Kristoffer Holm recently completed his PhD with a doctoral thesis on incivility at work.
Photo: Mostphoto
It is not the person subjected to incivility whose behaviour is most strongly affected, but the people around them, argues Kristoffer Holm, who has published a doctoral thesis in psychology on workplace incivility. He finds that the digital workplace makes this even clearer:
“We need the informal meetings to iron out misunderstandings and soften harsh words.”
In the past two decades, extensive research has been dedicated to increasing knowledge around incivility in working life, including through investigation of victims and perpetrators of impolite behaviour. Fewer researchers have studied how incivility affects those who witness the behaviour, which is what Kristoffer Holm addressed in his doctoral thesis.
In two different surveys, Kristoffer Holm obtained responses to questions about incivility from close to 2000 people. The respondents are engineers and administrators in the welfare sector. Of these, around ¾ reported witnessing a colleague being treated impolitely on a regular basis. This can lead to feelings of stress, injustice and low job satisfaction.
“Our previous studies indicate that those who witness incivility find their own behaviour to be affected to an even higher degree than the person subjected to the impoliteness”, says Holm. “Now we have also found that people who witness incivility report having behaved rudely themselves to a higher degree, six months later. This indicates that impolite behaviour risks spreading to witnesses in the workplace over time.”
Incivility includes everyday breaches of norms on common decency and mutual respect. It includes behaviour such as not inviting someone to a workplace gathering, excluding someone from information and collaborations, taking credit for other people’s work, spreading rumours, using hostile body language, sending nasty emails or not encouraging subordinates.
“So it is about ambiguous behaviour which is not necessarily covered by legislation but which can develop into pure bullying if allowed to continue”, says Holm. The consequences are lower performance in the workplace, a drop in loyalty towards the employer and a reduction in employee well-being, both physically and mentally.
Thus, there is every reason to nip the problem in the bud. Of course, how the individual subjected to incivility reacts will vary from person to person. Some will suffer in silence, while others will object immediately or respond in kind; some will raise the issue with their manager while others will try to laugh it off.
Kristoffer Holm thinks that one should not respond in the same tone. This eventually legitimises a poor conversational tone overall. Instead, Holm thinks that the first step should be a constructive dialogue with the impolite person, who is sometimes not even aware that they have overstepped a mark. After that, if necessary, one can involve the manager who is responsible for the work environment.
Is there any risk of making the problem worse by not letting minor transgressions go?
“There has to be a balance, because of course how people experience things is subjective. You may have to be able to let some things go but if someone is causing you distress it is important to deal with it.”
Does incivility get better or worse with so many people working from home?
“This was not included in my investigation, but other research shows that incivility can express itself in other ways in a digital workplace. For example, through emails formulated in an unfriendly way, or left unanswered. The latter has been shown to be linked to sleeping disorders. It could also be perceived as rudeness if a colleague talks over others in a digital meeting or allows background noise to interfere when other people are speaking. When there are fewer informal meetings, the risk of misunderstandings also increases. But more research is needed about how working from home affects us.”
In January 2021, video game company Ubisoft announced that its critically acclaimed Malmö studio, Massive Entertainment, would be in collaboration with Lucasfilm and Disney to create a new video game set in the iconic Star Wars galaxy. The project is rumoured to gather some of the most experienced, innovative talent in the video game industry.
What is it like to run such an international recruitment project amidst a world crisis?
Massive Entertainment office in Malmö
Magdalena Schultze (BSc in Social Science at Lund University, 1984-1991) has a solid background as a HR Director and senior manager for big brand companies like Axiell (software), Brio (toys), Perstorp (specialty chemicals innovator) and Sony Ericsson (mobile phone technology), just to mention a few. Since 2017, she has been heading up the HR department at Massive Entertainment – possibly the “hottest” workplace in the Skåne region right now. At least if you’re a Star Wars fan!
But how did this 55-year-old end up in the world of premium gaming?
I was actually approached by Massive! At first, I was a bit reluctant because I didn’t know very much about the gaming industry. But after the announcement of the Avatar project and the new studio, I felt that I just have to be a part of this!
Massive is currently recruiting for the new Star Wars project. How has the recruitment process been effected by the pandemic?
The big change is that we have to do everything remote – as everyone else, I guess. If we recruit people from other countries, we usually bring them here for an on-site visit before they join, and that has not been possible this year. But we have managed to recruit at almost the same pace anyway. My recruitment team has done an amazing job! Actually, in some cases, we have shortened the process so people can join faster.
The million dollar question everyone would like to know is, do you get to play video games (for fun) during work hours?
Haha, yes many people actually have to play as part of their job! But I don’t. I wouldn’t “survive” more than a minute, I think!
Do you play at home?
No, but I have watched my sons play a lot when they lived at home. So, I have been hanging around gamers a lot!
During the pandemic, workplaces all over the world had to get used to digital meetings, less travel and no social interaction. How did your workplace handle the change?
In many ways, we had some experience of it already since we are part of an international company with studios all over the world. So online meetings was not something completely new. I think the big change has been to have your daily check-ins and chats with colleagues and people over Teams or phone instead of in-person. We changed our way of working and meeting very quickly. We really didn’t have a choice! I think it has been a challenge for many to adapt to this. I personally miss the informal interaction with my team.
But in a way, I have gotten to know people in a different way now, since I have seen their pets, children, spouses and taste in art in their homes.
Your company values – craftsmanship, courage, responsibility and family – have been created to guide all of your employees as well as potential future candidates to what the game studio is all about. But what is your personal take on those core words? What do they actually mean for you in your everyday working life?
To me, it is a reminder of what we stand for and what we want to be as a company. That our way of working should be inclusive and create a safe space to work and grow together, but also that we should be professional in our different crafts. We are like a symphony orchestra – everyone is very good at playing their instruments and if we can play together, we can create a very beautiful result.
Image: Agitated students on their way to crush windows under the slogan “pereat”, Latin for “may he vanish”. Lithograph by the Lund student C.G.W. Carleman from the 1840s. Source: privately owned.
Achatius Kahl, a well-known chronicler of academic Lund in the early 1800s, has recounted that “each semester in the lock-up, the students’ jail cell […] sat several of the noisiest and most unruly for long or short periods”. It is evidence that indicates a rise in “unruliness” compared with the preceding, much calmer 1700s, when the lock-up could instead be used as a storage facility for building materials. That the students’ nightly drunken escapades were on the rise again is also hinted at in a decision from the spring semester of 1812, which completely prohibited students from being out after nine in the evening. If you were found in a tavern after this time you would “without mercy” be “taken into custody and according to the law confined in the lock-up”.
However, it was not just isolated incidents of “night disturbances” that increased around 1800. The students of these times also displayed tendencies to band together to cause trouble for more principled and ideological reasons. As early as 1793, one hundred or so angry students went on the attack against a private ball, mainly attended by aristocratic officers, sang malicious songs against the “the noble bastards” and smashed windows until one of those present, a lieutenant who was considered to have insulted the students earlier that day, was forced to come out and apologise. As the French Revolution had cast a long shadow, this incident also sent a frisson of fear through the powers that be in Stockholm. The government intervened and overrode the University’s own jurisdiction in the subsequent trial, although all the accused were finally acquitted. The riot in question was probably less to do with actual radicalism than with the students sulking about not being invited to the party. Even so, it can be seen as a sign of the beginning of a new collective “united spirit” within the student body which, when there was dissatisfaction, could sometimes lead to violent consequences. Manifestly physical demonstrations occurred, for example, in 1802 following an unwanted and heavy-handed felling of trees in Lundagård, and in 1837 following a decision to demolish the wall around the same park. In the first case, students placed all the cut-down branches and trunks outside the then vice-chancellor’s residence, blocking the door. In the latter case, stones were thrown at the bishop’s window – and hit his head (but without serious injury). However, in neither case did students seem to have been detained in the lock-up for what happened. In 1802, there was no punishment at all, and in 1837 there were more serious consequences than being temporarily put in the cell: a number of those involved were expelled.
Overall, it seems the lock-up had again entered a period of reduced usage when we come to the 1820s. In any case, a note in Consistory minutes from December 1823 can be interpreted as the “Lock-up room” at that point not having been used for a good while. This can be inferred from the fact that the room “will soon be utilised” leading to an order to the University’s treasurer to “take care of its repair, in particular that a new, strong door is acquired thereto”. But where was this room that was being prepared in 1823?
The elusive lock-up period
It was mentioned in part 1 of this article that, as early as the 1730s, the University and the City of Lund had discussed cooperation on joint detention premises. At that time, it had not resulted in anything concrete, but in 1794 there was a new attempt. The University then committed “to share half the costs with the city” to establish “a necessary room for the night watchmen” – which the city and University jointly staffed – “as well as a better and more secure detention facility for the imprisonment of debtors or those sentenced to prison as well as for prisoners and malefactors”. This would all be housed in an existing building in front of the cathedral and next to the Cathedral School’s then premises. As mentioned in part 1, according to K Arne Blom it was in this joint municipal-academic confinement facility that the murderer Blomdahl was placed after the “murder at Locus Peccatorum (the House of Sin)” in 1829. This was a possibility, because William Karlsson’s history of Lund’s police force in olden times states that the building in question was demolished in 1838 (after a petition from the church, which found it “a blot on the city”). The same book also indicates, however, that the period in which the premises were shared by the city and University was quite short, and that by 1802 it had been converted into a dedicated city jail.
The “New Academy” also known as “Kuggis” in Lundagård. A postcard from shortly before the building was demolished in 1897. Source: Academic Society Archive & Student Museum.
At the same time, the University had erected a new building, mainly for its central management and administration but also to accommodate several lecture halls and space for different scientific collections. The building – officially called the “New Academy” but which the students referred to as “Kuggis” – was sited as a wing of the King’s House on the eastern side. According to information that appears in various summaries, a new lock-up would have been set up in this building, and it is where Kjell Åke Modéer places Blomdahl in 1829.
But was there actually a lock-up at the New Academy? If you look at the original plans for the building – in which the function of each room is stated in detail – there are no such premises on the plan. According to a diligent local and University historian, the curator of the University’s Zoological Museum, Yngve Löwegren, who published a book on the history of the New Academy in 1963, there was a lock-up: initially on the upper floor and later moved down to the former “beadle chamber” (staff room for the University’s caretakers) on the ground floor. Regarding the original location, Löwegren refers to a paragraph in Consistory minutes from 1799, whereas the later location has no stated source whatsoever. However, when the relevant paragraph in the minutes was checked, it was shown that there is no mention at all of the lock-up, and I have not found any information about this in other written primary documents I have studied. There is, however, a preserved plan of the New Academy on which someone, probably on behalf of the Consistory, has drawn in red pen diverse suggestions for changes to the floor plan, and here the word “Proba” (lock-up) can be found written on a room on the upper floor, which had originally been earmarked as “treasury”.
Plan of the upper floor of the New Academy from around 1799 with proposed changes; including the establishment of a lock-up in the lower right corner. Source: Lund University Archives.
Was the proposed change ever implemented? Personally, I am doubtful that it ever actually happened. One reason for this suspicion is an inventory of the University’s total building portfolio from 1833. This counts a number of rooms and functions in the “New Academy Building”, but nothing is stated about a lock-up. On the other hand, further on in the inventory is a mention of the “the current fencing hall with second storage room (also called detention room)”. This indicates that in 1833 the lock-up was still located adjacent to the University’s fencing hall, i.e. at Liberiet on Kraft Square, where it had been moved 70 years earlier. And the fact is that even Löwegren, writing on the professed detention premises at the New Academy, states that they have “[it seems] not been used very much”, but that “the old detention facility in the fencing hall building was probably used during the entire period”.
Based on a rather strong likelihood, I therefore maintain that the premises used to imprison Jacob Wilhelm Blomdahl in 1829 were located at Liberiet.
The shooting of student Haase
It is probable that “Student Lars Mathias Dahl” was also taken to the same cell in November 1838. This was after he had “confessed to firing a shot from which student C. J. Haase received a severe injury that endangered his life”. This shooting drama left a far fainter impression for posterity than Blomdahl’s murder of Andreas Emanuel Landén nine years earlier, and neither did it have a fatal outcome, but it did create just as great a splash in the press at the time and resulted in a legal process that was eventually resolved far above local academic jurisdiction. The background was that Dahl, a 17-year-old first-year student of the Skåne student nation, fired a shotgun at a fellow nation member, the three-year-older Carl Johan Haase, injuring him so badly that he lost the sight in both eyes. Dahl himself claimed that the shot was purely accidental, but rumours circulated in the press that the incident had “not been quite such an accident as one thought” but that instead it “was caused by the perpetrator’s love-related jealousy”. Of interest from the perspective of this article is that the latter information was said to stem from Dahl’s time in the lock-up:
It is said namely, among a number of other stories, that the same person [Dahl] had stated to the guard, who was on duty outside the door of his cell (he was held under arrest initially) that “it was so bloody peculiar that the shot hit his eyes, as I was only aiming for his nose,” (on which he, according to another statement, wanted to “score a bulls-eye”). The defendant’s lawyer, student Nerman, wanted to challenge the guard’s testimony on the grounds that it was “said in confidence.” However, the Consistory, which did not consider that anything confidential could occur between the person in question and the guard, let the testimony stand.
The period during which Dahl could have spoken to the guard in confidence would in any event have been short. According to what the vice-chancellor noted later, Dahl had been put in the lock-up on 30 November but had already “been released the following day”. The reason was that Dahl’s father, who by all accounts was a rather wealthy rural dean, had paid his son’s bail. The subsequent trial, which was held several months later (at a guess due to Haase’s state of health) was to be very much concerned with the claim for damages that Haase, who reportedly was the son of a “destitute” brewer and former artilleryman, could make against Dahl and his father. It would be too much to describe here the long-drawn out legal process in detail, which ended (to Dahl’s disadvantage) in the Supreme Court just over three years later. I will just state here that despite all the circumstances things turned out fairly well for Haase, who the whole time had the undivided sympathies of the student’s unions and the general public. As Haase had already become known for his musicality, the “Ladies of Lund” collected a total of 650 crowns to buy him a piano, among other things. Thanks to this, Haase could actually pursue a long professional career as a music teacher in Ystad. There he married and became a father to, among others, a son who in time became a student in Lund and, in contrast to his father, could complete an academic education (to become a physician).
One of the expressions of sympathy in the Haase versus Dahl case was that the documents in the legal process were printed and the proceeds from the sales were given to Haase. Advert in the newspaper Skånska Mercurius dated 9 March 1839. Source: National Library of Sweden.
Among the skeletons in the attic or in the greenhouse building?
My theory that Dahl, even as late as 1838, was also placed in the lock-up at Liberiet is further strengthened by a couple of points in the Consistory’s minutes from November 1844. At that point, six years later, the story of this lock-up definitely ended, as Liberiet was to have a completely new function as rehearsal premises for the Academic Orchestra, and a detention facility was obviously not considered to fit in with these plans. The then vice-chancellor, mathematician Carl Johan Hill, told the Consistory that “as the Academy’s old fencing hall building, which up to now has housed the jail for people under academic jurisdiction, has now been refurbished for other purposes, the Academy is lacking its own detention facility for needs that may arise”. A new facility must therefore “be established as soon as possible”. After a short discussion, it was decided to situate the new lock-up in “the outer of the storage rooms in the Academy Building used to hold the Academy office’s papers” i.e the archive room where the University kept its financial documents. University caretaker Björklund was ordered in this connection to “place the iron bars from the old detention cell” in this room.
However, the matter was not resolved so easily, as only a week later the vice-chancellor was forced to raise the issue again in the Consistory. This was because, Lund’s bishop, who was at the time also acting chancellor of the University, had heard about the matter and considered that it was inappropriate to place the lock-up in a room on the ground floor of the Academy Building, which moreover faced Lundagård. Together with the professor of natural history, Sven Nilsson, the vice-chancellor had therefore inspected the upper floors of the Academy Building to see whether the detention facility could instead be established in “the attic over the room where the Department of Zoology’s collections are currently housed” and where diverse “animals and skeletons etc. are stored”. However, the two professors had come to different conclusions. While vice-chancellor Hill thought that the premises in question, a small room on the north gable side of the Academy Building was adequate, Nilsson was more than sceptical. Above all, he pointed out that the need for a fire to be lit in the previously unheated space “would entail a high risk of fire”. Hill stated that this problem could be solved by the caretaker “being responsible for supervision”, but Sven Nilsson was not to be swayed. Instead, he put forward a completely new proposal: “that the jail facility must be established at the corner of Sandgatan and Lazarettsgatan [probably where Paradisgatan is now], in the old greenhouse building belonging to the Department of Botany, which for a long time has not been used for its origin purpose but put at the disposal of the Department of Zoology”. As a result of this, the Consistory members adjourned for a while to go off and examine both premises “with their own eyes”. The inspection came out in favour of Nilsson’s proposal, and as professor of botany, Johan Wilhelm Zetterstedt, also stated that he had no objections, “the Consistory decided that the western part of the greenhouse building in question, which has a dedicated exit on Lazarettsgatan, is to be established as the Academic Jail”. Using wording that feels unmistakably urgent, it was also decided that work on the new lock-up would be carried out “as quickly as possible” but at the same time “with the lowest costs for the Academy”.
Section of a map of Lundagård, the old Botanical Garden (now the University Square) and Paradislyckan 1835. The building labelled C and D is the King’s House, and E is the Academy Building. One of the four buildings labelled H top right ought to be the one that in 1844 was partially converted to become the University’s last lock-up. Source: Lunds University Archives.
An archive preserved by chance
The discussion from 1844 referred to above is unique in that it is one of the very few instances in which I have been able to find the location of the lock-up discussed in detail and described in the University’s archive documents. Considering that this facility existed in some form or other for 184 of the, to date, 353 years of Lund University’s history, it can otherwise be stated in general that there are surprisingly few traces in the source material. Many of the information sources I have referred to above are to be found embedded here and there in general series of minutes, inventories and building plans, whereas specific archive series of the type “Documents concerning the lock-up” are conspicuous by their absence. In the University’s own archives that is. At the Regional Archives in Lund, part of the National Archives, there is, on the other hand, a very specific archive named “Lund Academy Jail archive”. What is it doing there and why hasn’t the University taken care of the archive? These are questions that naturally spring to mind for those who wish to see a degree of order.
The explanation is that this archive consists entirely of documents sent out by Lund University, more specifically monthly lists of those held in custody, which were compiled for the Court of Appeal for Skåne and Blekinge. The fact that these were preserved there is partly due to chance. Some of the documents – all folio sheets folded in two with writing only on one side – show clear signs that they have been folded inside out and then reused as covers for other documents before they were, in connection with a major weeding of documents at the Court of Appeal, finally and fortunately sent to the Regional Archives rather than just being discarded. It is impossible to say for sure whether there were originally more reports than those that have been preserved, but the fact that the archive begins in 1824 (whereas the Court of Appeal was established in 1821) and that certain months are missing in the earlier years, indicates that this is the case.
However, even with these reservations, the archive gives the only more general picture of the lock-up’s use in its final decades. It thereby clearly shows that as a rule during this period imprisonments were few and far between. Most of the reports consist of brief wordings in the style of this example from the autumn of 1825:
I hereby humbly notify that during the course of the past month of October no prisoner has arrived at Lund Academy Jail or been in detention there.
One year’s detention due to debt
However, there are a number of exceptions to this rule and through this we have an opportunity to get more closely acquainted with some of the lock-up’s very last internees. The murderer Blomdahl crops up in the records, of course, in connection with his trial in 1829, and the last night before his execution (in the meantime he had been held at the fortress prison in Malmö), as does the aforementioned Lars Mathias Dahl.
The “Extract from prisoner list at the Academy Jail”, which the University sent to the Court of Appeal in September 1829 due to the murderer Blomdahl being held in custody. Source: National Archives (Lund Academy Jail archive).
By all accounts, Dahl was the last to be held in the lock-up for something relating to life and limb or other serious crimes. However, it cannot be said that he was the last of all to be lock up there. The reports to the Court of Appeal note three further names of internees: Frans Rosengren, Anders Ahlgren and Knut Axel Dahlström. All were detained for long or short durations in the period 1845 to 1847, and thereby would probably have been the only ones to use the lock-up established by the Consistory in 1844 in the old greenhouse building on Sandgatan. However, none of them were held there because they had committed a crime, either against general laws or the University’s internal rules and regulations; rather they were imprisoned for debt. It was therefore the case that they owed money to one or more private individuals and had not been able to pay their debts. The creditors had the right to request that the guilty parties be locked up until they paid off the debts.
Opportunities to generate income while being held in the lock-up would probably have been very limited, so the expectation would have been rather that more solvent relatives or friends would come to the debtor’s rescue and pay up to release the person concerned. This seems to have been the case for Dahlström, as he was already released “after some hours has passed” in March 1847. It was worse for Rosengren who was locked up for the entire spring semester of 1845 and even worse for Ahlgren from Västergötland, who was imprisoned for an entire year – from October 1846 to October 1847. However, this was not the only thing that was long-drawn out in Anders Ahlgren’s student life. Together with his twin brother, Isak, he was one of the period’s well-known perpetual students. The two brothers spent 14 years in Lund “involved in philological studies, but without taking academic degrees”. Even though the brothers came from a “a respected and wealthy farming family” one can imagine that the resources they had eventually dried up during such a long period of studies, and that it was therefore not particularly odd that at least one of them ended up in the lock-up for unpaid debts. But was it actually just one of them who was imprisoned? The Ahlgren brothers were identical twins and it was difficult to tell them apart. This was the basis for a rumour, recounted here by the city bailiff Carl Sjöström in his biographical cadastral of the Västergötland student nation:
“There was one time in Lund when one of the brothers had been imprisoned for debt. The other one visited his imprisoned brother, swopped clothes with him and stayed there in his place. They switched in this way and consequently alternated their way through the misadventure. The parish vicar once asked Anders if this was true. He answered with a certain indignation: “Oh, certainly not; my brother Isak was far too conscientious for something like that.”
It is not stated in the documents that I found why Ahlgren was eventually released. Perhaps his debts had been paid in the end by another brother, the wealthy and childless Peter Ahlgren, who according to Sjöström would have been the twin brother’s meal ticket once they had used up their own shares of the patrimony. There is, however, another possible explanation. The person who had requested that someone should be imprisoned for debt had to pay for food and other costs during the period of imprisonment. After a year, did Ahlgren’s creditor perhaps feel that it was simply becoming a little too expensive to keep him locked up? In any case, Ahlgren was released, left Lund the same year and “then worked as a children’s teacher in his part of the country”.
After Anders Ahlgren, the lock-up probably stood unused – at least as a jail – for the period of just over five years that remained until the turn of the year 1852/53. This was when academic jurisdiction was abolished and with it the University’s obligation to maintain a detention facility. In January 1853, the then vice-chancellor, theologian Hans Magnus Melin, could consequently send in the very last – prisoner-free – custody report to the Court of Appeal.
The University’s very last report to the Court of Appeal concerning arrivals at the lock-up from January 1853. Source: National Archives (Lund Academy Jail archive).
Fredrik Tersmeden Archivist at the University Archives (and unpunished to date)
Thank you to my archivist colleagues Henrik Ullstad and Mikael Falk who helped me to find biographical information on some of the students named in the article and to decipher certain old, difficult-to-read documents.
Cecilia Lindgren, new director of the Big Data Institute, works a lot on willpower: “You can’t control everything, but if you have the will, you can find solutions.”
…a Lund University alumna who has taken a new position as director of the Big Data Institute in Oxford!
“Thank you! I am thrilled about this”, says Cecilia Lindgren.
She describes her new role as Director of the Big Data Institute (BDI) as a new chapter, but a continuation of something in which she is strongly rooted. Ever since she completed her PhD at Lund University, she has used Big Data in her research in various ways, interweaving medical knowledge and biological insight with computer science and statistics.
Cecilia Lindgren’s own research addresses the distribution of fat around the body and what causes some people who are obese to suffer from diabetes while others do not. These are complex and difficult connections, affected by both environment and genes.
“In the beginning, we thought we would find a single gene that causes the distribution of fat or type 2 diabetes. But as it turned out, there are many different genetic variations which, in turn, are affected by complex, environmental factors.”
Lund is a perfect mix
Cecilia Lindgren began her research as a doctoral student under Leif Groop – “my scientific grandfather” as she calls him – and remembers how he ensured that the doctoral students got a chance to rotate amongst the patients in the endocrinology ward. But the clinical life was not something that attracted Cecilia.
“I am driven by intuition and realised quickly that I was too sensitive to work clinically with patients. However, Leif gave me a profound respect and enthusiasm for maintaining the medical keel in my research.”
She refers to her time in Lund as “a perfect mix of cutting-edge research and student fun”.
One of her lecturers was Mikael Dolsten who played a key role in producing the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, but Cecilia Lindgren fondly mentions many people from the time who meant a lot to her: Erik Renström, Marju Orho-Melander, Henrik Mulder and Cecilia Holm, to mention a few.
“It was fantastic to study and conduct research in Lund, because research is creative. You need to take breaks, get inspiration and find new opportunities beyond your immediate workplace. And there were many opportunities to be had in Lund.”
She speaks warmly of the Gothenburg student nation and the Botanical Garden.
“And every time something went well, I celebrated at the Grand Hotel. I am proud of my half-Scanian roots and I have a summer house in Österlen to which I return.”
Translating research into clinical benefit
Cecilia Lindgren has been part of the change and explosion of the field abreast of technological development. During her inaugural lecture as a new professor in 2018, she spoke about her involvement in conducting a comprehensive association study, known as a GWAS, in Oxford in 2007. GWAS is a method used to find out which genetic variants are involved in various diseases and entails comparing the genetic material of a large group of people to identify variations between those who have a disease and those who are healthy.
“At that time, the research field was struggling with inconsistent results, largely due to the data on which they were based being insufficient. But when we got these findings at Christmas in 2007 and we saw that they were robust, I got so elated that I cried.”
The challenge when studying correlation with disease is often in taking the step from mapping genetic risk variants to understanding what function they have and what mechanisms in the body they affect. She hopes that the discoveries being made through GWAS, among others, will identify the specific mechanisms that affect energy balance and metabolism in humans.
“I want what we do to be translated into clinical benefit. That is why we also collaborate with various pharmaceutical companies, such as Novo Nordisk, Johnson & Johnson and Novartis.”
The possibilities of algorithms
She mentions the Covid-19 app, Covid Symptom Study, which is managed in Sweden by Maria Gomez and Paul Franks at Lund University, as an example of how AI and Big Data generate new possibilities for both decision-makers and individuals.
“It enables Covid-19 information to be gathered from users so as to assess risks and plan healthcare.”
Image analysis is another area in which Big Data has brought major improvements.
“Consider retina scans for example. I remember how highly qualified clinicians laboriously classified each retina image manually. What took several years to achieve in the past can now be done in a day by an algorithm.. That does not mean that machine learning tools should replace physicians, rather that it can be considered as a tool to facilitate clinical decisions”, she emphasises.
Ethical challenges
Big Data naturally presents challenges. One such challenge is the environmental impact of the large cooling facilities and the electrical power required for the computer halls, another is to retain cutting-edge talent within academia. Another important aspect is ethics.
“At BDI, we integrate ethics in all activities and have a large group working specifically on this. I also think it is important to consider diversity and minority representation. A large part of the data on which researchers base their work comes only from European populations, but if we want our research findings to be significant and beneficial to humanity as a whole, we need breadth. For example, it is completely crazy that some facial recognition algorithms can currently only process European faces.”
Loves a good confidence interval
Cecilia gets really inspired by robust associations and she observes that “everyone who knows me is aware that I love a good confidence interval”.
“As researchers, we want to arrive at a correct conclusion and know how precise our results are. In this, Big Data shrinks the confidence interval. Because science is not subjective, it must be objective and based on facts. Research must be discussed and if someone is wrong, it needs to be pointed out and justified.”
She thinks that researchers and scholarly institutions must become better at demanding respect in public debate.
“Physicians or researchers have dedicated years of their lives to building their expertise. It worries me to see cultures and bubbles being fostered in which nobody trusts experts but instead googles their way to quick answers to complicated questions.”
The secret
Although Lindgren’s research work has been successful, it was not always obvious that she would remain in the profession. One secret has been to learn to enjoy the process and have that as a goal, rather than the end point.
“That has made me fearless and with little to lose. And I am also extremely curious. What I love about academic research is that it enables me to surround myself with like-minded curious people who ask difficult but important questions. What could be better?”
Text: Tove Smeds
Fun facts about Cecilia Lindgren
Doing: renovating her house, loving her family and friends Reading: books in her book club. Currently, Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (so good!) Watching: interior design and travel programmes Wants: people to realise that kindness is something incredibly beautiful and generous What you didn’t know about Cecilia: never go on a business trip with her – it always goes wrong and she has a library of business trip stories that sound completely incredible but are unfortunately true.
The Big Data Institute (BDI) is an interdisciplinary research institute that focuses on the analysis of large, complex, heterogeneous data sets for research into the causes and consequences, prevention and treatment of disease. BDI researchers develop, evaluate and deploy efficient methods for acquiring and analysing information for large clinical research studies. These approaches are invaluable in identifying the associations between lifestyle exposures, genetic variants, infections and health outcomes around the globe. The BDI is part of the Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery at the University of Oxford. Source: The Big Data Institute (BDI)
Hello readers! Hope you are enjoying your Friday wherever you are in the world! Lund is windy and sunny. Cherry blossoms have started to bloom and the magnolia tree in Lundagård is budding. We are still working from home, waiting for a “new normal” office life. With that said, I’m happy to tell you that we at the Alumni Relations Office are keeping ourselves busy and are looking forward to presenting a variety of new digital events during the last week of April and in May.
Alumni Panel Talk New York 27 April
Webinar: Living & Working in New York City 27 April 18.00 CEST
We are presenting a new career webinar series where we will meet alumni who are working in large cities around the globe. In our first webinar in this series, we will meet Hanna, Gustav, Ulrika and Fredrik, alumni from different faculties at Lund University, all working in New York City today. Join our webinar to learn more about working life in the Big Apple! The event is open to all alumni and students from Lund University. Click here to learn more about the webinar
Webinar: The job interview 28 April 12.00 pm (noon) CEST
Applied for a job in Sweden and got the call for an interview? Want to learn more on how to prepare yourself for a job interview? Join this webinar to learn more about how to prepare for the interview, examples of questions that are asked and actions not to forget after the interview. Click here to learn more about the webinar
Working from home – Photo by Maria Svetlychnaja/Shutterstock
Webinar: A sustainable working life (in Swedish) 3 May 16.30 CEST
Our working life has changed during the pandemic. We have worked remotely and in environments we do not usually work in. The job has been mixed with family life and many of us have not met our colleagues other than via digital meeting platforms. But how has it really been to work during the pandemic year? What work environment challenges have we faced? What does the research say?
In this panel discussion, the work environment researchers at Design Sciences at LTH present the latest research on the pandemic’s impact on working life. The researchers also look ahead and discuss opportunities that arose during the pandemic and which we take with us in our future sustainable working life. Click here to learn more about the event (in Swedish)
Webinar: Living & Working in Amsterdam 25 May
In our next career webinar we will meet with a panel of alumni who will share their experiences from working in Amsterdam. Mark the date in your calendar, more event information will be published shortly.
Other events and celebrations at Lund University in April and May
“Siste April” and 1 May celebrations 30 April and 1 May
What would “Siste April” or “Valborg” (Walpurgis Night) be without a greeting from Lund University? Instead of gathering in front of the University main building, this year we are invited to sit down in front of the computer and join the digital celebration on 30 April and 1 May. Click here to learn more about the events
1 May celebrations in Lundagård. Photo by Kennet Ruona.
Sustainability Week in Lund 3-8 May
Sustainability Week is an annual event in Lund organised as a joint venture by Lund University and the City of Lund. Sustainability Week serves as a platform for bringing together ideas, for cross-disciplinary collaborations, for raising public awareness and for inspiring sustainable change. This year’s sustainability week consists of digital events, outdoor exhibitions, workshops and guided tours. Click here to learn more about the event
This quote is from Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and summarizes today’s post pretty well. Lifelong learning, or the ”ongoing, voluntary, and self-motivated” pursuit of knowledge throughout life, is essential to keep your personal and professional skills in shape over time. Even if you have left Lund University a year, five years or many decades ago, there are always opportunities to come back to learn more. For a course, programme, professional education or online opportunities.
Below we have gathered a list of different opportunities for you to learn new skills and acquire new knowledge from Lund University. Note that the application deadlines for courses and programmes taught in Swedish are tomorrow, 15 April!
The national application round for courses and programmes closes tomorrow, Thursday 15 April!
“Studiechansen” to broaden and build your skills – application process also closes on 15 April!
During the past year, Lund University has worked actively to develop a wide range of courses that are aimed at anyone who wants to broaden and build on their skills – either in parallel with other studies, or as skills enhancement in working life. For the autumn semester 2021, a range of courses (in Swedish) is offered that uses the entire breadth of Lund University and provides suggestions for combinations with courses from different faculties to offer a broad range of competence. Click here to learn more about “Studiechansen” (in Swedish) Application deadline: 15 April 2021
Lund University offers MOOCs – free online courses open to anyone with an interest, regardless of previous experience. Choose among a wide variety of courses in for example Greening the economy, AI and Digital Business Models. Click here to learn more about MOOCs at Lund University
Professional education
Lund University Commissioned Education makes the resources of Lund University available to companies, organisations and authorities aiming to develop their business and staff. They represent all faculties at Lund University, serving as a one-stop-shop partner for organisations and employers. Increase your competitive advantage and the skills of your employees with education based on the latest research, provided by highly qualified academic and research staff. Click here to learn more about professional education at Lund University
Cover photo from the University main library (UB1): Mikael Risedal
Amongst the speakers was Stina Vikingson, from Career Services at the Lund University School of Economics and Management. She offered practical tips and tools to enhance your online brand as well as some great advice for job hunting and creating that all-star LinkedIn profile that you need to be ahead of the game. She gave us the answer as to why it is important to Google yourself, as well as helpful tips within the following areas:
– Building your professional brand – Going online with your brand – Networking online – Future-proofing your skills set – Job hunting during a pandemic
Job hunting during a world crisis
Alumnae Josefina Röckert and Sveta Mardar both shared compelling stories with invaluable tips for job hunting during a world crisis. Not only that, but they also shared how they excelled and thrived in new areas because of the pandemic.
“Don’t let country barriers prevent you from looking into a new job. Go global!” – Josefina Röckert
Josefina Röckert shared her story about how, after graduating in June 2020, she saw her dream job slip through her fingers as the position was cancelled. She was forced to rethink her options as unemployment was soaring. Josefina shared how this ultimately led her to think outside of the box and land a job in Germany, working remotely from Stockholm.
“You have to accept that you can’t control everything, but you can control your immediate surroundings and how you interpret the world.” – Sveta Mardar
Sveta Mardar, an external relations strategist working at Ernst & Young in London, told the story of how the UK lockdown had given her the opportunity to start a new initiative. She created a global platform, a podcast and a blog (www.woviddiaries.com) that empowers and inspires women during and beyond COVID-19.
Following this webinar, Sveta also shared her reflections and some of her top tips on LinkedIn. You can read her article here.
Upper left: Josefina Röckert – Upper right: Moderator Alma Bergil – Lower left: Sveta Mardar – Lower right: Stina Vikingson
Re-watch the webinar or watch it for the first time!
Tonight (Saturday 13 March 2021) Lund University student Paul Rey will compete for the chance to represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest as he sings for the win in “Melodifestivalen” aka “Mello” aka the biggest entertainment on Swedish prime time TV. We got the chance to ask the Lund University popstar 5 quick questions before he goes on stage!
1.
You have a successful music career, but have decided to get a degree as well. What are your plans for your education in combination with your music?
– I am studying for a Master’s in International Marketing and Brand Management at Lund University! I chose to start studying to get more input in my life after having only worked as an artist and songwriter for several years. Studying and learning every day has been super rewarding for me personally, and everything I’ve learned is very applicable in my profession as an artist.
2.
Tonight you are in the Swedish finals for “Melodifestivalen”- what is your song about?
– My song The Missing Piece is about my daughter who was born in November and how it feels to become a parent and how she makes me complete!
3.
How do people know you’re from Lund?
– Partly that I study at Lund University, but also that I love riding my bike to places and my accent with rolling R’s!
4.
What is a must-visit for you when you are in town?
– My niece!!
5.
If you get to represent Sweden in the Eurovision final, what would be the most fun and exciting thing about it and what would be the scariest thing about it?
– The most exciting thing will be to show off on the world’s biggest music stage with a song that I am incredibly proud of. There’s nothing scary about it.
Meet Eric Engerby Jönsson, a Lund University alumnus, who is currently enrolled in a trainee programme at CGI Business Consulting. Eric studied the Bachelor’s programme in Service Management with a specialisation in Retail at Campus Helsingborg and continued with the Master’s programme in International Strategic Management at the School of Economics and Management in Lund. His studies began in 2016 and ended with a Master’s degree in spring 2020.
What have you been up to since you graduated and what do you work with today?
Early on, during the first semester at the Master’s programme, I signed a contract with CGI and therefore knew what was planned for me after graduation. However, before my work at CGI began I had the opportunity to work with a subsidiary within PEAB where I helped the CMO* with market analysis, market strategies and trend spotting.
*Chief Marketing Officer
What does a typical day at the office look like?
As a consultant at CGI there is no “typical day” and this is something that I value tremendously. Every day is different from the day before and I am constantly challenged in my daily work. However, as a trainee within the CGI Selected programme there is a clear structure where we, during the first year, get the opportunity to learn and develop the important and necessary skills that consultants need in order to be successful. During the second year we develop skills and gain access to the right tools to become project leaders and during the third and final year within the trainee programme we get the chance to perfect our business acumen.
In what ways have your studies at Lund University been beneficial to you?
I believe that I have a unique way of analysing and understanding business-related situations, behaviours and contexts. Additionally, I am comfortable working in team settings as well as driving my own work forward –something that originated from the way of working at Lund University. Self-leadership is incredibly important in any business setting.
How did you become a trainee at CGI Business Consulting?
CGI has a very ambitious recruitment process where I first applied through submitting my CV and took two different tests. From this I was invited to their assessment day where a selection of the recruits are welcomed to their offices to solve a business case in teams and experience the culture at CGI. After this, I was invited to an individual case interview where I got to solve a case on my own and finally I was invited to a concluding interview. Although the recruitment process may seem long and challenging, it gave me incredible amounts of energy every time I met any of the members of CGI.
Do you have any tips to others who may be thinking of applying for a trainee programme?
My main recommendation to current students is to find out what you want from your future employer so that it will be easier for you to choose the right firm to work for and apply to. For me, CGI was the obvious choice as they prioritise heart as much as they prioritise brain. A combination of incredibly competent members with their hearts in the right place creates a wonderful culture at CGI where the consultants can thrive and grow together with their fellow members.
I really want to take this opportunity to promote CGI Selected and encourage current university students to follow CGI on social media in order to learn more about upcoming opportunities and see what it is like to work with us. Do not hesitate to reach out to me if you have any questions or want to learn more about our award-winning trainee program!
Do you have a favourite memory from your time at Lund University?
I have several memories worth telling, but my most distinct memory is from my exchange semester at the University of Adelaide during the fifth semester at the Bachelor programme. During this period I got the opportunity to challenge myself academically and personally, as well as meeting new international friends that I still keep in contact with and have met up with in Prague, Berlin and digitally. While this was a challenging time, I was awarded a scholarship for academic excellence at the University of Adelaide, which makes this memory even more valuable to me.
Three alumni – Susanna Bill, Daniel Damberg and Julia Tuvesson – with three different educational backgrounds at LU were all drawn toward the tasteful world of cooking and baking.
They have proven to be quite good at what they do and you may even recognise their creations from TV, Instagram or the bookshelf. Get some foodie inspiration for the upcoming spring!
Erik Renström has been in his role since 22 January 2021 when he was inaugurated as the new vice-chancellor of Lund University. He has previously been the dean of the Faculty of Medicine and is a doctor and professor in experimental endocrinology with extensive academic experience. We had the opportunity to ask him 5 quick questions.
1.
What is your most important task as vice-chancellor of Lund University?
– Formulating the way ahead for Lund University over the next few years and explaining the common thread through the University management’s efforts to bring about this progress.
2.
The University’s strategic plan states that collaboration with alumni shall be further developed. Why is it important for alumni to be engaged in the University’s work and what can the University offer them?
– Alumni are extremely important ambassadors who have that special credibility that comes from having experienced the University themselves. Through its renown and standing, Lund University can contribute to their success, but also offer an ever-expanding network throughout their lives and serve as an anchor in a constantly changing existence.
3.
Many of the University’s activities have been conducted digitally during the pandemic. How do you envisage Lund University’s “new normal” in the future?
– In many different ways. We will establish a better thought-out approach to remote working and remote studies. We will carry out more work from home, but also value the community of the workplace more strongly. We will take care of it and not take it for granted.
4.
What has your own experience been of Zoom meetings, coffee breaks in Teams and your home office?
– It has gone really well! I even had a Christmas party on Zoom. It was really great to be able to crawl straight into bed afterwards.
5.
If each day had two extra hours, how would you use them?
– Three quarters of an hour for one or two extra meetings, three quarters of an hour for writing and half an hour to do some kind of workout.
By 1910, the lock-ups at Swedish universities had long been a thing of the past. However, this did not stop a mobile “prubba” turning up in the Uppsala students’ carnival procession that year. Source: Uppsala University Library.
Part 1
One of the more tragic events in Lund’s academic history took place on 7 September 1829. Under circumstances that have never been fully clarified, the then theology student and member of the Gothenburg student nation, Jacob Wilhelm Blomdahl, beat to death his fellow student and nation member Anderas Emanuel Landén. For this crime, Blomdahl was sentenced to death by beheading, and as this took place before 1853 – i.e. during the period when Swedish universities still had their own jurisdiction over their employees and students – it was the University’s own board, the consistory led by the vice-chancellor, that passed the death sentence.
This article will not, however, be yet one more account of this crime – what became known as the murder at Locus Peccatorum (the House of Sin) – as this has already been described in detail in at least two books: by the legal historian Kjell Å Modéer in Brott vid Lundagård (1989), and the author K Arne Blom in Skumraskbravader (Old Lund Yearbook 1974). In addition, the murder was just recently the subject of a long edition of the Faculty of Law’s podcast, Öppet fall in which I had the pleasure of acting as a pundit with programme presenter Elsa Trolle Önnerfors. In that particular capacity, I was however asked a question that there and then I could only answer in a somewhat vague and preliminary way. The documents from Blomdahl’s trial state that between interrogations he was detained in the University’s holding cell or lock-up (“proban” in the Swedish of the time), but where exactly was it? Modéer states that it was “in the Academy Building (Kuggis), built in 1802, located east of the King’s House in Lundagård”, whereas according to Blom it was “housed in the city jail in an old stone building south-west of the cathedral on Kyrkogatan”. After taking part in the programme, I have not been able to restrain myself from carrying out further research on the matter, and in the present two-part article I hope to be able to deliver a much more certain answer to this question, but above all tell the whole story of the lock-up in Lund; something that as far as I know has not been done before.
The first known use of the term “proba” (lock-up) printed in Swedish: church regulations 1571. Source: Google Books.
For “negligent priests or disruptive devils”
It should be clarified from the start that the phenomenon of a so-called “proba” – also written as “prubba”, “probba”, “probben” and a number of other variants in Swedish, all deriving from the Latin word for “trial” – is by no means unique to Lund University or even to the Swedish university world in general. The oldest written reference to the word that the Swedish Academy Dictionary has succeeded in finding is from Laurentius Petri’s hand-written draft of church regulations in 1561 (printed in1571), which states, among other things, that a priest who “drinks until intoxicated / to the extent that they are incapacitated / he shall be given a requisite punishment in the Probo etc.”. From this it can be surmised that the “proba” was originally a church prison, intended for the detention of misbehaving priests, and that such lock-ups were found in all bishopric cities, as it was there, of course, that the bishop and cathedral chapter exercised their jurisdiction over church folk. However, the bishopric cities also had the Swedish upper secondary schools of that time, and these were also under the control of the church for a long period. Therefore, the bishopric’s various lock-ups, to quote old Lund professor Ewert Wrangel, came to have the double function of a holding cell for both “negligent priests” and “obstinate pupils”, and it is possible to imagine that over time the latter group – mischievous schoolboys – came to dominate the benches in the lock-ups. The only known preserved lock-up in Sweden – located close to both the cathedral and the Rudbeck upper secondary school’s old main building in Västerås – is also primarily referred to as a “school jail”.
The preserved school lock-up in Västerås – the building’s oldest parts are from the Middle Ages. Source: Wikimedia Commons, photograph: Sniper Zeta, (CC-BY-SA-4.0). The photo is partially cropped.
However, the few Swedish universities in olden times were also located in bishopric cities and had strong connections with the church. That is why it is not surprising that the lock-ups in these parts came to be linked with the dominant group of wayward and noisy youths there: the students. The fact that one or two stays in the institution’s detention facilities could almost be seen as a commonplace student activity was indicated by Anna Maria Lenngren’s poem “Biographie”. In this parodic description of a 50-year-old man’s life – written in the first person – the narrator happily depicts their student years thus:
But learning does its labours have, So as a student, I was quite persistent, About the city folk, small pamphlets I wrote Went roaming wild on the streets each night, And with the fanatical journeymen did fight, In the Proban you could often see me – And with the greatest honour I took my degree.
In this poem, Lenngren placed the speaker’s studies in the city where she was born, Uppsala. If he had actually existed, his cell should therefore have been located in the Consistory Building, built in the 1700s, on St Erik’s Square, which has a lock-up on the ground floor. Alternatively, he may have been held in the somewhat later, more well-known holding cell in the so-called cathedral porch stairwell. It is often mentioned in tourist guides and was in use until 1833. Even earlier, there had been a building in the Gustavianum courtyard – also the location of the academic printing house – which acted as Uppsala’s “prubba” (which seems to have been the most common name for it in Uppsala).
By 1910, the lock-ups at Swedish universities had long been a thing of the past. However, this did not stop a mobile “prubba” turning up in the Uppsala students’ carnival procession that year. Source: Uppsala University Library.
Queue for the lock-up
So where was the lock-up in Lund? The answer is that its location, as in Uppsala, shifted over time. That the existence of a lock-up was a presupposition even at the time the University opened is stated clearly in the institution’s oldest policy document, the 1666 constitution; among other things from the rule that the key to the jail was among the things that were to be ceremonially handed over at every change of vice-chancellor. A practical problem, however, was that the young institution in its first 20 years did not own any of its premises. Thus, it was always a question of being totally dependent on borrowing premises from others, and it was mainly from the church. It is therefore logical that the very first student jail came to be housed in the basement of the medieval Chapter House, a building long since demolished, which stood in Kraft Square – then a churchyard – semi-detached to the cathedral’s north-east corner. On the upper floor was the cathedral chapter’s meeting room, but in the cellar, space was prepared for the newly opened University’s lock-up. In his University history published in 1868, Martin Weibull gave the following description of the premises and their use at the time:
The lock-up consisted of an arched cellar in the Kraft churchyard, somewhat raised above ground. It was equipped with doors strengthened with iron bands and had iron bars for windows. It could not hold many people at the same time, so when in 1708 18 to 20 students were sentenced to jail at the same time for nocturnal disturbances, wearing disguise in public, noise and violence during the spring market, the lock-up could not take them all, so that the most guilty had to serve their time before the less guilty could be admitted.
The fact that the lock-up was extremely overburdened at times should not be interpreted as the students being thoroughly engaged in criminal behaviour. It was not only breaking general Swedish law that could lead to a stay in the lock-up, but also contraventions of the University’s numerous internal rules of conduct. The offences that could lead to detention in the lock-up included mooching around the city on Sundays instead of going to mass, playing cards and dice, and failing to appear if called to an interrogation with the vice-chancellor. However, the most common reason why the students of that time ended up in the lock-up would probably have been – as in the example from 1708 above – generally rowdy behaviour, especially at night and under the influence of distilled spirits from the city’s many taverns. It was again Martin Weibull who, in a separate essay in 1877, suggested that “the young students’ source of amusement in the 1720s was to wander around the university city in large groups with swords at their side and loaded rifles in hand”, when they would, while singing and bawling, shoot with both powder and shot over the inflammable thatched roofs. It is therefore mainly for this type of “wild, mischievous antics” that the records of the time show students sentenced to a few days’ detention in the lock-up.
Lund students equipped with rapiers of the 1680 vintage, or at least how they were envisaged in the “historical pageant” that was staged for the inauguration of the main University building in 1882. Source: Lunds och Lundagårds minnen – Historiskt festtåg (Lund 1882).
How common these antics and subsequent spells in the lock-up were in the late 1600s and early 1700s can be gleaned indirectly from sources such as the annual report that the mathematics professor Anders Spole published when he relinquished the role of vice-chancellor he had in the autumn semester of 1672. He expressed his gratitude for the “academic youths’ calm and dignified behaviour, that has so characterised this half-year, that during this time no public complaint against these youths has been made and there has been no need for any punishment” – something that would scarcely have been worth mentioning if it had not been more the exception than the rule.
The fact that the academic youths were far from always behaving in a “calm and dignified” manner can also be seen from details of the reactions to being sentenced to detention in the lock-up. The locking up of a student often led to loud and occasionally even physical protests from their fellow students. The lock-up’s “lock and doors were often broken”, recounted Weibull, and there were instances when things could get even more furious. There are witness accounts from 1675 that students literally stormed the premises armed with axes and other weapons, and in 1704 a dissatisfied and armed group of students behaved so threateningly that the lock-up guard felt compelled to escape to the vice-chancellor’s residence!
On other occasions, however, the punishment was taken in a more easy-going way. There are actually accounts stating that large groups of students often chose to visit a locked-up fellow student for regular organised parties in the cell. This was done, for example, by the Skåne student nation in May 1689 when one of its members “Monsieur Bergsteen was in the lock-up”. The party cost 7 crowns and 17 pence. Not surprisingly, “drinking and noise” could result from these, let us call them “internal” gatherings, and in 1692 things got particularly out of hand. The guard on duty had not only let the carousing students into the cell but had also “sat in the lock-up and after a lot of drinking was excessively drunk”. The party ended with the guests removing the cell door from its hinges! These conditions were hardly specific to the fledgling Lund University, as attested by the Uppsala University historian Claes Annerstedt, who wrote regarding the situation in the city at the time that “the student lock-up […] is almost considered to be a place of amusement”. The Lund professors even discussed among themselves the possibility of fining students instead of sending them to the lock-up “which is only an occasion for scandal and other things”.
In 1805, the Chapter House – the site of the first lock-up – ceased to be used by the cathedral chapter and was pulled down shortly afterwards. This watercolour from the period (by Lars Jacob von Röök) shows only parts of the remaining building as a ruin on the right of the picture. Source: Uppsala University Library.
The city and University look for a joint solution
According to some sources at least, the lock-up in the Chapter House shared the same cellar as the city of Lund’s civil prison, known as the “hag hole”, which led Andreas Manhag in his book Kraftstorg – Lunds mittpunkt och baksida under 500 år (2017) to describe the place “not only as a centre for the cathedral chapter and the University, but also as Lund’s prison”. At the same time, there is other information, including that in William Karlsson’s book Stadsvakt och poliskår i Lund (1950), which indicates that the city’s prison was for some of this period at least located at the city hall on the main square, Stortorget, rather than at the Chapter House. The last-mentioned information is, however, somewhat vague and contradictory.
Regardless of the extent to which the city and University were “cellmates” as far back as the 1600s, it is however quite clear that in the following century there was a search for joint detention solutions. This is recounted by the previously mentioned William Karlsson in his book. In addition to the longstanding problem of the city’s detention facilities being in bad condition and far too easy to escape from, the question of collaborating with the University became pertinent because there were no special premises for members the city guard – a type of police force comprising staff from both the city and University. Such premises, as stated in correspondence between the city and the University in 1739, were needed for the guards, during extremely cold periods for example, but also to make it easier for the public to find and contact the guards. Not least, this would also prevent the guards from “seeking out other places” (i.e. taverns) in order to “neglect their duties” there. And such premises could also include joint detention facilities.
No practical collaboration seems to have arisen from the contacts at that time, and the city in due course solved the detention facility problem by renting and furnishing a cell in the cathedral crypt – which during this period occasionally flooded! A few years later, the University found what was by all accounts a better solution. In 1764, the institution became the sole owner of Liberiet, the cathedral’s still extant old library building on the south side of the Kraft churchyard. The upper floor had previously been used as a lecture hall, but it was now renovated and refurbished as a fencing hall for the University’s fencing master, and two small rooms were created adjacent to this hall: an office for the fencing master and a new lock-up. With its location one floor up, this should not in any case have been troubled by floods (the building’s extensive but dark cellar, which you would otherwise spontaneously think could have been suitable for the purpose did not however have a clear use before the 1830s, when it was refurbished as storage facilities for the University’s fire-fighting equipment).
Part of a plan of Liberiet from the time the University took over the building. The lock-up was in one of the two small rooms to the left in the bottom picture. Source: Lund University Archive.
The question, however, is how much did the University use its new lock-up in the following decades. According to Weibull, the number of detained students fell considerably in the second half of the 1700s. His explanation was “greater education and refinement” among the students. Perhaps it was also the case that the University management chose to turn a blind eye to some of the rules and prohibitions that remained from the 1600s, but which were starting to be regarded as obsolete. In any event, this meant that the lock-up was rarely used for its original purpose and on occasion it was used for something else entirely – namely as the University’s lime store.
Around 1800, however, the number of punished students rose again. It is also a period for which the sources and literature are most unclear and contradictory concerning where the lock-up was actually located. I will try to provide an answer to this question in part 2 of this article, when we will get to know some of the very last individuals who were to shake the bars of the lock-up.
Fredrik Tersmeden Archivist at the University Archives (and unpunished to date)
Thank you to archivist Johan Sjöberg at the Uppsala University Library who assisted me with advice on literature about the history of the Uppsala lock-up.
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