Page 138 - Through the gate of the neoliberal academy • Herschberg

136 CHAPTER 5
opportunities. Committee member Jeff cut off the discussion when Brian’s funding chances were questioned, as the following excerpt reveals.
Jessie: But with regards to the grants- I’ve just looked at the whiteboard and there’s actually nobody on the whiteboard who has really- I mean, Nicholas already has one and so, disregarding him, there’s nobody who has a great chance in the Dutch grant system.
Jeff: I think Nicholas has. And also Brian- Jessie: But, I said disregarding Nicholas - Jeff: Quite promising.
Jessie: I said disregarding him.
Jeff: And even Brian, he could qualify for [a prestigious individual Dutch grant]1. Anna: He would probably.
Jeff: Which eh, Laura cannot for years.
Jessie: But the question is whether Brian -
Jeff: Kevin also has an international reputation, what makes him a good candidate for our grant system.
Jessie: Well, Laura has
Jeff: If Laura had been five years earlier in her career, maybe we- She would be ranked number one straightaway. But eh-
Jessie: But eh, Brian probably won’t have a chance for [this prestigious individual Dutch grant] for another three years.
Jeff: Who knows. He has- But we’ll get to Brian but eh- The chances of Laura are zero, because she doesn’t qualify for [a prestigious individual Dutch grant] anymore.
Here, Jessie comes back to the grant criterion and argues that none of the candidates, except for Nicholas, has a “great chance in the Dutch grant system”. Seemingly, she intends to oppose the argument that only Laura does not meet this criterion. In the discussion that followed, Jeff advocates the chances of obtaining funding for three men candidates, Nicholas, Brian, and Kevin. He surpasses Jessie’s earlier observation that Nicholas might have a chance in the grant system. Also, he counters every argument in support of Laura brought up by Jessie. It seems like Jeff tries to strengthen his argumentation for disqualifying Laura and does not give much space to Jessie to argue otherwise. When Jessie goes against Jeff by saying that “Brian probably won’t have a chance for this prestigious individual Dutch grant for another three years”, Jeff
1 Such individual grants have become increasingly important, particularly in the STEM department, for academic evaluation and career progression.