Student environmental groups, in collaboration with many other members of the Union, have succeeded in getting their latest environmental idea placed into DSU policy, with the sabbatical officers now obliged to take the idea to the University Senate and Council.
Calculations from research by People and Planet suggest that Old Shire Hall could save over £6000 a year on the costs of printing if all paperwork produced there was buzzword-free. The environmental group claims that documents using buzzwords can be up to three times the length of a readable document, as well as placing a strain on the administrative staff by making them harder to read.
The direct savings are expected to be less in the departments, although many of the arts and social sciences departments could save up to £3000 between them, and save their students a few printer credits as well, by shortening the essay titles they give, which many students have described as pretentious
, obfuscated
, and a barrier to people without a classical education
. A spokesperson for Old Shire Hall strenuously denied that the essay titles were presenting a barrier to the University's widening participation scheme, saying:
We are confident that the essay titles in our departments are no harder to understand than those at comparable universities, and we feel that the majority of students will have no difficulty understanding them. If there is an effect, it will be incredibly small, and be overshadowed considerably by other factors in the area of widening participation, such as our summer schools, student opportunity fund, and ridiculously high rent increases.
The Secretarial staff union welcomed DSU's support in this matter, something that many of its members had been campaigning for for years. One member said that the savings from the removal of buzzwords could be higher than first thought, as the reduced typing needed to write a normal document would reduce the risk of Repetitive Strain Injury to typists, and so reduce the costs to the University of medical compensation and hiring temporary replacement staff.
While the policy is reported to have widespread support from many members of Senate and Council, others were sceptical. A member of the Philosophy department, reported by DSU Academic Senate to be one of the worst departments for overuse of buzzwords
, said that buzzwords are a fact of life in the business world, and if we want to produce employable graduates, our courses have to reflect that
. The President of Durham Union Society also weighed in against the policy, in a move that many have described as unsurprising
.
Many of the most senior management of the University are reported to be privately opposed to the policy, with one leaked memo between them reading
We have to attempt to prevent this policy document from reaching the stage where it would be feasible to implement it. It could have a negative impact on our strategy for the advancement of the University by the amalgamation and consolidation of resources and the rationalisation of objectives were the human resources of the organisation able to clearly visualise all aspects of the forward-reaching plans of advancement simultaneously.
Despite this, however, the general feeling for the proposal, which has already had formal documents submitted to University Council and Senate, is positive, and it is believed to have a reasonable chance of success.