Working-class professional services staff have described harmful relationships with academics at UK universities, with some facing derogatory language and reporting being treated “like scum”.
A new paper explores the tensions between 13 working-class administrators in Russell Group institutions and their academic counterparts. Author Jessica Pilgrim-Brown, a senior research associate at the University of Bristol, told Times Higher Education that the relationships between the groups, although on a small scale, could be characterised as “oscillating between being professional and supportive, and being directly harmful”.
Her findings, published in the Higher Education journal, show that despite having similar pay structures, academics were “always superior in the hierarchy of the university” with a view that professional services staff were “working for” them.
Participants detailed a clear divide between the two groups, even eating lunch in different rooms. With academics often treating them as their personal assistant, one described feeling like the “team bitch”.
“I think academic colleagues are still held up as the like, the main deal aren’t they? And the rest of us are just sort of helping them shine,” said one participant.
The study uncovered particular tensions around meetings, which gave many respondents the impression that their ideas were not taken into account.
Obscure references to Greek mythology and opera in conversations often left the participants feeling isolated, but the main concerns appeared to be around academics’ “toxic” treatment of staff.
Participants detailed how academics treated professional services staff as “lesser” employees, often treating them in disrespectful or “horrific” ways. Others said they were treated “like scum” or like “something on [an academic’s] shoe”.
“They think I’m a pleb and I’m always trying to make them think that I’m not basically,” said a staff member.
“They just act and behave however they like. And everyone just is expected to suck it up.”
The paper concludes that professional services staff face demeaning, fraught and often derogatory relationships with academics, findings that were said to be at odds with the wider inclusion agenda that UK universities pursue.
“It is also uncomfortable for academics to review this kind of research,” added Dr Pilgrim-Brown, who said that she had found herself on the receiving end of negative behaviour from academics when she had held a professional services role.
“I think sometimes we don’t like to believe that these negative behaviours exist in the academy in this day and age, but I think this research, even though it is small-scale, demonstrates that this continues to persist and needs addressing.”
