The week in higher education – 23 December 2021

If you’re a cat owner and often wonder why your feline companion leaves half-dead rodent offerings for you in the morning, don’t worry, it’s just because they’re psychopaths (probably). Researchers at Liverpool John Moores University surveyed cat owners and asked them to score their pets on a range of personality traits that in humans might be regarded as psychopathic. These included questions around whether cats tormented their prey instead of killing it immediately or were undeterred by punishment, according to a report on the research in the New York Post. The findings, published in the Journal of Research in Personality, suggested most cats fall within the “triarchic” concept of psychopathy, which uses levels of boldness, meanness and disinhibition to measure psychiatric disorder in people.

Is there currently a degree course covering the contemporary evolution of the UK’s long-running tradition of pantomime? Oh no there isn’t. But there will be from next September at Staffordshire University. The institution says its MA in “contemporary pantomime practice” will be the first degree dedicated to the art form and will allow students to look at how pantomime is being practised in the 21st century, where it still (Covid-permitting) produces nearly £63 million in revenue annually, according to a report on the ITV News website. Course leader Richard Cheshire, who is currently directing a production of Snow White at Stafford’s Gatehouse Theatre, said: “Much has been written about the history and development of British pantomime, but very little research is currently investigating and analysing contemporary manifestations of the form. It is a great period of innovation for the genre which we want to be at the cutting edge of.”

An icon that was stolen, twice, from a Catholic university is at the centre of the latest culture war controversy on US campuses, Inside Higher Ed reported. The painting, titled “Mama”, is in the classical Pietà style of Mary holding a dying Jesus after his crucifixion – but some believe the image of the dying man resembles George Floyd, the black man who was murdered by a police officer in 2020, prompting worldwide protests. The title also seems to be referencing Mr Floyd calling out for his mother as he was dying. The painting was stolen from the Catholic University of America after conservative websites wrote about it and online petitions circulated calling for its removal. When it was replaced by a smaller copy, that also went missing earlier this month. Some students say that the artwork should not be displayed because it equates Jesus with an identifiable human being. The artist, Kelly Latimore, has been cryptic when asked who is depicted but told Religion News Service he had been receiving death threats, some openly racist and white supremacist in nature.

A woman in China has sought a restraining order over allegations that her husband tried to get their five- and seven-year-old children to learn subjects up to university level. The South China Morning Post reported that a three-month order was issued by a court after the woman said her husband forced his primary school-aged son and daughter to study some subjects to university level, such as mathematics, and others to secondary school standard. He is said to have required them to study until late in the evening and would verbally and physically abuse them while supervising. It comes as state authorities in China introduced a series of reforms earlier this year in a bid to cut academic pressures on children, such as banning private after-school tutoring, the website said.

A university in Northern Ireland is distributing testing kits on campus that allow students to see if their drinks have been spiked. Queen’s University Belfast is making the kits available in its students’ union bar as well as giving training to the bar’s staff on how to use them, the Belfast Telegraph reported. Concerns about the spiking of drinks, and even the use of needles to directly drug people, have been growing among the UK’s student community following mounting reports of incidents in bars and nightclubs. “While we do not currently have a problem with drink spiking at Queen’s, we want to act to make sure it stays that way,”pro vice-chancellor David Jones told the newspaper. “Some students have concerns about such incidents at other universities and licensed premises and…we are committed to doing what we can to ensure that people feel safe when socialising.”