m.driscoll@mdx.ac.uk
cc e.esche@mdx.ac.uk,
w.ahmad@mdx.ac.uk,
m.house@mdx.ac.uk

Apr 29, 2010

Dear Professor Driscoll,

I am writing to express my deep concern at learning of the proposalto close Philosophy at Middlesex. As I am sure that you are aware, Philosophy at Middlesex has an international reputation for work in philosophy and has made a major impact across disciplinary boundaries. In a recent speech, Lord Mandelson referred to the need for British Universities to invest in ‘sustainable excellence’. By all academic standards, Philosophy at Middlesex is excellent and this decision reveals that academic excellence at Middlesex is believed to be unsustainable. This decision lets down your academic colleagues and students at Middlesex who deserve to be at a University that believes in its mission to educate and its role as a space for critical thought.

I urge you, collegially,  to reconsider.

Yours sincerely,

John Holmwood

Professor of Sociology
School of Sociology and Social Policy
University of Nottingham
University Park
Nottingham
NG7 2RD