{"id":197,"date":"2008-01-18T16:12:55","date_gmt":"2008-01-18T16:12:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kera.name\/articles\/2008\/01\/eight-hundred-grand-to-aspire\/"},"modified":"2008-01-18T20:37:50","modified_gmt":"2008-01-18T20:37:50","slug":"eight-hundred-grand-to-aspire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kera.name\/articles\/2008\/01\/eight-hundred-grand-to-aspire\/","title":{"rendered":"Eight Hundred Grand to Aspire"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" align=\"right\" id=\"image195\" alt=\"Aspire\" src=\"https:\/\/kera.name\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/01\/_44365149_aspire_203.jpg\" \/>As the University of Nottingham&#039;s new campus project continues to push on, at least a part of it has become more high-profile. BBC News is <a title=\"BBC NEWS | England | Nottinghamshire | University reveals 60-metre spike\" href=\"http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/1\/hi\/england\/nottinghamshire\/7196403.stm\">reporting<\/a> that &#034;Aspire&#034; &#8212; the planned steel girder sculpture on the Jubilee expansion &#8212; will be 60 metres tall, making it &#034;Britain&#039;s tallest free-standing work of public art&#034;.<\/p>\n<p>Sounds impressive, no? But the BBC is also reporting that the sculpture alone will cost \u00c2\u00a3800,000, which is impressive for different reasons.<\/p>\n<p>When teaching groups aren&#039;t striking over pay, student groups are <a title=\"kera.name Articles \u00c2\u00bb How To Out-Earn The PM\" href=\"https:\/\/kera.name\/articles\/2007\/03\/how-to-out-earn-the-pm\/\">repeatedly commenting<\/a> on the supposed &#034;lack of funding&#034; for affordable service initiatives, the extortionate rates of University-owned accommodation and the poor-quality University-produced food. That Vice Chancellors can earn more than the British Prime Minister <em>and<\/em> fund this fairly pointless sculpture, but not see to the needs of their customers and residents, is frankly horrific.<\/p>\n<p>According to Sir Colin Campbell (outgoing Vice Chancellor of the University), &#034;Aspire is about the University and the city making a bold statement about its future, and seeking the positive recognition Nottingham thoroughly deserves.&#034;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" align=\"right\" alt=\"UoN Logo\" id=\"image196\" src=\"https:\/\/kera.name\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/01\/logo.thumbnail.jpg\" \/>According to me, the University ought to start by <em>really<\/em> deserving positive recognition by recognising its shortcomings and that its subsidiaries&#039; &#034;for-profit&#034; business model is not an effective way to run a University. Building a massive great steel pole at \u00c2\u00a3800,000 is not any way to improve a University&#039;s reputation or standings.<\/p>\n<p>Besides, I still think my suggestion of &#034;The Obelisk&#034; ought to have won the naming contest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the University of Nottingham&#039;s new campus project continues to push on, at least a part of it has become more high-profile. BBC News is reporting that &#034;Aspire&#034; &#8212; the planned steel girder sculpture on the Jubilee expansion &#8212; will be 60 metres tall, making it &#034;Britain&#039;s tallest free-standing work of public art&#034;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[13,16],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kera.name\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kera.name\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kera.name\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kera.name\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kera.name\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kera.name\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kera.name\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kera.name\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kera.name\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}