Dear Governors of Middlesex University:

With yesterday’s suspensions of Professors Hallward, Osborne, and several students, I fear we are seeing a merely vindictive gesture that threatens genuine long-term damage to your institution. We have heard of “outlaw nations,” but never of “outlaw universities.” Yet the possible danger now arises of Middlesex becoming just such a pariah. Your administrators did nothing yesterday but turn Hallward and Osborne into international martyrs. Even if all ethics and justice were taken out of the picture, the suspensions are a clumsy overreaction in purely Realpolitik terms. Please: it is not too late for cooler heads to prevail.

Sincerely,

Graham Harman

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Dr. Graham Harman
Associate Professor of Philosophy
American University in Cairo
Egypt