From: Curtis Neal
Sent: 29 April 2010 09:39

Dear Profs. Driscoll, Ahmad, House and Esche

I am writing to you on hearing the frankly unbelievable news that you are closing Philosophy at Middlesex. Of course,  I recognise that I do not have the facts and figures to hand that led to this decision, but it is staggering, and quite alarming, that even a world-class department is not free from the threat of closure.

From the outside the decision seems incomprehensible given the high profile of the people working in the department and their international standing. I would have assumed that Middlesex would be incredibly proud of what the Philosophy department has done to put the name of Middlesex University at the heart of debates not only in philosophy, but across the Humanities.

At a time when philosophy and critical thinking appear to be on the rise on the schools curriculum I can only hope this isn’t an extreme form of short-termism that the University will ultimately regret.

This is troubling for all of us.

Yours faithfully

Neal Curtis
Director of the Centre for Critical Theory
Department of Cultural Studies
Room B39a, Trent Building
University of Nottingham
University Park
Nottingham NG7 2RD