Council of University Classical Departments
Minutes of the 136th meeting of the Standing Committee, held on Saturday, 23 February 2013 at 2pm in room 220, Senate House, University of London
Present: Susan Deacy (Roehampton; Bulletin Editor), Fritz-Gregor Herrmann (Swansea), Genevieve Liveley (Bristol, Education Committee), Nick Lowe (Royal Holloway, Webmaster), John North (Acting Director, ICS), Christopher Pelling (Oxford), James Robson (Open University), Catherine Steel (Glasgow, Secretary), Stephen Todd (Manchester), Jaap Wisse (Newcastle), Greg Woolf (St. Andrews, Chair)
Apologies for Absence were received from Steven Green, Miriam Leonard, Ulrike Roth and Cressida Ryan.
The Chair began the meeting with a welcome to new members.
1. Minutes of Meeting of 13th October 2012
These were accepted.
2. Matters Arising
None not raised elsewhere on the agenda.
3. Chair’s Report
Birmingham
Before demitting as Chair in November 2012, Professor Osborne had written again to Professors Eastwood and Whitby to raise CUCD’s concerns about the process of restructuring of Classics at Birmingham. He had received no reply; Professor Woolf had written again, to which Professor Whitby had responded on February 22nd (attached). Notice of the end of the redundancy process is expected in the week beginning February 24th; as two classicists have taken Voluntary Severance, only one redundancy is now expected and that post-holder may, as Professor Whitby emphasised, be offered a temporary ‘Development’ post.
It was agreed that Professor Woolf should reply to Professor Eastwood, thanking him for Professor Whitby’s response; that CUCD should keep the situation under review; and should offer what it support it can to the remaining classicists at Birmingham as they attempt to rebuild the subject following this very difficult and distressing period.
Action: GW
It was agreed that CUCD should continue to be affiliated with the Arts and Humanities User Group (AHUG).
4. Open Access
The publication of the House of Lords Select Committee report into RCUK’s implementation of the Finch Report was noted. RCUK has acknowledged that there will be a five-year lead-in period before full compliance is expected. But as RCUK funded research accounts for only a very small proportion of research in Classics in the UK, HEFCE’s position is arguably more important. HEFCE’s current position is that work submitted for REF2020 should be ‘open access as far as is reasonable’.
The House of Commons Select Committee inquiry into the government’s response to Finch is yet to report; CUCD has made a submission to the Select Committee, as have the Learned Societies which publish classical journals (i.e. the Institute, the Hellenic and Roman Societies, and the CA); the separate submissions do not reflect any serious difference in position between CUCD and the Learned Societies.
The most serious concern is that Gold OA will be imposed; it is reasonably clear that Green OA is feasible and does not, given adequate embargo periods and licensing arrangements, pose a serious threat to the journals. It remains very unclear what the treatment of monographs and edited collections will be and how OA will be enforced. It was noted that hybrid models of OA, in which Gold OA was available to individual journal contributors (in return for APCs) but the journal as a whole was Green OA compliant, offered the prospect of journals benefitting from the money that is about to be distributed to a select group of Universites to support OA; but that such a model brought with it the risk of compromising existing exchange arrangements, and under any circumstances could not be allowed to affect processes of peer review.
It was agreed that no action was possible at the moment; the importance of information exchange among SC members was stressed. Professor Woolf will alert the classicists’ list to the House of Lords Select Committee report.
Action: GW
5. CUCD Education Committee
Dr. Liveley presented a brief reportof Education Committee’s activity since Council. A panel, ‘Counting the cost of higher fees’, has been organised for the 2013 CA Conference and a day event in collaboration with the Open University (‘i-Latin and e-Greek’) is planned for February 1st 2014. Dr. Deacy has been in negotiation with the subject lead for History at the HEA and has secured £1k to support Classics focused events: a day on Assessment will take place at Glasgow in May 2013 and other possibilities under discussion are ‘Classics and Global graduates: embedding mobility in the curriculum’; ‘Inclusivity and Diversity in the curriculum’; and (in collaboration with History and Archaeology, ‘Artifacts’ and ‘Neo-Classical Garden Design’.
It was agreed that an audit of previous Subject Centre material should take place at the June SC.
Action: CS
It was agreed that the current breadth of the Bulletin was desirable and that it should not become a purely pedagogical publication, or have special issues. It was not felt desirable at present to subject contributions to peer review.
Action: SD
It was agreed that it would be helpful for Education Committee to prepare a brief report which could be circulated with the papers for each SC.
Action: GL
6. Institute of Classical Studies and the Joint Library
Professor North reported that the HEFCE report on the School of Advanced Studies (available at http://www.hefce.ac.uk/about/staff/board/hefceboardpapers/2012/149/)
brings very welcome stability, since it confirms that the School’s funding will continue at current levels (though without any inflation proofing); and no change envisaged to current administrative framework which links the University of London, the School and the Institutes. Following the Report, the Dean has begun a process of determining the structure of the School, which will be followed by decisions about its purpose, so a degree of uncertainty remains over the ICS and the position of its Director, though the Report offers support for Institutes associated with large research libraries. It also seems to be the case that the Institute should move back to be physically proximate to the Library and that the Director should take back his/her role in directing the Library, which would have implications for the Institute’s level of staffing. It was agreed that Professor North would circulate the report to SC.
Action: JN
Professor North reported that threats to the funding of the Library, recorded in earlier SC minutes, appear to have been resolved.
Triennial: a final decision will be taken by the Hellenic and Roman Societies, which are now thinking of a new kind of conference – a Festival – with a much more flexible array of activities, a wider audience, and a four-yearly pattern of meetings. If agreed, the first meeting would be in 2016 at Oxford.
There was a brief discussion of new activities that the ICS might initiate, including support for doctoral students in their fourth year and post-doctoral positions. There was considerable enthusiasm for the development of Post-Doctoral positions, whose holders could be expected to contribute to the work of the ICS.
7. Treasurer's Business
The current balance is £4687.44. It was agreed that it would be helpful to look globally at finances at the June SC and that Professors Leonard, Woolf and Steel would discuss the most appropriate format in which to do this.
Action: ML, GW, CS
SC members should submit their expenses to Professor Leonard at UCL.
Action: all
8. Secretary's Business
Professor Steel reported Dr. Roth’s decision to delay beginning to gather Statistics until May. It was agreed that Dr. Roth should alert contacts to the new system.
Action: UR
9. Update from Webmaster
There was a brief discussion of the purpose of the CUCD website and various models for its maintenance. It was agreed that Dr. Lowe should continue to maintain it for as long as he was willing to do so; and that SC members should send suggestions for items to be available on the website to Dr. Lowe by the end of March, with a copy to Professor Steel. Professor Steel will produce a digest; there will be a report at the June SC; a review of progress over the summer; and a final decision on the current model of in-house maintenance in October.
Action: NL, CS
10. Communications
Dealt with under item 9.
11. CUCD Membership
It was agreed that an audit of current member institutions was needed; and that CUCD should explore the possibility of a second category of membership for universities which teach Classics without maintaining a full range of classical programmes. Professors Woolf and Steel will prepare a draft for the June SC.
Action: GW, CS
12. AOCB
CUCD expressed its support for Dr. Robson’s proposed survey of beginners’ language teaching in UK Classical Departments and drew his attention to the 1995 survey (available on the CUCD website) on this topic. Professor Steel will send the list of CUCD contacts to Dr. Robson.
Action: CS
13. Date of next meeting
2pm on June 15th in Senate House, room to be confirmed.
CEWS, 25.2.13
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