The Faculty by John Dale
Author:John Dale
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Brio Books
Published: 2022-05-03T00:00:00+00:00
19
A Little Conversation
Sarah ran into Beetrice emerging from the womenâs toilets with a black eye. âWhat happened to you?â
âTraining accident.â Beetrice removed her glasses. âWhatâs the book?â
Sarah showed her the memoir. âProfessor Bailey gave it to me. You know heâs leaving?â
Beetrice did know. In fact, she had heard from a very reliable source that Professor Bailey had stormed into the Vice-Chancellorâs office the other day and complained about the new Dean and the direction she was taking the faculty. He gave the VC an ultimatum: either that Crow woman goes or he would resign. âAnd guess what?â
âThey chose her over the most distinguished scholar in Humanities.â
âSheâs saving them a lot of money,â Beetrice said. âShe probably gets a bonus for every old professor who resigns. Did you read the VCâs newsletter? We are facing a $400 million budget shortfall. The university has frozen travel costs, cancelled recruitment and postponed all capital expenditure.â
âSo why are they digging up the tennis courts? How does that save us money?â
âHow would I know?â
Was it a coincidence that Professor Mrzowski had chosen this morning to bail her up in the corridor? Did it have any connection with Bailey leaving? If they were getting rid of professors what hope did she have?
They stopped outside her office door. She turned to compliment Beetrice on her new flower-patterned dress. âCan I ask you something?â she said. âYouâre Chineseââ
âHow did you know?â Beetrice said. âWas it my hair or the glasses? Actually, Iâm Australian.â
She checked the corridor was empty then lowered her voice. âItâs my Thursday-night class.â
âThe one with all the lawyers and accountants?â
âNo, that was my Tuesday-night class. This is my Thursday-night class. Does it sound racist to you if I say there are too many Chinese students in my Thursday-night class?â
âYes,â Beetrice said. âIt does actually.â
âWell, Iâm sorry, Beetrice, but there are too many Chinese students in my Thursday-night class.â
âHow many Chinese students do you have?â
âEighteen out of thirty-one.â
âDeb Whitmont has thirty-nine out of forty-two enrolled in her Real Estate and Property Investment subject.â
âThatâs rather a lot,â Sarah said. âTwo or three students in my class donât understand a word I say.â
âThey need six point five in IELTS to enrol in a university degree.â
âSupposedly, yes, but this isnât Engineering or IT. This is Memoir. Students need to have a sophisticated command of the English language to understand the subtleties, the innuendoes, the double-entendres.â
âAre there many double-entendres in memoir writing?â
âDeidre Wilsonâs The Passionate Builder is full of them. Everything she writes is sexually loaded: his bag of tools, his screw-driver, his hammer and nails, his drill bit . . .â
âI see.â
âI mean I like the students and they like me too â I think. Itâs just that sometimes they donât get what Iâm saying, and oh my god, their writing . . . I have one student who canât write a complete sentence, he can barely speak. What am I supposed to do with him?â
âNothing,â Beetrice said.
âIâll probably have to fail half the class.â
âYou canât do that,â Beetrice said.
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