thinking is possible, showing how events in Leicester are both 
reflective of higher education in the UK following four decades of 
neoliberal ‘reform’ and a particularly egregious instance of the 
increasingly authoritarian management of public institutions such as 
universities.

The crisis in our universities has only worsened since 2021. 
Three-quarters of institutions are predicted to face financial problems 
in 2025, dozens are undergoing some form of restructuring and thousands 
of university workers risk losing their livelihoods. In this recordings, 
three of Shaping for Mediocrity’s authors – Ronald Hartz, David Harvie 
and Simon Lilley – will be discussing their book and exploring the 
possibilities for resisting mediocrity and remaking the university.

Ronald Hartz is Research Assistant at Technische Universität Ilmenau, 
Germany. He is interested in organisation and management studies, 
alternative forms of work and organisation, and the discursive 
constitution of organisations. Recently, he became interested in the 
critical exploration of the transformation of higher education.

David Harvie was, until 2021, associate professor of finance and 
political economy at the University of Leicester and Communications 
officer and, for nine days before his dismissal, vice-chair of Leicester 
UCU. He is now a deprofessionalised intellectual and a founding member 
of inCommons. He’s approaching the end of a two-year term as UCU’s 
(national) honorary treasurer.

Simon Lilley is Professor of Organisational Studies and Management and 
Director of Research for Lincoln International Business School, 
University of Lincoln, U.K. Simon has a first degree in Psychology from 
University College London and a PhD from the University of Edinburgh. He 
has previously taught at the Universities of Edinburgh, Manchester, 
Glasgow, Keele, Lancaster, Leicester, the University for Humanist 
Studies, Utrecht and the International Business School, Budapest. His 
primary research interests are around Organisation Studies, Social 
Studies of Science and Technology, Social Studies of Finance, and 
Digitalisation.

Intro / outdo music: Mission of Burma - Academy Fight Song (1980)

The Minor Compositions podcast is in made in collaboration with Firefly 
Frequencies: https://fireflyfrequencies.org
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