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Features

21st January 2009

On the road again

THE FUTURE OF ONE OF GLASGOWUniversity’s oldest sports clubs is in jeopardyfollowing a decision by the University Courtlast month.Glasgow University Rugby Football Club(GURFC), founded in 1869, has been prohib-ited from using the University’s name andfacilities as of January 1.The drastic action, advocated by GlasgowUniversity Sports Association (GUSA) andunanimously approved at the last meeting of the Court, comes after an array of controversialincidents over the last three years.

Uni rugby club suspended for rest of year

On two occasions, club members werefound to be consuming alcohol on a GUSAminibus, following which all travelling privi-leges were suspended. In a separate incident,the club returned an external hire vehiclecontaining vomit.More recently, the club’s annual dinnerwas shut down after details of inappropriatebehaviour were published in the Scotsman inMarch last year.Gavin Lee, President of the Students’Representative Council (SRC), felt the punish-ment was justified because it protects the inter-ests of the wider student body.He said: “The reputation of GURFC and thebehaviour of some of its members were detri-mental to the University and its students.“The SRC supported GUSA in its decisionas they were in the best position to decide onthe appropriate action to be taken.”The final straw for GURFC appears tohave been the club's banning from the GlasgowUniversity Union (GUU) last October.This step was taken following reports of continued misconduct within the Union, withthe Principal, Sir Muir Russell, received a letterof complaint over members’ actions accompa-nied by photographic evidence.GUU President Chris Birrell explained: "Atthe beginning of last semester, we sat downwith the rugby club and highlighted the troublethere had been in recent years.“We set out a clear path of disciplinarymeasures that would be taken if these circum-stances continued; unfortunately, they did, sowe had to take the last resort of banning all resi-dent members of the club.”

(Cont. on page 2)

Colin Daniels

UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOWemployees are campaigning for betterworking conditions, having receivedno rise in pay for seven years.Graduate teaching assistants(GTAs), many of whom are stillstudying as post-graduate students,have not received a pay increasesince 2002 and, in some instances,are effectively earning less than thenational minimum wage.A letter and petition with 76signatures, including those of seniormembers of staff, was submittedon December 17 to the Principal,the Secretary of Court, the Headof Human Resources, and to eachFaculty Dean.The letter claims that anincrease in the hourly rates forgraduate teaching assistants is longoverdue, given that the last payrise was made in October 2002 andconsisted of an extra fifty-five penceper hour.Guardian spoke to one of thecampaign’s original activists aboutthe situation many teaching assistantscurrently find themselves in.The spokesperson for thecampaign, who asked not to be named,explained: “Graduate teaching assist-ants are casual workers, meaning thatthey are hired without a contract.“This is unusual because manyother UK universities do provide acontract for teaching assistants, alongwith holiday and sick pay.“Glasgow University claims thatit is one of the top universities in thecountry for its outstanding teachingquality, however, a large proportionof its teaching staff are given only£17.85 per contact hour.”

(Continued on page 6)

Tony Benn outlines his latest political vision >> page 7

SNP “betray”students overgrants pledge

THE HIGHER EDUCATIONfunding system in Scotland looks setto face considerable changes in thecoming years.The Scottish Government haveannounced various plans to updatethe student support structure in linewith the idea that people should haveaccess to learning on the basis otheir academic merits, not on theirability to pay.A 41-page consultation, launchedin December by the Secretary forEducation and Lifelong Learning,Fiona Hyslop, will examine thedifferent options available to tacklethe financial problems currentlyfaced by students.The consultation has been setup in order to consider the possiblereplacement of student loans withgrants - as was pledged by the SNP inits 2007 Election Manifesto.However, despite this manifestopledge, two further options have beenlaid out in the paper: to increase theminimum level of overall incomeavailable; or a combination thatwould see increasing income andreduction in debt.

(Continued on page 4)

Ross Mathers

Graduate

staff ght

for fair pay

Sarah Smith

Exclusive

Rob Miller

guardiannews@src.gla.ac.uk

21st January 20092 NEWS

IN BRIEF

£158,000 grant forCCPR research

Researchers at the Centre for CulturalPolicy Research at the University of Glasgow are to begin a two-year investiga-tive project to try to understand how busi-ness and entrepreneurship are presentedon television.The project, entitled ‘Public under-standing of Business: Television,Representation and Entrepreneurship’,is funded with a £158,000 grant fromthe Arts and Humanities ResearchCouncil (AHRC).The project will try to identifyhow television programmes such as‘Dragon’s Den’ and ‘The Apprentice’ areshaping the public’s knowledge and under-standing of the cultural and economic posi-tion of entrepreneurship in contemporaryBritish society.Project leader Dr Raymond Boyleexplained why this research had particularsignificance in Britain today.He said: “During this time of massivefinancial and economic upheaval, theresearch is interested in looking at therole that television plays in influencingpublic opinion about what is meant byentrepreneurship and the role that businessgurus and entrepreneurs play in our societyand economy.”Key television programmes studied willalso include Channel 4’s ‘Ramsays’s KitchenNightmares’ and ‘Property Ladder’.Scientists at the University of Glasgowhave received £500,000 in funding todiscover how to improve the quality of digital camera images through the manipu-lation of tiny particles.The aim of the three-year project, whichis being funded by the Engineering &Physical Sciences Research Council, is tocreate small nanostructures or patterns inthe metal film on the complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) in digitalcameras which detect light waves andconvert them into digital signals.The team at Glasgow University willalso be working with representatives fromSharp Laboratories Europe and OxfordUniversity to develop the new technology.Professor David Cumming and Dr.Tim Drysdale, from the Department of Electronics and Engineering are leadingthe team and are excited about the possiblediscoveries that may be made.Professor Cumming said: “This tech-nology has a wide range of potential appli-cations, for example cameras, televisions,spectrometers and medical sensors.”“Digital imaging has come a long wayin recent years and this project aims tofurther improve the ability of digital devicesto produce high-quality pictures.”

Scientists to builda bigger picture

Graduate wins £15,000 award

near the beginning of what is obviously goingto be a distinguished career.”Tom Leonard, Professor of EnglishLiterature, tutored Hadfield during her study atGlasgow University.He explained the significance of the acco-lade and the effect that it would have upon thepoet’s career.He said: “It’s an important award. Besidessignificantly increasing the sales of her work, itwill make Jen Hadfield a sought-after reader atpoetry festivals and literary events.“Funding the business of writing is alwaysa problem for poets, who are usually not to befound amongst society's high earners.“Jen likes to travel in exploration for mate-rial for some of her work. The £15,000 will bemost welcome I'm sure.”“She has great poetic talent and a totalcommitment to her art.”UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW ALUMNUS,Jen Hadfield, has become the youngest everrecipient of the T.S. Eliot Prize for her secondcollection of poems, Nigh-No-Place.The prize is awarded annually to the bestcollection of new verse in English by the PoetryBook Society.It is regarded as one of the most prestigiousawards, and also carries the largest cash prize,in British poetry. Past recipients of the awardinclude Seamus Heaney, Carol Ann Duffy andTed Hughes.The creative writing graduate wasannounced winner of the prize on January 12and was presented with her award by PoetLaureate, Andrew Motion.While introducing Hadfield, Motiondescribed her as “a remarkably original poet

Future of GURFC in doubt

(Continued from front page)

Ian Watkinson, GURFC’s captain, admittedthat the behaviour of some past members of theteam had been unreasonable.He told Guardian: “Rugby clubs havealways had controversy surrounding theirconduct off the pitch and one could probablyargue that, in years gone by, the club has hadissues with discipline.“However, we have now produced a disci-plinary package to help the club solve anybehavioural issues and this should preventfuture problems.“I think that to ban the entire club forincidents involving a very small percentage of members is an overreaction. Recently the club,as a whole, has been on better behaviour.“We apologise, not only to the University,but also to any other institution or member of the public that we have offended or upset atany point.”Watkinson’s claim that the University’sactions are too harsh was rejected by Lee.He said: “Significant evidence wasprovided to the Court detailing the actions of GURFC and some of its members over recentyears and subsequent action taken by GUSAand the University.“There was no evidence that their behav-iour had improved, and it was on this basis thatthe Court made its decision.”Birrell added: “Although the GUU wasnot involved in the decision to ban theclub as a whole, we can back the actionsof the Court and GUSA because we wereworking with them at each stage of the disci-plinary process.”On the pitch, GURFC has been one of the University’s most successful clubs inrecent times. The first team currently sit topof the BUCS Scottish Conference Men’s 2ALeague, having won every game of the seasonso far.GURFC’s suspension will remain enforceduntil the club implements changes to satisfythe University Court that it can operate as aninclusive group.Watkinson explained that this suspensioneffectively prevented GURFC from functioningas a sports team.He said: “The club can’t work without theuse of the University’s name or facilities. Atpresent, there is no GURFC on the pitch.”Despite accepting that the behaviour of histeam members was unacceptable, Watkinsontold Guardian that, in some respects, he felt thathis team had been unfairly treated.He explained: “We were initially under theimpression that the suspension was a short-term process as we were given the chanceto appeal.“However, after attending a meetingwith the Secretary of Court and some highermembers of the GUSA/SRS Council, we haveheard that the University Court has cancelledour fixtures for the rest of the year.“The decision to suspend us and take awayour fixtures was made and acted upon beforewe were given the chance to appeal.“Something that I feel is even more impor-tant is that GUSA made the decision to suspendus indefinitely on November 4 and the finaldecision by the University Court was made onDecember 10.“The club did not find out officially untilJanuary 6 by email, giving us no chance toappeal properly.”Euan Millar, President of GUSA, was reluc-tant to make a full statement on behalf of the student sports body until the suspensionprocess had been completed.

Amy McGregor

James PorteousBloodaxe Books

guardiannews@src.gla.ac.uk

21st January 2009NEWS 3

RECENT RESEARCH BY A TEAM OFGlasgow University scientists into the circadian‘clocks’ in plants could have significant impli-cations for the way we live our lives.The results of the study, led by ProfessorHugh Nimmo, have overturned the earliertheory that plant cells contain identical, inde-pendent circadian clocks.On the premise that most, if not all, organ-isms have evolved to possess circadian clocks,the findings could further research looking intohow both crop and human clock patterns canbe manipulated.The behaviour of organisms is informed bycircadian clocks as they allow living cells to‘tell the time’, anticipate and respond to envi-ronmental changes.Professor Nimmo explained that these find-ings could have an impact on the way the horti-cultural industry works.He said: “Although we had worked oncircadian rhythms of CO2 fixation for manyyears, we had not previously addressed themechanism of the central circadian clock,which is a fiercely competitive area.“In plants the circadian clock contributesin several ways to optimal growth, and oftencontrols flowering time, which is vital forcrop yield and the horticulture industry, forexample, getting chrysanthemums to flowershortly before Mother’s Day.“Developing a better understanding of the molecular mechanism of the circadianclock is of great importance both in humanbiology and for agriculture as the underlying‘design principles’ seem to be the same in allhigher organisms.”Humans experience the circadian clock inmany ways, such as disturbed sleep, sleep prob-lems associated with shift-work, and jetlag.Developing ways to advance or delay theclock’s phase is relevant for producing lightregimes and treatments that can help treat theseproblems, such as helping airline passengers toadapt more rapidly to changes in time zone.Professor Nimmo is also planning to buildon this horticultural research to find out whatfurther implications the study could have forexperiments.in the future.He explained: “The results of our first exper-iment showed a difference in the machinery of the clock between shoots and roots.“We had not really predicted this in advancebut we realised within a couple of days of

The thyme of your life

Ishbel Begg

getting the results just how important the datmight be.“Since then we have also discovered thatshoots and roots communicate timing informa-tion. The next task will be to study the implica-tion for crop species, for example the formationand growth of potato tubers.”ACADEMIC RESEARCH AT THE GLASGOW UNIVERSITYhas received excellent results in the 2008 Research AssessmentExercise (RAE).The RAE, which is undertaken every seven years, examinesthe quality of research carried out by universities across the UKand is an internationally recognised standard.Almost 70% of the research submitted by theUniversity has been classified as either world-leading orinternationally excellent.These results build significantly on the University of Glasgow's performance in the 2001 assessment.Principle of Glasgow University, Sir Muir Russell, welcomedthe results and believes that they reinforce Glasgow’s position asan internationally recognised institution.He said: “The 2008 RAE results reflect the strength of research at this university.“The University of Glasgow is one of the top 100 universi-ties in the world and has an international research profile.“These results match our international standing and under-line our reputation across the world.”Sir Muir also noted how well Scottish universities hadperformed overall in terms of research quality.He said: “These results from around the country show thestrength of research activity in Scotland as a whole and proves,yet again, that Scotland punches above its weight when it comesto world-class research.”Professor Steve Beaumont, Vice-Principal forResearch and Enterprise, believes the results prove that theuniversity is meeting its aim of producing world class research.He said: “One of the university’s key strategic objectives isfor our research to be recognised as world-leading. The RAE2008 results show that we are achieving this.”Professor Beaumont also noted how the University hadachieved high marks in a wide-range of subject areas.He explained: “Our cancer and cardiovascular research areboth rated in the top five in the UK.“Our submissions from Accounting and Finance, EnglishLanguage and Literature, and Theatre, Film and TelevisionStudies have also made the top five in their fields.“The University’s History of Art department is the mosthighly rated of any university in the UK and our Vet School hasbeen rated joint best in the country.”

Glasgow’s research is “world-leading”

Stefan SealeyCourtesy of The Donkey Sanctuary

Craig MacLellan

Jim Wilson