Research freedom
is part of the job
Trinity College lecturers are vindicated in a battle
against 'managerial intrusion'. John Gill reports
A lecturers' union is claiming a glob-
ally significant victory for academic
freedom after a long-running dis-
pute with Trinity College Dublin.
The two-year battle was sparked
by a directive requiring academics
to consult with a line manager on
key details of their research, in-
cluding where it was published.
A lecturer who objected to the
new rules argued that they were an
affront to academic freedom and
contravened an agreement with the
Irish Federation of University Teach-
ers (IFUT) banning managers from
imposing new working conditions.
According to the IFUT, a request
to suspend rules imposed by a sen-
ior academic in the geography
department on those working be-
neath him, pending an investigation,
was refused. The lecturer who made
the objection was issued with two
written warnings for refusing to
comply with the directive.
The case was taken to the Irish
Labour Court, which last week ruled
that Trinity College Dublin should
wipe the disciplinary action from
the academic's employment record.
It also recommended that the col-
lege and the I F U T work to reach a
new agreement over how research
is co-ordinated.
Mike Jennings, the union's gen-
eral secretary, claimed it was the
first time that the issue of academ-
ic freedom had been tested in a
tribunal of this kind and said that
the case had resonance for aca-
demics "literally all over the world".
" I f we had lost it could have had
major adverse implications for ac-
ademic freedom," he said.
" T h i s directive was about en-
hancing the profile of the
department by trying to corral the
staff into areas this professor re-
garded as being high yield and high
return in a marketing sense rather
than a 'pursuit of knowledge' sense.
"It was very important to put
down a marker to say that the dic-
tates of academic freedom require
only that an academic does research,
and that this sort of intrusive, man-
agerial attitude... is unacceptable.
"We don't have a problem with
collegiality and with academics dis-
cussing their research plans, themes
and progress in a collegial manner,
but we are absolutely opposed to the
idea of doing that as if they are
working for the person with whom
they are discussing it."
The university declined to com-
ment on the specifics of the case,
but said that it "broadly welcomed"
the recommendations made by the
Labour Court. It said: "We welcome
IFUT's acceptance of the Perform-
ance Management and Development
System as a mechanism for the dis-
cussion of academic performance."
Mr Jennings responded that this
reference to a human resources pol-
icy that operates across the public
sector in Ireland was "laughable"
and "completely missed the point".
john.gill@tsleducation.com