Catching a Coffee with Carine Chelhot Lemyre
by Ilaria Bevan
The St Andrews cult classic, Bibi’s, served as the ideal location for my first (of hopefully many) coffee stints in this new series for HASTA. Although Bibi’s is famed for its mismatched arts-and-crafts interior and tranquil atmosphere, it served as the perfect location to discuss the definitely more austere situation surrounding the current UCU strikes, taking place between Monday 25 November to Wednesday 4 December. Carine Chelhot Lemyre, a PhD student and my Art History tutor at St Andrews, met with me to converse about the strikes and its relation to the Art History department.
After ordering our equally intense, large Americano coffees, we perched ourselves near the back of Bibi’s to be free of interruption. Whilst we waited for our much needed caffeine boost, we joked about the tutorials, our shared forgetfulness and the stereotypes of quirky Art History students – all topics that are essential for any coffee engagement. However, the arrival of the coffee opened the doorways of the conversation regarding the strikes within the department. Regardless, this was not before Lemyre had hilariously added her own personal sweeteners sourced from her backpack.
Though it was an enjoyable atmosphere with a relaxed and casual discussion, the strikes are of utmost importance and this reflects the more serious tone of the retelling of this conversation. This semester Lemyre taught three tutorial groups comprising of approximately thirty second year students in total – an incredibly tough feat for someone only several years older that those in second year. Thus, we dove right into the topic and the core issues that caused the eight consecutive days of strikes. The two main issues: the UCU is striking about the vast changes to Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) pensions and the poor pay and working conditions both of which have had a greatly negative effect on the staff.
Moreover, the increasing commodification of academia and the growing importance of marketisation to attract students from around the world leads to a causation effect. You might ask what importance this chain of events has? It creates a larger pay gap between those in a superior position and those in more inferior positions. This is due to universities prioritising those with greater authority and who possess the ability to attract more students. Lemyre reiterated that this issue is not just in St Andrews, or even just in the United Kingdom, but has been relevant in the education sectors in America and Canada, something she has experienced first-hand.
Although Lemyre admitted that she could not explain the effects of these issues on other departments within St Andrews she said, “I can speak for Art History and say that there is definitely a shortage of jobs being offered worldwide”. Lemyre enlightened me about the continual issues surrounding job shortages seen particularly in arts subjects and its place in academia. However, what does this mean for the staff at universities? This lack of opportunities available within the ‘scholastic art world’ forces staff members at universities to undertake greater administrative duties that detracts from their preparation for classes and more importantly their research. Lemyre noted that “full-time lecturers are obviously overworked and this is currently affecting their mental health and physical health in general. They are working around one hundred hours a week.” Just thinking about working for that many hours a week made me tired, prompting me to take a large sip of my Americano. This cycle consequently steers academics and budding students away from university jobs, as this occupational situation appears unappealing. This in turn creates further job shortages and inevitably puts a greater strain on those within this field of work. However, Leymre implied that universities, as a whole, are in a comfortable enough financial situation that would facilitate for more teaching staff. Nevertheless, such institutions consciously choose not to take on more staff to save money for expensive marketing ploys.
Additionally, although it may be a shock to the typical naïve student, Lemyre reminded me “their [the lecturers’] job doesn’t stop at teaching, which is what you tend to think of as a first year or second year undergraduate”. These staff members have necessary research tasks that must be completed in order to produce academic journals and books, as well as other academic media. Nostalgia struck at this moment as Lemyre recalled how, as an undergraduate, she was ignorant to the behind-the-scenes commitments of the staff. Only after becoming a tutor this year was she able to understand and sympathise with the pressures of such a strenuous job. Moreover, despite Lemyre only working for the Art History department part-time she is familiar with the struggles to find time to perform administrative tasks. These include answering our incessant emails and familiarising herself with the tutorial content (the exasperation at having to attend to such duties is something I am certain everyone is familiar with).
As a consequence of the pressures to balance work life, family life and academic life, the mental and physical health of staff members is greatly affected. In having unfair pay and pensions, staff members are concerned about their future as they are constantly in a state of mental exhaustion due to the precariousness of the situation. Such financial strains caused by these issues have a similar effect, further adding to their anxiety and feeling of instability. Although it is hard to think of such issues being a problem when you are still in education, like Lemyre and myself, it is nevertheless a daunting concern for young people in academia.
Similarly, Lemyre’s own experience following her necessary trip to Paris to research in various archives, created stress. Despite having been on the trip approximately six weeks ago and having successfully been awarded a grant to cover the costs of this excursion, she has still not seen the money she was promised. Lemyre shed light on the fact that not everyone is fortunate enough to be able to support him or herself should they not be reimbursed, especially if the person does not have any backup. Therefore, this leads to even greater financial struggles and discouragement from such academic endeavours, adding fuel to the fire of the “dire state of academia and academic humanities”.
Furthermore, Leymre related to me in that she finds it tough to not overwork herself to finish these tasks as “theoretically it is feasible to keep strict working hours, but when it comes to the practical side it is difficult”. This is made even harder during the strike – “I felt bad [about not replying to students] but that is the point in striking, to show how directly this [action] affects a student personally and make the university aware that this is a serious problem and unless the demands of the full time and part time staff members are listened to, nothing will happen”. As a result, we should see this strike not as a matter of staff versus students and the university. Rather it should be viewed as an action that will help to create a more harmonious atmosphere not only within the bubble of St Andrews, but across universities as interconnected establishments.
In this article for HASTA, following my extremely riveting conversation with Lemyre, I have only been able to scratch the surface of the issues that caused the current strikes and have decided to focus on the impacts of the strikers’ concerns on the Art History department. However, it must not be forgotten that these aforementioned concerns have affected many staff members in a variety of ways and that each staff member striking is doing so to better our academic community.