Brunel University Campus:
Site of the 2003 Working-Class Academics Conference
(as seen through the eyes of a working-class academic who has eaten
the cheese)
In January, I spent a week in London. My visit included a day
trip to Brunel University to see Alan Harrison, host of the upcoming Working-class
Academics conference that will be held during July 22-25.
Since my hotel was near the Euston Square tube station, Alan thoughtfully
suggested that I take the outbound Uxbridge train from Euston Square to
the end of the line, and then board a city bus for the 10-minute ride to
Brunel University. London had received several inches (centimeters?) of
snow that day, and when I got off the bus, I first saw the duck pond and
administration building:
I made my way across the street to the Social Science Building, where
Alan's palatial office is located. As I recall, the building has a bit of a confusing
layout, so just go into this one and look for the faculty office door with
labor union posters on it:
We spent a bit of time in Alan's luxuriously appointed office, replete
with Arkansas postcards on the walls. Those were souvenirs Alan brought
back from his first visit to the States and the 1999 Working-class Academics
conference that was held here at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock.
We decided to take a look around the Brunel University campus (before
my much-anticipated visit to the Load of Hay), and we walked past the bookstore,
convenience store, travel agent, and bank on our way to the actual
conference site:
You'll have to take
my word for it, but the student union is off to the left (out of
range of the above picture). Alan and I continued to
walk left (past the main classroom
building seen in the near background) to the Halls of Residence located on
the other side of this classroom building.
The standard practice for Working-class Academics conferences
is to minimize expenses by staying in on-campus residence halls
(read: 'spartan' residence halls). As a former residence hall
staff member, I have to admit that the Long Island University Southampton
residence halls housing the 2002 Conference attendees were the most spartan
accommodations I have ever seen. Perhaps it was because they were in such
stark contrast to the overwhelming affluence of the surrounding community,
but I doubt it. We were practically camping. :)
However, the Brunel University Halls of Residence look pretty promising:
Next up (or scroll
down, as the case may be) on Alan's walking tour of campus was the room
in which the majority of conference activities will take place. The audio-visual equipment
in the room shouldn't pose any problems to the presenters, since nobody
who presents at the working-class academic conference ever uses it. I brought
overhead transparencies to one of the first conferences, and Barbara heckled
me incessantly for using them.
During the 2000 Working-class Academics conference at UC-Irvine, Deborah McGivern and I each
used transparencies and handouts generated in PowerPoint during our consecutive
presentations, and Barbara was convinced that this was a corporate conspiracy.
As I'd mentioned
earlier, I was very much looking forward to having lunch with Alan at the
local pub, the Load of Hay. As Alan mentioned in a recent e-mail message
to the list, the Load of Hay is ten minutes' walk away from campus,
but virtually a minute away: (http://www.loadofhay-uxbridge.co.uk/). The
food is excellent, and the atmosphere is warm and inviting.
During my visit, I realized that I hadn't seen any other Americans, and
this was quite a departure from my pub crawls around the University of London
throughout the rest of the week. American undergraduates everywhere! As
a result, the
Load of Hay had an 'off the beaten path' feel about it:
Most importantly,
however, the Load of Hay offers a variety of beers. The highlight of my
trip was walking into the Load of Hay and seeing my favorite hard cider on
tap (Scrumpy Jack). For some reason, I have this recurring premonition that
I'm going to end up stinky drunk in the corner there underneath the downspout
and Ken Oldfield is going to drag me back to the Halls of Residence every
night.
I hope this little walking tour has inspired you to attend the conference...
For more information about Brunel University, visit: http://www.brunel.ac.uk/campus/uxbridge/