ID089 Truth and Friendship: A Philosophy

The Idea

Looking back to go forwards 

Lord Lindsay, the founder of Keele University, was a philosopher. It would be remiss of the university not to have a philosophy sitting behind its strategy. Lindsay advocated the principle of 'the pursuit of truth in the company of friends', and in this lies something that ties Keele to its heritage but also makes Keele relevant in the modern age. 

Truth 

We live in a post-truth world where truth is under attack. It has never been so relevant to pursue the truth.  Universities aspiring to ‘the’ truth is a classic liberal view of their role and can be at odds with more modern developments in philosophical thought that can view truth as subjective or even a tool of certain factions. The emphasis should be on the pursuit and not the possession of truth. In 2017 Louise Richardson, VC of Oxford, in the same role Alexander Lindsay held 80 years previously, said ‘universities must see truth as an aspiration, not as a possession’. The emphasis on the pursuit also precludes Keele presenting itself as the guardian or arbiter of truth and avoids Keele standing on its hill aloft and apart. To understand more, to discover, and to look for meaning is uniquely human, but we are all human; Keele as a university is a place where we all convene to exercise and display this attribute common to us all. Hence friendship, we have these high ideals, but they are inherently human and grounded – accessible for and inclusive of all.  

‘Truth’ is a common feature of university strategies. University of Oslo describes itself as a ‘truth-seeking institution’. Aberdeen is ‘open to all and dedicated to the pursuit of truth in the service of others’. Being open to all and serving others would align with the friendship principle and St Andrews talks of existing for the ‘pursuit of truth and scholarship’ but that they ‘must also serve’ in the execution of that privilege. 

This sense of mission also aligns with Gen Z priorities – we are welcoming, serving, and preparing a generation of young people who are the most politically, morally and justice driven since the 1960s; they want to know you’ve got the 12th best university library in the UK and that your students are satisfied with their course, but they want to know there is more to university than that, otherwise their relationship with the university will be merely functionalist or transactional, with them less likely to participate, more likely to drop out. 

Friendship 

However, this generation are also the most anxious, mentally burdened, and worried. They are emotionally on call 24/7 in a social world that is judgemental and unforgiving, where interaction is increasingly remote, brief, false, and aggressive, everyone spoiling for a fight, wanting to cancel, adopting extreme stances to get noticed, dying in metaphorical ditches, in a zero-sum game where there isn’t space or time to explore, reason, and understand. This is not confined to students either, but becoming a wider societal problem and staff may feel it too. 

Universities should be different from that. In a secular society where redemption is lost but judgement remains, university and education can act as a civic beacon and refuge - a way out, a way up, a way back into the fold. We need to trust each other again – elders to trust the young, the young to trust the elders, the lay to trust experts and experts to trust the lay. 

Hand-in-hand 

Professor Robin Dunbar from Oxford University and Fellow of the British Academy talks of the social brain hypothesis where those species that have wider social groupings have bigger brains. In part this is to navigate the complexities that come with so much social contact and the connections involved. Broadening our minds, expanding our knowledge, making our brains bigger, is social as well as physical. Books, test tubes, and algorithms are part the pursuit of truth, but so are our colleagues, peers, teachers, students, neighbours, etc. 

I propose the university adopt two pillars to its work; a Truth pillar (in the pursuit of truth) that is about study, research, debate, with an aim to making the world and society a better place, and a Friendship pillar (in the company of friends) that is about leisure, welfare, support, and what we can do to make Keele a better place for colleagues and students. At Keele you will be challenged and at Keele you will be championed. However, over time crossover and synergy would be apparent where the two cannot be separated, the pursuit enhanced by a spirit of friendship.

Why This Idea Should Be Considered

Colleagues are submitting ideas that have clear operational elements and implications, but Keele needs to have a unifying theme or rationale behind them. Without a philosophy behind them, it is random scattergun strategy; there needs to be a message and a guiding principle. It doesn’t have to be built around what is proposed here, but there needs to be some kind of philosophy or vision. It needs to be clear, understood by everybody, and not dry, platitudinous, and buried on an obscure page of the website. 

Truth + Friendship = Trust 

Truth speaks of integrity and friendship speaks of authenticity which can be components of a campaign to maintain trust in this particular institution and the university sector generally. Trust in public institutions and figures is low. Universities and academia, even the wider concept of experts itself, are under attack and how we deliver, display or demonstrate expertise (‘truth’) needs to be accessible and approachable. 

One of the biggest challenges and opportunities for HE but also wider society is the development of AI. What happens to integrity, authenticity, truth, and friendship in a world of AI is supremely relevant and of course shoots straight to issues of what and whom we can and cannot trust.

How We Would Implement This Idea

Everyday Examples 

‘We are in the pursuit of truth, you are in the company of friends’ could easily be a slogan that could be used externally for PR, marketing and recruitment, or internally for a whole range of matters. When students join they can get a welcome pack on everything they need to know that is academic and qualification based and another pack that is social, welfare focused. It could be the driving message of any staff induction. ‘We are in the pursuit of truth’ could be what you read as you enter an academic building and ‘you are in the company of friends’ could be what you read once you are in it. We are in the pursuit of truth when a data breach is reported, a safeguarding concern investigated, a plagiarism case explored, but to get there we need to be in the company of friends – people need to feel they can report things, say what they see and feel safe doing so; we are not going to get there alone. When considering ideas, policies, etc, we can ask does this make the world and our society a better place (the truth pillar) or make Keele a better place, improving life for colleagues and students (the friendship pillar). A paper for a committee should have in its pursuit of the truth, an assigned challenger and an assigned champion. Do papers get submitted and accepted because it is championed by someone no one wants to challenge? What if the Chair purposefully appointed a challenger? We can provide feedback to each other and on each proposal that is both critical (challenged) but also supportive (championed). Students could leave the university with not just a classification, but an awareness, a portfolio even, showing what they have challenged (and tried to change), how they have been challenged, and what they have championed.  

Beyond branding: structure and interpretation 

Once you’ve got the philosophy and the guiding principles, whatever they may be, the possibilities are endless. Keele pursuing truth but doing so firmly on terms of friendship and shared endeavour rather than authority or ownership, can seek to secure trust with a contract, between the following parties; 

• Between students 
• Between Staff and students 
• Between staff 
• Between the University and the community (the people of the Potteries, the county of Staffordshire, and the Midlands) 

Each contract would start with a declaration ‘that no personal, social, economic, cultural, or professional distinction or difference is more important or more powerful than the shared pursuit of truth, common to all’, or something to that effect. Workshops would be established to discuss how best to secure and maintain trust between said parties, collating the latest research and innovations in these areas, and draw up what would go into these ‘contracts’ or ‘deals’. The contracts could include behaviours, protocols and desired targets and outcomes. This commitment and determination to secure trust between students, staff, students and staff, and the university and its environs, would take the truth and friendship mantra beyond marketing. 

The British Academy has identified the core behaviours of good friendship as follows: 

• Active support & reliability 
• Trustworthiness & honesty 
• Empathy & compassion 
• Active listening 
• Reciprocity 

Perhaps we need to demand of each other and demonstrate to each other active support, active listening, transparency, compassion, and reciprocate what we get from each other, and these could be included in the contracts, in SPREs, in an updated Pulse survey, in focus group conversations etc. 

The contract group membership would be randomly selected from the student body, staff body and the public (postcode invite) as self-selection, professional appointment, or public election would possibly not provide a real reflection of those bodies. 

I envisage a phased approach with mere messaging, signage, public declaration of intent, and marketing in the short term, but in the medium to long term the thrashing out of ideas in the contract working groups, to their grand launch. 

Academic Implications 

I do not envisage shoehorning a new module into any degree programmes, but would expect each academic school to explore and report on how they are adapting the philosophy into their programmes, teaching, or research.  

They say that the best way to learn is to teach and this concept could be used to secure a truth-friendship culture; first years could go into schools and tell young people or their parents about a subject, a project, a topic, a relevant current affairs matter, etc., second years could teach first years elements of what they learnt in their first year, and in the third year students could do a viva with an academic or a professional services team member, but would not be the defence of a thesis, but the defence of their subject or higher education generally. They would leave university able to make their case (pursuing truth) to a range of audiences (friendship). 

The university could in its overhaul of relations between staff and students and between the university and the community seek to redefine ‘placements’; carrying out projects, solving problems, delivering services or consultancy to clients that would place a focus on engagement and service, rather insisting on physical placement. 

A competition open to all, student, staff, member of the locality, could invite essays on the nature of ‘Truth’, ‘Friendship’, and/or ‘Trust’ in higher education that would secure a waiver of tuition fees for one year’s study at Keele (it would be for the winner, but also transferable to someone of their choosing) OR the financial equivalent could go to a local school or charity of their choosing. 

The Student of the Year could incorporate these principles, bringing in criteria where a student has demonstrated effective engagement with peers, staff, and the community, where they have academically excelled but socially excelled too. 

Implementation 

I am putting forward an idea about ideas. From this I have touched on possibilities and other ideas. I do not have the expertise to fully flesh it out in terms of its operationalisation, the detail, etc. That comes later, perhaps within the academic schools and within the contract groups and workshops. However, if we can get students, staff, and the public to commit to the pursuit of truth and to do so in a spirit of friendship then that is a good start. Everyone goes to university to learn something and to make friends, both really matter, both back then and so much so now; let’s get that written down somewhere. 

What Success Would Look Like

Keele has a clear identity and brand, its students are challenged and championed, they feel a sense of belonging, and its staff operate transparently following a strategy that can be easily summed up and understood. 

We can move away from a strategy that focuses on stakeholder management, how it deals with various disparate parties, towards one that focuses on relevant relationships (student-student, staff-student, staff-staff, university-community). 

We can also move away from a strategy that seeks to compete with other universities in narrow academic or commercial terms; redefining what it is to be the best university in the country in a more holistic fashion. The best university in the country should be one most in tune with its students, its staff, and its locality. 

Success would be measured by increased rates of trust, tracked and recorded in Staff Pulse surveys, Student surveys, and Community focus groups. Success would also be measured in degree completion, staff retention, and public engagement metrics.