# 58 University and college lecturers strike hits students

5 May 2010

By Katherine Sellgren

BBC News

Thousands of students preparing for exams have been disrupted by a walk-out by lecturers over funding cuts.

Lecturers at 14 universities and further education colleges in England staged a one-day strike on Wednesday.

The University and College Union (UCU) said it opposed "massive" cuts which would lead to job losses.

Union members at 11 London colleges, Westminster University, King's College London and Sussex University took part in the action.

The UCU organised the walk-out, saying universities face funding cuts of nearly £1bn, while the further education sector has to make savings of £340m in the next academic year.

Pete Green, UCU representative at Westminster Kingsway College, said the vast majority of union members had taken part in the action.

"I would say the mood was extremely positive and very determined and prepared for further action if necessary, regardless of what party wins the election," he said.

"We are sending a message to whoever wins the election that we will not stand for this."

Record applications

The strike action comes as universities face a period of funding cuts and record numbers of applications for courses.

In England, universities face real terms budget cuts next year of 1.1% and Welsh universities are likely to face a major review into how they are run, to ensure they deliver value for money.

Scottish universities have been told they will have a 1.2% increase on funding.

The squeeze on funding coincides with record numbers of young people applying to university.

Figures published by university admissions service, Ucas, showed a 16.5% increase in applications this year on last year.

UCU general secretary Sally Hunt said: "People are losing their jobs and access to education is disappearing.

"We believe in the power of education to make a real difference to people's lives and do not think we should be slashing funding at a time when more people than ever need access to education.

"UCU members are still on the side of education and we will be fighting to save jobs and defend education."

The 11 colleges involved are Barnet College; City and Islington College; College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London; College of North West London; Greenwich Community College; Hackney Community College; Lambeth College; Lewisham College; Richmond upon Thames College; Tower Hamlets College and Westminster Kingsway College.

Staff at University College London were due to be taking part in the walkout.

But on Tuesday it was announced the university and union had come to an agreement over jobs and the action would not go ahead at UCL.

# 59 Hand Washing Wipes Away Regrets? Cleaning removes the need to justify a tough choice, study says.

Rachel Kaufman

for National Geographic News

Published May 6, 2010

If you're trying to clear your head after making a tough choice, you should wash your hands, new research suggests.

Aside from hygiene, the simple act of hand washing seems to "wipe away" the traces of decisions that leave a person feeling conflicted, said study co-author Spike W. S. Lee, a doctoral student in psychology at the University of Michigan.

After making hard choices, people tend to justify their decisions to make themselves feel better, Lee explained.

"You want to feel that you made the right choice, so you justify it by thinking about the positive features" of your decision, he said. This process is called postdecisional dissonance.

But when people in the study washed their hands after making such a choice, they no longer felt a subconscious need to rationalize.

"Our physical experience actually influences our mental experience," Lee said.

Wiping the Slate Clean

To test the effects of washing, Lee and co-author Norbert Schwarz asked student volunteers to participate in what they thought was a consumer survey.

One group of 40 students was asked to rank ten music CDs in order of preference. The students were then offered a gift: Take home either your fifth- or sixth-ranked CD.

Once they'd made a decision, some students opted to evaluate a liquid hand soap by washing their hands, while others just looked at the bottle.

The students who didn't wash their hands later ranked their chosen CDs higher than they had before—a classic example of postdecisional dissonance.

But students who did wash up ranked the ten CDs in basically the same order as before.

The researchers conducted a similar survey in which they asked 85 people to chose a jam without tasting it first. People who didn't use an antiseptic wipe expected their chosen jam to taste better than the rejected one.

Those who used the wipe thought the jams would taste about the same.

It's as if hand-washing in any form "wipes the slate clean" and removes the residual feelings and rationalizations associated with the choice, Lee said.

Psychology of Dirty Socks

Next, the researcher wants to look into whether this psychological phenomenon extends into other areas of cleanliness.

"There are these baseball players who have lucky socks that they don't wash. Why is that?" Lee asked.

"Maybe there's the belief that there's positive particles of luck that you don't want to remove."