{"id":59216,"date":"2021-09-06T20:51:45","date_gmt":"2021-09-07T00:51:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=59216"},"modified":"2021-09-08T03:49:41","modified_gmt":"2021-09-08T07:49:41","slug":"the-lost-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/the-lost-campus\/","title":{"rendered":"The lost Campus"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nI\u2019d stayed back late to go to a seminar in an area that I wasn\u2019t familiar with. When I left, evening was closing in so I took a short cut to my bus stop. I ended up in an area of the campus that I didn\u2019t know at all. It was a bit wilder than I was used to.<\/p>\n

There weren\u2019t many buildings about, so I knocked where I saw some lights on. It was a funny little place \u2013 cottage-like, really. Part of the old campus, I guess. It had a sign on the door that said \u2018Faculty Studies\u2019. There were ducks grazing by a pond nearby.<\/p>\n

The first thing that the woman said when she answered was, \u201cHello. Are you lost?\u201d I certainly was.<\/p>\n

She didn\u2019t invite me in. She spoke to someone back in the room, grabbed a coat and came out with me. \u201cI\u2019ll take you back. I need to go to the library anyway.\u201d She seemed in a bit of hurry, which I didn\u2019t mind. I didn\u2019t want to miss my bus.<\/p>\n

It was almost dark as we walked, and the wind had picked up. Her voice came to me in snatches as she explained that I\u2019d wandered into the Lost Campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn every restructure, every cut-back, there\u2019s always someone who is left out. Their position isn\u2019t in the new structure, but their name isn\u2019t on the list of people to be let go. My partner and I were on sabbatical when it happened. They abolished our whole Department. The Head of School was on extended sick leave and the person filling in just didn\u2019t realise we were there, you see.\u201d I didn\u2019t quite.<\/p>\n

\u201cIts not a bad life\u201d she said as we hurried down a path through thick trees. \u201cA bit like being emeritus \u2013 same passion, less paperwork.\u201d She smiled through the gloom.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething similar happens with bits of buildings, occasionally. Our little place was a portable up on the top of Building 8 before the refurbishment. They relocated it, and then\u2026\u201d \u2013 a bit of a shrug. \u201cWe don\u2019t really understand how the actual transformation happens. Things just change over time. Elle over in Theoretical Cosmology thinks that it has something to do with how we perceive things. But then they\u2019re a physicist \u2013always with the theories.\u201d<\/p>\n

She walked quickly, as someone who knows her way. I stumbled. \u201cCareful here \u2013 there are stairs\u201d, she said. \u201cWe call this \u2018Jacob\u2019s Ladder\u2019\u201d and laughed. I didn\u2019t understand.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean,\u201d she continued, \u201cit\u2019s all an invisible college anyway, right? We\u2019re just more invisible than most.\u201d She stopped and turned to me. We seemed to be beside a steep embankment or a cliff. It was dark. \u201cHow many of the people in your School do you work with closely? None, right? All the important ones are somewhere else \u2013 interstate or overseas. They\u2019re the ones that really matter.\u201d I thought of the row I\u2019d had with Kay yesterday. I wouldn\u2019t really miss them if they were gone, or if I was.<\/p>\n

Now we were rushing past a strange bit of abstract sculpture. I\u2019m sure I\u2019d remember that if I had seen it before. \u201cWe\u2019ve solved the\u00a0two-body problem<\/a>, too. We just transfer partners in as honoraries or visiting fellows. Do that often enough, or for long enough, and sometimes their home universities lose track of them as well. Of course, sometimes their pay cheque just stops coming, which can be a problem. Still, if you are living on Campus then you don\u2019t have a mortgage, so it usually balances out. We manage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is the physical scientists that have the worst time of it. It isn\u2019t hard to get lab time \u2013 there\u2019s always someone who works later than you, isn\u2019t there? Or starts earlier? Or that person just far enough down the hall that you don\u2019t quite remember their name? Sometimes, they are just other colleagues. Sometimes they\u2019re from the Lost Campus\u201d. I could have sworn I saw her eyes twinkle.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, the tricky thing is their equipment. It\u2019s pretty rare that a bit of kit worth half a million smackers falls through the cracks. And you need a good technician to make some of the really specialised stuff. Those ones often go back or into industry. \u2018Rejoining the main\u2019, we call it. Fair enough, too. It\u2019s OK for us in humanities and the theoreticians. Give us a whiteboard and some quiet time and we are happy, mostly. But if you need specialised equipment, it is tough.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo post-grads, either, which can be both a blessing and a curse. We do occasionally get post grads slip through. Their supervisors get made redundant, transfer out, or sometimes just die. Nobody realises for a while \u2013 they get ghosted \u2013 then they end up here. There is hardly ever anyone who can supervise them, so we hire them on as casual RAs and then quietly make them part of the staff, if they want to stay.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other tricky thing is the administration, of course.\u201d She was hurrying on ahead of me, this time through a cleft between two huge rocks. \u201cMore admin people end up here than us, but hardly any of them stay. Those that do are worth their weight. It takes some skill to get things approved, to know who will sign for what, to really make the system work. I was on an exchange to East Virginia U last year and they had no admin at all. It was a mess!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHere we are.\u201d We had emerged from between East and West Arts, two building I\u2019d never been into. \u201cYou should be good from here. I\u2019ve got to get over to the library.\u201d I must have looked quizzical, as she continued, \u201cThere\u2019s one on every Lost Campus. You know, nothing embodies the ethos of a university more than librarians, but they are always the first to go. Them and the grounds staff. Go quickly now \u2013 you don\u2019t want to miss your bus.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve tried a few times since to get back to the Lost Campus. But that walkway between East and West Arts just leads to a loading bay and some dumpsters. Still, I think of \u2018Faculty Studies\u2019 a lot right now. We are going through a restructure and I\u2019m thinking of taking some leave.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019d stayed back late to go to a seminar in an area that I wasn\u2019t familiar with. When I left, evening was closing in so I took a short cut to my bus stop. I ended up in an area of the campus that I didn\u2019t know at all. It was a bit wilder than […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[421974],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-59216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-higher-education","tag-lost-campus"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe lost Campus - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/the-lost-campus\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The lost Campus - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I\u2019d stayed back late to go to a seminar in an area that I wasn\u2019t familiar with. 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