The Faculty

by John Dale

Sarah Dixon is 31-year-old casual academic who is finally achieving her dreams of a placement at a prestigious university – even if it is only a short term contract.

Like many before her, Sarah pictured a scholarly place where she could teach, write and read surrounded by intellectual colleagues. Instead, she has joined a faculty in free fall, its staff fighting tooth and nail to keep their jobs and an administration determined to innovate no matter what the cost.

The Faculty mixes black humour with the personal journey of a bold and independent young woman making her way in the modern university workplace.

Genres: Contemporary

308 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2022

Reviews

[Margaret Galbraith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I couldn’t not believe my eyes while reading this book as it was bringing back memories of my old job at a university library before I retired in 2020. Almost everything in it resonated with what I’d heard from my daughter about teaching in Academia and ironically she was in Humanities. That department always seemed to be the bottom of the pile. They got ridiculously less funding for research travel as a PhD student than other faculties.

I did almost give up on the book as it became a little repetitive but I’m so glad I persevered even if the ending was a bit ‘tongue in cheek’ to be believable but I wonder how many leaders in Universities are as qualified for these jobs as they make out. Some I knew it was a bit debatable.

New management is like a red flag which it proved in mine too. I just still wish I’d retired 2 1/2 years earlier but no one had the guts to tell us we would or at least I would be shuffled around from a job I once loved. That is when you realise who your friends are but as they say it’s history and I left on my terms thanks to the kindness and helpfulness of the then University Librarian who was the only decent person at that level.

Thank you John for a wonderful insight although it’s a novel, into our cut throat industry we call a University. Good luck to all who still work there but remember you’re time will come so treat people with the respect and dignity they deserve.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have worked in a university you will find a lot of the content all too familiar. Very funny in parts.

[Sally Saunders · Rating 2 out of 5]

I get what this book was trying to do, make a comment on how dysfunctional we have become in workplaces due to certain I guess what we call these days woke ideas. But, I think it actually went too far in some places, was actually so overplayed in parts it was laughable but not in a good way. I didn't find this book overly compelling and found the main character to be quite annoying. She complained constantly about her job but then fought furiously for it, I don't know, just didn't do it for me.

[Helen Vatsikopoulos · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is hilarious and sharp. It is both a satire and a deep observation of what the university sector has become. I can’t wait for the tv series.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sarah Dixon has achieved her dearest wish: she is appointed as a casual lecturer in a (fictitious) Sydney Central U=niversity, even if it is the bottom of the academic food chain. But instead of the cooperative search for truth her colleagues are driven frantic by the managerial structure of the institution. This is an attempt to portray the enormous change that has overtaken universities perhaps more so in Australia than elsewhere. Starting with John Dawkins in 1988 Australian universities were merged with CAEs funding was cut and fees were re-introduced. Things went worse under the right wing governments of Howard, Abbott, Turnbull under pressure and Morrison and you get the caricature as displayed here by John Dixon in Sydney Central U. Scholarship has been degraded both in research and teaching: the thing is to get more and more international student because they pay higher fees, basic disciplines are dropped fr more populist courses in memoir writing, sex movie studies and the like. Accordingly, diversity is the goal, marketing, restructuring, bullying deans and Administrators are what really makes a university. Fake deficits are produced in order to sack academic staff and to employ more managers. Administrator numbers far outweigh academics and are paid more (this much is already true in many Australian universities) and are positively malevolent towards academic. This book is a mixture of reasonable comment, gross exaggeration, and the story of the innocent but ambitious Sarah who navigates her way through this unseemly mess. The book makes very important points but blunts them with outlandish overkill, and too many characters that are meant to illustrate different sorts of administrators and academics but confuse the picture.

[Fiona Maley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well. This took me longer to read than expected due to the horrible flashbacks it caused of being employed at an Australian university and going through multiple ‘renewals’ and restructures, losing valued colleagues and having roles and responsibilities increased for less money because ‘everyone is understaffed’. All in the interest of putting on yet more overpaid executives to cut departments even more. I’m very familiar with the double speak and questionable data used to justify what they’ve already decided to do, regardless of the ‘importance of engagement’. This could have been set in any university across the whole of Australia. We’re all exhausted, overworked, undervalued and burnt out by this!

So. This book was a masterful rendition of the inexplicable wish to work at a university (why do we even want to, yet we truly do) and the frustration and horrible powerlessness of knowing it’s coming, then watching yet another round of cuts and knowing you’re on the chopping block along with all your office mates, and that you’re competing for a reduced number of jobs that will involve you (if you’re lucky enough to get one) doing your own role plus that of a colleague who’s role is now ‘redundant’ yet somehow still needs to be done.
The only thing that made this read less traumatic was the unexpected death of the driver of the cuts - confession: I cheered out loud at that - and the happyish ending where we discover that the system really is flawed and corrupt. That’s not at all a surprise to those of us who have worked at a university for a decade or two, but it was a genuine pleasure to seeing it turned on itself.
Can you get PTSD from a book? I think I have it.

[Jim Kerr · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Dale's The Faculty is more than a good read. it is a great read.

I have given it four rather than five stars only because I think five stars should be reserved for truly great books such as Of Mice and Men. The Faculty may not be such a book but I think that, for what I suspect the author hoped to achieve, it is practically flawless. It is clever, witty, biting and funny. l found it hard to put down. In facf, for the first time in years I was carrying a book with me everywhere I went in case I might find a spare few minutes that would allow me to get through some more pages.

The Goodreads website synopsis of the basic theme of the book is accurate and I will not rehash that. However, I would like to mention a couple aspects of the book that particularly impressed me.

Firstly, the opening page of the book that precedes Chapter 1 is superb with its hints of intrigues to come that wheted my appetite for more.

Secondly, the characters and, in particular, the protagonist Sarah are beautifully crafted. I found myself identifying with her and hoping that she would successfully navigate the academic jungle she found herself in.

So, to conclude - it's great. Read it. Four and a half stars!

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This very funny and satirical book is set in a fictitious Australian university. It’s close to Sydney’s Central Railway station, the Devonshire Street tunnel, and Glebe - it’s clear the author has created a combined version of Sydney Uni and UTS (where I once worked). The main focus is on the Faculty of Humanities, and Sarah, a newly appointed casual academic, teaching Memoir. It’s Sarah’s dream job, however she quickly becomes disillusioned by all the internal politics and squabbling.

I’ve worked in a few university faculties and the characters are very relatable - we have the flirty Dean, the crusty old historian who is adverse to any form of change, and the IT guy who everyone wants as their best friend.

The Faculty is in financial trouble so another restructure is imminent, and a new Dean is appointed to bring about change and remove the ‘dead wood’. Staff become fearful of losing their jobs, and rumours abound along the corridors. Committees are formed and endless meetings are held - but staff just want to teach and pursue their research, not discuss KPI’s and strategic goals.

[Chloe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy reading 'The Faculty' because while its humour was sharp and several types of comedy were masterfully layers, it ultimately depressed me because of its close relationship with what working in academia is like. I should give it credit though, because despite all Sarah faces, she remains steadfastly hopeful that she will be able to gain a permanent position.

This book will not be to everyone's taste. It reads like a cross between John Purcell's 'The Girl on the Page' and Mary Rose MacColl's 'No Safe Place'. The story centres on a single woman navigating her career while contending with lecherous men and too much booze, while trying to find friends and lovers and make their own way in the world.

Nonetheless, it is in its abrasiveness that the novel communicates truth. Dale should be commended for writing this clever and perceptive satire of university life for postgrads who've achieved their first academic position and realised it wasn't all they dreamed. The Faculty is realistic, funny, depressing, but ultimately ends well. A thought-provoking and challenging, but welcome addition to Australia's growing canon of Sydney-based campus novels.

[Suzanne K-R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book - I had some laugh out loud moments and quiet chuckles galore while submerged in the world of CSU university. Great characterisations and the details of the setting were sublime. It was great fun to see the characters grapple with so many modern complexities that staff must have to deal with daily. Also enjoyed reflecting on some of the questions the novel raises around the role of universities and the impact of casualisation in universities. Highly recommend.

[Patricia Richardson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished reading The Faculty and I couldn’t put it down so engrossing!! Think it also reflects private secondary school staff rooms in so much as we are all only numbers in the system. I am sure a lot of readers easily identify with the situation in The Faculty. Serious and tragic events but also witty and everyday goings on attracted me. And of course I was pleased with the Irish reference too although tragic.
Patricia Richardson

[Lynne Benton · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/4.. it’s so close to reality (apart from one event) it’s somewhere between worrying and humorous ..
Easy to read .. I wonder if those without uni experience would relate but perhaps change management has its own idiocies anywhere.. I enjoyed the characters, mostly.. and the ending had a strength I didn’t expect .. I’m struggling to explain why not a full four stars for me .. maybe because a couple of characters were verging on too farcical …

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a campus novel that deals with a post-pandemic university in Australia. Anyone familiar with current university life will find it closer to reality than satire, with many identifiable characters and all the ludicrous practices of contemporary management culture. If you didn't laugh, you'd cry--and I did laugh. It's a pretty perfect example of the genre, certainly worthy of a TV miniseries like The Chair.

[Clare · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an amusing book in its satirical representation of university bureaucracy. It's a particularly familiar and humorous read for anyone with experience teaching in an educational institutional, especially those in humanities departments. A nice easy read.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A highly readable and entertaining campus novel. The characters are mostly one-dimensional caricatures but also recognisable academic types. We are a terrible lot. The book adopts the point of view of "underperforming" academics at the mercy of ruthless management.

[D A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read

[Laura Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read, couldn’t put it down.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a literary masterpiece but if you have worked in a university this book will give you plenty of laughs. I would have given it 4 stars for it's humour and insight but I thought it went on a bit and probably could have achieved the same with 50 fewer pages . However, if you have worked in a university there's definitely much to relate to and you will enjoy the characters and humour.