A Hopeful Manifesto for a More Humane Academia

I recently read a Twitter reply to a scholar bemoaning the state of academia, which suggested they clearly never worked in the 'real world'.The implication was that while academia may be challenging, work everywhere is under existentialist strain of capitalism and precarity.Many certainly have it worse.Let me respectfully double down: academia sucks.In the UK, where I work and on which this essay is focused, a 2021 Education Support report surveyed 2,046 university staff: 53% showed signs of probable depression, 62% regularly worked more than 40 hours per week and 59% hesitated to get support for fear of appearing 'weak'.While some had it better -3% said they never had to do unreasonable tasks -the overall picture is of considerable overwork and poor mental health and support.It gets worse.In 2010, the UK University and College Union conducted a survey in which 47% reported being bullied at work in the last five years; 71% reported witnessing bullying.A decade later, as the Covid-19 pandemic raged, staff members reported feeling pressured to teach in person (Fazackerley, 2020).Unsurprisingly, such pressure disproportionally fell on the more precarious: those on casual teaching-only contracts, those clinically vulnerable and those with greater career concerns.More recently, when I asked on Twitter if colleagues had experienced bad behaviours, harassment or bullying, one person's response was 'might be simpler to ask if you've ever had an academic or research job in the UK and *not* experienced' it.Add to this deteriorating pay, pensions and working conditions, brutally forced-through redundancy processes at Leicester, Goldsmiths and elsewhere, persistent and largely unaddressed pay gaps, and the influence of various rankings in cementing the ideological spread of 'excellence' we are all meant to embody, and frankly who cares whether it's same or worse elsewhere?It's hard to be reasonable when you are just so tired, including tired of being asked to provide yet more evidence for what is entirely evident to most.The fact that academia feels that way is no less valid part of the problem.Feelings also don't preclude consequences, as evidenced by stories more junior colleagues shared.They described clearly inequitable workloads, but also vile harassment by senior scholars without meaningful investigation resulting in accountability and determent.No wonder some decided to simply leave.I'm tired too.I started my first academic position almost exactly 10 years ago.I've since witnessed excellent colleagues ground down under the weight of disproportionate workload, then being told they should just manage their time better.At a work social event, a male academic -who had previously asked me out, which I politely refused -blatantly stared at my fully buttoned up