Celebrating change

29JFK at Kirchberg in 2003

The former headquarter of the CRP Henri Tudor stands forlorn on Kirchberg. From what I heard, it will be taken over by the university, and at some point in the future torn down and replaced by another building. The way the headquarter on Kirchberg was abandoned illustrates quite neatly the dryness of the center's managerial decisions. Emphasis is placed on “moving forward by moving stuff around”, while humans are too often reduced to that very stuff that is being displaced at will. Having regrouped all the staff on one site may not be such a bad idea, but this is by far not sufficient to create a sense of “esprit de corps”. Leaving the CRP's headquarter could have been one small step in that direction, and it was missed. Wouldn't it have been nice to take the opportunity of leaving a building that saw the birth of Luxembourgish science

to pause for a second, think about the twenty odd years that have past since the creation of the CRPs and pay homage to the enterprise ? Just as one usually inaugurates a new building, we could have said the former headquarter goodbye on its retirement by organising one last celebration there. This would have been a clean and original ending. But from those very people praising innovation as the way forward, originality comes very short. The end of the year gathering this year was particularly cold and gave no real opportunity to mingle and drift from group to group, because the setting was not encouraging it. Instead of going off somewhere for a longer evening all together, we were simply invited to tarry for a while in the basement of the university after the end of the year's speech (a basement which in its concrete greyness is not particularly conducive of relaxed conversations). The summer barbecue at CRP Tudor used to be much more festive than that. One year it took place at the Rockhall (just like this year's University Christmas party), there were two bands there (the first made out of colleagues), and we stayed until late just talking. And Lippmann staff would go to the restaurant all together for Christmas. Even from a practical point of view, it does not make sense to reduce social gatherings to the minimum, because this is often where people talk and exchange (but maybe this is not at all wanted by the management). No need to throw in a lavish party with expensive food and whatnot either, just something simple and welcoming would do much to bring people together.

Change does not have to be all serious and ponderously solemn. Seriousness of purpose does not mean knotted brow and grim faces. Seriousness DOES combine well with good humor. I wish our management would understand that.

Pablo N