Save Middlesex Philosophy

29 April 2010

Dear Sirs,

I am writing to you to express my deep concern at the proposed closure of Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy at Middlesex University.

I’m sure I will not be alone in exhorting you very strongly to reconsider this decision.

You will, of course, be fully aware of the research achievements of this Centre and its staff as reflected in the last Research Assessment Exercise and of the fact that this Centre was the highest achieving department at Middlesex University.

Above and beyond the scope of such formal government research assessment frameworks I wanted to stress to you how highly regarded and valued this Centre is in the wider academic world, both in the area of the study of European Philosophy but also more generally, within the fields of the humanities and social sciences.

In the past decade or so Middlesex Philosophy has come to rival and even surpass key centres of international excellence in European Philosophy such as the Universities of Warwick and Essex. The work being done in this field has a wide impact well beyond the limits of academic philosophy proper. In my own area of French studies cutting edge work on contemporary French film, literature and art, as well as in post-colonial studies is all being driven by contemporary European thought and members of the Centre have, through their published work, made a significant impact on the shape and direction of research being undertaken, particularly in the department of French here at Cambridge but in other French departments also.

My own work in French thought has taken me, as examiner, lecturer or speaker, into other departmental contexts in other Universities (as varied as the school of Geography at Bristol, the Royal College of Art in London, the department of Theology at Nottingham). In all these contexts and disciplines the work of members of CRMEP is being read and is informing ongoing research and developing intellectual trends. I have also noted this in my role as occasional examiner in the Political Science department of Cambridge.

I hope you will take full account of the seriousness, importance, and wider influence of the work that is being carried out by figures such as Eric Alliez, Peter Osborne Stella Sanford, Mark Kelly, and Christian Kerslake. Most obviously the work of Peter Hallward can be singled out for its international importance and influence in a wide range of contexts. Two years ago at an international French Studies Conference a world-leading figure in from Canada and specialist in post-colonial (Caribbean) studies was asked why he had so suddenly altered his intellectual position and answered simply: I read Peter Hallward’s work. Hallward has similarly transformed the stakes of the broader reception of French and European philosophy in the wake of post-structuralism and what was dubbed ‘post-modernism’. He is without doubt one of the most pre-eminent figures working in this area in the world today and his work is read by people from the full range of disciplines I have alluded to here, and no doubt beyond.

I hope you will forgive me for writing at such length. I am driven by the sense of the huge damage this move will inflict on the reputation of Middlesex University and, of course, on the loss to philosophy this closure will bring. I hope that you will be able to garner a sense of the important role this Centre has played and should continue to play within the field of knowledge more generally both here and abroad.

I really think that this is a decision which your institution may come bitterly to regret once the winds of financial austerity have blown over. Please do reconsider this decision.

Yours sincerely,

Ian James
—
Dr I R James,
Downing College,
Cambridge, CB2 1DQ.
Tel: 00 44 1223 334852.

30 April

Dear Vice-Chancellor of the University, Michael Driscoll; Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Enterprise, Waqar Ahmad; Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic, Margaret House; Dean of the School of Arts & Education, Ed Esche,

I am writing to express my extreme dismay at the news that Middlesex intends to close its philosophy department.

I am an artist and professor of art, currently at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. I have previously held positions at Columbia University, where I was Chair of Visual Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Independent Study Program, and the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Arts and Sciences, amongst others.

News of this appalling decision has spread internationally with uncommon speed due to the enormous respect and admiration that the faculty and the curriculum of your philosophy department have earned through their research and their pedagogical commitment.

Personally, I take constant recourse to the writing of numerous members of the faculty including that of Alliez, Hallward, Osborne, and Martin for my own research practice, and there is probably not a single class I teach which doesn’t employ their work. They are leading philosophers in their fields, whose work is simply not duplicated in North America.

Everyone that I have communicated with about this, in North America and Europe, has expressed shock and a great deal of anger that Middlesex would even consider closing a department that any university ought to treasure. A great deal of the anger is no doubt based upon the fact that the decision can only be seen to have an ideological basis when the department not only has great international prestige across many disciplinary fields, but is also in excellent standing in terms of the evaluations it has received from the its research evaluations and from students alike.

It is difficult to think of a decision that would damage Middlesex’s reputation on the global stage more than if it goes ahead with this proposal. I therefore strongly urge you to reverse the decision.

Sincerely,

Gareth James
University of British Columbia

29 April 2010

Dear Professor Driscoll,

I am writing to express my shock and outrage at the decision to close Philosophy programmes at Middlesex University. I have been the External Examiner for the Masters programmes in Modern European Philosophy and Philosophy and Contemporary Critical Theory for the past three years. As will be evident from my Examiner’s reports during this time, these programmes are highly successful and consistently produce work of the highest quality from students. This reflects the exceptional scholarly quality of the staff working at the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy.

The Centre has a very strong international reputation and is by far the most important locus for research and teaching in European philosophy within the UK. This has clearly been reflected in the findings of previous Research Assessment exercises, which have confirmed the world class standing of this group of researchers, as well as generating significant revenue for Middlesex. It is very hard to see how the decision to close down Philosophy can be compatible with Middlesex’s stated commitment to the pursuit of research excellence.

If this decision is carried through then the University will lose an important source of its own reputation as an institution that cares about academic excellence and the needs of students. I urge you, most strongly, to reconsider this decision.

Yours sincerely

Professor Kimberly Hutchings
External Examiner, MA Modern European Philosophy and Philosophy and
Contemporary Critical Theory
Department of International Relations
London School of Economics
Houghton St
London WC2A 2AE

30 April 2010

Dear Vice-Chancellor,

I am writing to you in my capacity as Deputy Chair of the 2008 RAE Philosophy sub-panel to urge you most strongly to reverse your decision to close the Philosophy programmes at Middlesex University. Philosophy at Middlesex enjoys an excellent international and national reputation and brings great credit to your university. Staff in Philosophy at Middlesex are known and respected on both sides of the Atlantic and have made a very significant contribution to philosophical and cultural life in the UK. The success of your Philosophy department in the 2008 RAE should have been the cause for celebration and continued investment in your hard-working, dedicated and exceptionally talented staff. It is deeply disappointing and, to many of us, bewildering to learn that you have decided instead to close your Philosophy programmes.

Before I end this message, I would like to make a practical suggestion. I recently took part, as an external advisor, in a review of the Philosophy Department undertaken by the University of Southampton. I would like to suggest that Middlesex University conduct a similar review of its Philosophy programmes. In this way, you would be able to solicit the views of philosophers from other institutions about the merits of your own philosophy team. I would be very happy to take part in such a review. You might also wish to invite Prof. Nicholas Davey (Dundee) and Prof. Joanna Hodge (Manchester Metropolitan University), both of whom were members of the 2008 RAE Philosophy sub-panel. Nothing is to be lost by conducting such a review, and it would give the philosophers at Middlesex a chance to put their case formally to the university.

I believe that Middlesex University will be stronger, if it retains its Philosophy programmes, and that Philosophy in the UK will be stronger, too. I hope very much that you will reverse your decision to close these programmes or at least agree to conduct a review of Philosophy at Middlesex.

Yours sincerely,

Stephen Houlgate

Professor Stephen Houlgate
Department of Philosophy
University of Warwick
Coventry CV4 7AL
United Kingdom

29 April 2010

Dear Michael, Waqar, Margaret and Ed (if I may),

I am writing to you as an ex-Middlesex employee (I taught as a lecturer and senior lecturer in English and Communication Studies, and was Set Leader in English from around 1995-2000).  I am currently Reader in Literary Linguistics at Strathclyde University, and have just completed a three-year term as Head of English.  My research on Shakespeare’s language has an international profile.

I was very surprised to hear of the recent decision to close Philosophy at Middlesex.  No doubt there are internal reasons and justifications for this, but I have to say that from the perspective of someone outside Middlesex this is a puzzling, and worrying, move.

I loved my time at Middlesex – the students were often inspiring and sometimes frustrating, but almost always interesting, and I had some great colleagues. It was not easy delivering high quality education on what was effectively an open-access basis given the resources available, but it certainly was a worthwhile thing to strive for.

I still, therefore, take an interest in developments at Middlesex, and wish the place and the people well.

Of course I don’t know on what basis the decision to close Philosophy was made, and I don’t expect to be given the details.  What I will say, however, is that Strathclyde made a similar decision before I joined in 2000 – a decision which is *still* debated and regretted today.  We are currently undergoing a reorganisation and merger of two of our faculties (Education and LASS [Law, Arts and Social Sciences]) – a process I have been closely involved with.  Throughout this process, our attempts to reconfigure the two faculties into one new faculty capable of addressing Strathclyde’s historical strength in science and technology have been hampered by the lack of a philosophy department – in much of our thinking about potential new alignments, it was clear that a modern philosophy department could have formed a core for the new faculty.

Of course this was blue skies thinking, and you have to deal with actual people and situations, but please be aware that this decision will make those outside Middlesex question its commitment to research (which I always found to be genuine and serious in my time there) – and may restrict your ability to respond to changes in the intellectual context of academia in the future.

thank you for your time
best wishes

Jonathan

Dr Jonathan Hope, Reader in Literary Linguistics, English Studies, Strathclyde University, Glasgow G1 1XH

http://www.strath.ac.uk/english/
http://www.strath.ac.uk/english/courses/renaissance/
http://winedarksea.com/
http://www.northernrenaissance.org

The University of Strathclyde is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, number SC015263.http://www.strath.ac.uk/english/courses/renaissance/

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

29 April 2010

Dear Middlesex University Administration,

I have recently learned of your proposal to close down the philosophy program at your university.  Yet in terms of research, teaching, and outreach, philosophy at Middlesex provides some of the best programs in the country and has earned a stellar reputation throughout the English-speaking world.  I encourage you to fully support the continued excellence of the philosophy programs at Middlesex.

Very sincerely,

Eugene W. Holland

Dr. Eugene W. Holland, Chair
Department of Comparative Studies
451 Hagerty Hall, 1775 College Road
The Ohio State University
Columbus, OH 43210

28 April 2010

Dear Madam/Sir,

It is with disbelief that I read the news that Middlesex University considers closing down its Philosophy Department. Shocked as I am, I can only tell you that as a philosopher teaching and doing research in both the Netherlands and Belgium I have the biggest respect for this department and its members: their publications (including the online material on Cahiers pour l’analyse) have proved not only to be inspiring but also orientated a large part of my research.

I would like to ask you to keep Philosophy at Middlesex.

Kind regards,

Dominiek Hoens
Advising Researcher, Jan van Eyck Academy, Maastricht, the Netherlands
Lecturer Philosophy of Art, Royal Academy for Fine Arts, Gent, Belgium

30 April 2010

Dear Vice-Chancellor,

I am writing to express my dismay at your decision to end the teaching of Philosophy and to close the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy at the University of Middlesex.

The philosophers attached to the Centre constitute one of the principal clusters of research excellence in this field, with a world-leading reputation. Even in the current context of threats to university funding, your decision to shut down the main source of Middlesex University’s standing in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences is a perplexing one.

I would urge you to reconsider your decision, which appears to have been motivated by the need to make savings in the short term but which will severely damage the name, status and research output of Middlesex over the longer term.

Yours faithfully,

Dr Mark Hewitson
Chair of the Centre for European Studies
University College London.

29 April 2010

Dear Vice-Chancellor Michael Driscoll:

I am writing to urge you to reverse your decision to close the Philosophy programmes at Middlesex University.  I visited The Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy at Middlesex to lecture a few years ago and was very impressed with the work done there.  Not only is this a philosophy programme with very distinguished faculty but it is also distinctive in the anglophone world.  Indeed whereas the majority of philosophy programs in the UK and the US focus on analytical philosophy, at Middlesex there is an extraordinary group of professors and students working on problems associate with Continental thought.  In fact I can think of no other philosophy department in the US, UK, or Australia that rises to the level of Middlesex in this regard.

It would be a shame for scholars and students to lose such a unique and important philosophy programme.  The loss would be for not only those in the UK but also us in the United States and elsewhere.

Sincerely yours,

Michael Hardt
Professor of Literature
Duke University, USA