Save Middlesex Philosophy

Le 6 mai 10 à 09:00, Dr. Werner Busch a écrit :

Dear colleagues philosophers,

As president of the Association Internationale des Professeurs de Philosophie (AIPPh), enregistrée à Bruxelles, I am very disappointed that the Philosophy Department of Middlesex University is intended to be closed, although UNESCO is preparing a big conference about philosophy activities in North America and Europe.

Concrete pragmatism is not sufficent for the development of our societies. We need the creativity  promoted  essentially  by philosophers.  Perhaps a look  at school education will  be helpful  to convince politicians  that  philosopy  is an indispensible foundation for the peaceful and productive coherence of communities.

Werner Busch
President AIPPh
http://www.aipph.eu

American Philosophical Association statement

8 May 2010

http://www.apaonline.org/

Closure of Philosophy at Middlesex – Petition: The APA has learned that an administrative decision has been reached to close all Philosophy programs at Middlesex University, UK.  Our British colleagues are calling for international solidarity, and a petition is circulating on an international scale. The Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie (FISP) has circulated a link to this petition to all member societies.  The APA’s Committee on International Cooperation has already joined the British Philosophical Association and the Australasian Association of Philosophy in a letter to appropriate administrators protesting this action.  The link is here.  Please read the petition and determine whether you would wish to add your name to the list of signers.

De : Marie Muracciole
Date : 8 mai 2010 18:48:37 HAEC
À : m.driscoll@mdx.ac.uk, w.ahmad@mdx.ac.uk, m.house@mdx.ac.uk, e.esche@mdx.ac.uk
Objet : Save Middlesex University Philosphy Departement

Dear Sirs,

I am an art critic, and the former director of cultural action at the Jeu de Paume in Paris where I was in charge of cultural programs as well as educational programs.

I am writing you because I am shocked and deeply worried by the decision you made at Middlesex about the department of Philosophy.

This decision is a suicide for education and for the future of your school, it is a suicide for your professional recognition as well.

I am writing this for you to reconsider your decision very soon,

Best regards,

Marie Muracciole

—————-
Marie Muracciole
28, rue des Trois bornes
F-75011 Paris

Canadian Philosophical Association statement
7 May 2010

http://www.acpcpa.ca/en/postings/middlesex.php

Middlesex to close its top-rated subject

Late on Monday 26 April 2010, the Dean of the School of Arts and Education at Middlesex University, announced the closure of all its Philosophy programmes, including the largest MA programme in Philosophy in the UK. Philosophy is the highest research-ranked subject in the University, and Middlesex is the highest rated of all the post-92 institutions in the subject.

Restriction of student opportunities and choice

Philosophy at Middlesex is one of only a handful of programmes left in the UK that provides both research-driven and inclusive post-graduate teaching and supervision aimed at a wide range of students, specialist and non-specialist. It is the main centre in the UK for the study of European or ‘continental’ philosophy.

Research

The Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy is the main centre for ‘continental’ philosophy in the UK, with an established international reputation, frequent visiting speakers from abroad and increasing numbers of postgraduate students. There are currently 63 postgraduate students in the Centre: 48 MA students and 15 PhD students. 5 PhDs were awarded in 2009. These are remarkable numbers, especially for a small group of six staff.

The Middlesex Philosophy submission to RAE2001 was graded 5, and the 2008 submission was awarded a GPA of 2.80, ranking it joint 13th out of 41 institutions entered in Philosophy – above both its main competitors, Warwick and Sussex. It has hosted 2 Leverhulme Fellowships in the last 6 years, and recently completed a 245,000 AHRC-funded research project, ‘Concept and Form: The Cahiers pour l’analyse and Contemporary French Thought’ (which included production of a major web research resource). It recently submitted an application for a 2-year AHRC Project Grant on Transdisciplinarity, and held an international event on Transdisciplinarity in French Thought at the French Institute).

To express support and to help with the campaign against the closure please send an email savemdxphil@gmail.com.

PLEASE CIRCULATE THIS NEWS WIDELY – closure at Liverpool and cuts at KCL and elsewhere have been avoided due to protests.

SPEP Statement on Middlesex University

8 May 2010

We note with grave concern the decision to terminate the philosophy programs at Middlesex University. The Middlesex philosophy program is a leading center of continental philosophy research, spearheaded by its renowned Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy [http://www.web.mdx.ac.uk/crmep/].

In the 2008 RAE (Research Assessment Exercise), Middlesex was rated first in philosophy among post-1992 universities in Britain, with 65% of its research activity judged “world-leading” or “internationally excellent.”

The SPEP Executive Committee urges SPEP members to support their Middlesex colleagues by signing the online petition:http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/save-middlesex-philosophy.html.

Other relevant websites are:
This Blog: https://savemdxphil.wordpress.com
This Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=119102561449990

From: Iain Macdonald [mailto:iain.macdonald@umontreal.ca]
Sent: May-06-10 5:28 PM
To: ‘e.esche@mdx.ac.uk‘
Subject: Closure of Middlesex University’s Department of Philosophy

Dear Ed Esche,

I write to you on behalf of the Canadian Society for Continental Philosophy, whose membership of around 200 includes professors and researchers from Canada and around the world. We host an annual, international conference and publish a scholarly journal entitled Symposium.

We, the Society’s executive committee, would like to register our dismay and disappointment regarding your recent recommendation, and your university’s subsequent decision, to close Middlesex University’s philosophy department. The consequences of the closure will have a profoundly negative impact on those currently associated with your philosophy department, of course, but Middlesex University as a whole will doubtless suffer as well. Indeed, It is difficult to imagine a university without a philosophy department – and a strong humanities programme more generally. It is even more difficult to imagine Middlesex as a successful institution of higher learning stripped of its most successful and distinguished teachers and researchers.

As you know, Middlesex’s philosophy department is one of its highest RAE-ranked departments. A great number of its members’ publications enjoy international acclaim, many world renowned figures teach there, and many successful academic philosophers were trained there. A serious institution of higher learning need look no further than these criteria to ensure its reputation. To look elsewhere for criteria of success is not to be “forward-looking” or “innovative” in “difficult financial times”; it is to sacrifice the mission of the university as such as a socially necessary institution.

We ask you to reconsider your decision to close Middlesex University’s philosophy department. Not only would its closure have a direct impact on its staff and target clientele, it would have a profoundly negative impact on Middlesex’s international reputation.

Yours faithfully,

Iain Macdonald, President of the Canadian Society for Continental Philosophy
Professeur agrégé
Département de philosophie
Université de Montréal

Antonio Calcagno, Editor-in-chief of Symposium, Secretary
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
King’s University College at the University of Western Ontario

Jeff Mitscherling, Treasurer
Professor
Department of Philosophy
University of Guelph

Christine Daigle, Member-at-large
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Department of Philosophy
Brock University

Lorraine Markotic, Member-at-large
Associate Professor
Faculty of Humanities
University of Calgary

Marie-Eve Morin, Member-at-large
Assistant Professor
Department of Philosophy
University of Alberta

Martin Desrosiers, Graduate student representative
Ph.D. candidate
Department of Philosophy
Université de Montréal

Expéditeur: Jean-Marc Lévy-Leblond
Date: 8 mai 2010 10:47:53 HAEC
Destinataire: e.esche@mdx.ac.uk, m.driscoll@mdx.ac.uk, w.ahmad@mdx.ac.uk, m.house@mdx.ac.uk
Objet: Philosophy at Mdx University

Dear Colleagues,

I have learnt of the project of your university to terminate all Philosophy programmes.
In view of the excellent reputation and achievements of the research and teaching in philosophy of Middlesex University, this project is absolutely incomprehensible.

I recently had the opportunity, while attending a Colloquium in London organized by my Middlesex colleagues, of directly verifying by myself the excellency and high international recognition of your programmes in philosophy.

There is no doubt that the intended closure would do a great damage to the reputation of your University as a whole.

May I then ask you to reconsider this project?

With my best regards.
JMLL
———————————————————
Jean-Marc Lévy-Leblond
Professeur émérite de l’université de Nice,
Directeur de la revue Alliage
54 bd Mantega-Righi, 06100 Nice

From: Peg Rawes <m.rawes@ucl.ac.uk>
Date: Thu, 6 May 2010 09:27:27 +0100
To: <e.esche@mdx.ac.uk>, <m.driscoll@mdx.ac.uk>, <w.ahmad@mdx.ac.uk>, <m.house@mdx.ac.uk>
Subject: Letter of support for Department of Philosophy from the Architecture/Visual Arts Sector

Dear Professor Esche, Professor Driscoll, Professor Ahmad and Professor House

We are writing as a group from the architecture and visual arts sector.

We are appalled at your decision to close your highest ranking research department at the University. Not only do the consistently high recruitment figures and excellence of students graduating from the Department’s courses clearly demonstrate the international significance of its teaching staff, programmes and research activities, but it also operates as one of the most important public-facing sites of modern thinking in the UK which consistently generates a wide-reaching cultural and educational impact in the architectural and visual arts professions in the UK and beyond, including its provision of:

– world-leading public and academic conferences, talks and symposia for our national and international cultural institutions (Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Whitechapel Art Gallery, French Cultural Institute);
– international leadership in modern thought which regularly feeds in to the national media (e.g. The Guardian/Observer/Wired Magazine/Frieze);
– world-leading scrutiny of the political and financial mechanisms that operate in the architectural design professions and visual arts markets.

Your decision to cut this department therefore utterly fails to recognise the far-reaching international and disciplinary significance of its impact across the academic and ‘creative industries’, in addition to its obvious importance for continental philosophy.

We urge you to reconsider your decision without delay.

Sincerely

Dr Peg Rawes (Senior Lecturer, Bartlett School of Architecture UCL)

Professor Jeremy Till (Dean of Architecture and the Built Environment, University of Westminster)

Dr Jan Birksted (Senior Lecturer, Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL)

Dr Fiona Candlin (Senior Lecturer and Assistant Dean School of Arts, Birkbeck University of London)

Dr Tom Corby (Director of Doctoral Programme (CREAM), Departments of Media Art and Design, University of Westminster)

Corinna Dean (PhD Candidate, Cities Programme, London School of Economics)

Dr Davide Deriu (Post-Doctoral Fellow, Department of Architecture, University of Westminster)

Dr Mark Dorrian (Reader, Department of Architecture, University of Edinburgh)

Suzanne Ewing (Lecturer, Department of Architecture, University of Edinburgh)

Dr Caterina Gabrielsson, (Visiting Research Fellow, London School of Economics)

Professor Tamar Garb, (History of Art Department, UCL)

Dr Jonathan Hale (Reader in Architecture, University of Nottingham)

Dr Josie Kane (British Academy Fellow, Department of Architecture, University of Westminster)

Dr Florian Kossak (Lecturer, School of Architecture, University of Sheffield)

Professor Murray Fraser (Department of Architecture, University of Westminster)

Jon Goodbun (Senior Lecturer, Department of Architecture, University of Westminster)

Dr Andrew Higgott (Principal Lecturer, School of Architecture and the Visual Arts, University of East London)

Dr Lorens Holm (Reader in Architecture, University of Dundee)

Professor Timothy Mathews (Department of French, UCL)

Graham Ramsay (Lecturer, Glasgow School of Art)

Professor Jane Rendell (Director of Architectural Research, Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL)

Dr Tatjana Schneider (Lecturer, School of Architecture, University of Sheffield)

Dr Marquard Smith, (Director, Institute for Modern and Contemporary Culture, University of Westminster)

Professor Nicholas Till (School of Media and Music, University of Sussex)

Dr Igea Troiani (Senior Lecturer, Department of Architecture, Oxford Brookes University)

Clara Ursitti (Lecturer, Glasgow School of Art)

Dr Stephen Walker (Lecturer, School of Architecture, University of Sheffield)

Professor Sarah Wigglesworth (School of Architecture, University of Sheffield)

De : Jacqueline Lichtenstein

Date : 2 mai 2010 09:52:48 HAEC

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

Objet : closing philosophy programs

Dear Vice-Chancellor, deputy Vice Chancellors, Dean of the school of Arts and education

I was deeply shocked in discovering that the University executive are to close all Philosophy programmes: undergraduate, postgraduate and MPhil/PhD in Middlsex university. The philosophy department at Middlsex University is a first rate philosophy department in the UK and one of the few teaching modern european philosophy. The center for research in Modern européen philosophy is internationally renowed and we have developed through the past years multiple links with it. I really hope you will reverse this decision completely unjustifiable, even for economic reasons,

Jacqueline Lichtenstein
Professor of philosophy of art
Université Paris-Sorbonne
Co-Chair of the department of philosophy
Vice president for the international affairs

May Day, 2010

Dear Professors Driscoll, Ahmad, House and Esche,

We, the undersigned faculty members, graduate students and Chair of the Department of Romance Studies at Cornell University, have learned with great dismay that the central administration at Middlesex University has decided in one fell swoop to close (or “phase out” in business speak) all its programs, undergraduate and graduate, in Philosophy.

While we would not dream of meddling with other universities’ decisions, whether they are academic, economical, ideological or otherwise, we do want to point out the disastrous effects your decision will have, and already has had, for the name and status of Middlesex University as well as for the future of the Humanities in general, in the UK and beyond. We urge you seriously to reconsider your decision.

The dismal message you are sending to the world shows a completely anti-intellectual disregard even for the standards set by your very own country in measuring research excellence (RAE). Not only is Philosophy the highest ranked program in your University; but both nationally and internationally, the Center for Research in Modern European Philosophy is recognized as one of the few truly stellar programs of its kind, whose faculty members all enjoy the reputation as being among the brightest and sharpest minds in the world. In fact, we have on several occasions made attempts to steal away your faculty! We simply cannot imagine on what grounds any university would want to cancel such an outstanding program, one that moreover financially seems very close to matching your own expectations in terms of money contributed back to the central administration.

We have read the statement from your offices that Philosophy made “no measurable” contribution to Middlesex University. The truth of the matter is that many of us had never heard of your university until the Center for Research in Modern European Philosophy hired superlative researchers and scholars such as Professors Eric Alliez and Peter Hallward. The Center, through these and other faculty members including Professors Peter Osborne and Stella Stanford, is also widely considered to be the driving force behind the journal Radical Philosophy, which is one of the most commonly read and one of the most prestigious journals in European or so-called “Continental” (and now increasingly international) philosophy in the English language.

At Cornell University, too, the economic crisis has had very dire and negative consequences and numerous task force groups and ad hoc committees were formed, with significant faculty membership, to address the budget decisions that were tied to the crisis. However, we cannot imagine how any administrator would even dare suggest phasing out its highest ranked program if on the other hand it seems to be in relatively good financial health. So while we are not so naïve as to expect no cuts at all, we simply cannot remain quiet in the face of precisely such a decision, even when coming from the central administration of a foreign university.

We are convinced that in decisions such as these, the future not just of Philosophy as an academic discipline, but of all intellectual work and critical thinking in general is at stake.

An institution capable of putting whatever economical or ideological motives it may have before all academic and intellectual considerations simply is not worthy of the name “University.”

For all these reasons, we urge you to reverse the decision that you have sent down from your central administration.

Changing your decision will be far less embarrassing than ignoring the international groundswell pleading in favor of maintaining Philosophy at Middlesex.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Culler
Class of 1916 Professor of English and Comparative Literature
Chair, Department of Romance Studies

Gerard Aching
Professor of Romance Studies

Ti Akire
Senior Lecturer of French

Rafael Acosta
PhD Student in Spanish

Fernando Aguirre Pérez
PhD Student in Spanish

Ioanna Barolomei
PhD Student in French

Karen Benezra
PhD Student in Spanish

Bruno Bosteels
Associate Professor of Spanish

Cory Browning
PhD Student in French

Tim Campbell
Associate Professor of Italian

Juan Manuel Espinosa
PhD Student in Spanish

Federico Fridman
PhD Student in Spanish

Gustavo Furtado
PhD Student in Spanish

María Antonia Garcés
Associate Professor of Spanish

Pablo García Pinar
PhD Student in Spanish

Zac Gooch
PhD Student in French

Mitchell Greenberg
Goldwin Smith Professor of Romance Studies

Richard Klein
Professor of French

Kathleen Long
Professor of French

Nilsa Maldonado-Méndez
Senior Lecturer of Spanish

Tracy McNulty
Associate Professor of French and Comparative Literature

Fernanda Negrete
PhD Student in French

Edmundo Paz Soldán
Professor of Spanish

Pablo Pérez Wilson
PhD Student in Spanish

Simone Pinet
Associate Professor of Spanish and Medieval Studies

Jeannine Routier-Pucci
Senior Lecturer in Spanish

Karolina Serafín
PhD Student in Spanish

Marie-Claire Valois
Associate Professor of French

Yael Wender
PhD Student

Zac Zimmer
PhD Student in Spanish