Thread by @CasualHigher

A very human statement from a casual human

Dr Yaegan Doran @YaeganDoran, a fixed-term lecturer from Sydney Uni, tells his story

(Thread)

“I am a fixed term Lecturer (for a few more weeks at least) in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at The University of Sydney. 1/14

“Being a fixed-term is an intermediary position with the expectations of a permanent staff member but with your security dependent on someone’s budget bottom line.

"To be fixed-term is to be expected to apply for large external grants–to pay your way–but to be regularly... 2/14

"barred from applying for the internal grants necessary to build a track record because these require contracts longer than a year. And if you do win these external grants, it is to still not be guaranteed a paid position but rather an unpaid honorary affiliation. 3/14

“It is to design, develop and teach units to a point where you are happy with them, knowing that the next time you teach them they will be great; but when that time comes, to be given a different unit. 4/14

“It is to hold administrative positions and work to improve your area, but when push comes to shove, to be told you are lower than everyone else and do not get a say, so you should not say anything. 5/14

“It is to give everything to the place you are at, working day and night, weekday and weekend, but having to continually apply for jobs elsewhere. 6/14

“It is to try to make a life outside work, to maintain or build networks of friends and family, but to be told repeatedly, as if for the first time, that the secret to academia is to leave – to go wherever there is work... 7/14

"...to put everything else on hold to chase the odd jobs that pop up here and there, to decide whether this means you will split with your partner, or to try to keep it going across continents, or to take them with you knowing that it does not guarantee them work... 8/14

"or to decide whether all this is worth it, whether to just pack it in so you and your family can stay where they are; or simply to hold off on the personal side of life, push back plans for a family, a stable life, a place to settle down, just for a few more years. Again. 9/14

“It is to sign leases for a place to live, knowing full well your contract doesn’t go to the end of the lease and hoping this doesn’t become a problem. 10/14

“It's to work like yr career is ongoing, with decades to go, a whole world ahead of you, but knowing you're one ‘crisis’ away from being let go. When a crisis does hit, it's to be told in the papers that you're not in fact losing your job, you're just not being rehired. 11/14

“A manager once told me that I shouldn't be loyal to an institution because the institution will not be loyal to me. A year later they fulfilled their own prophecy by letting me go. 12/14

"It is tempting to give in to this bleak view of academia and to go wherever in the world there is work. But I’d prefer my life to determine what I do for work, not the other way around. So for me, it’s worth sticking around and fighting for it. 13/14

“But bloody hell it sucks not knowing whether I’ll have work next semester.”

– Dr Yaegan Doran, the University of Sydney. 14/14