Save Middlesex Philosophy

Fra: Ina Blom <ina.blom@ifikk.uio.no>

Dato: 28. mai 2010 13.57.46 GMT+02:00

Til: michael@partridges.org.uk, etc.

Emne: middlesex philosophy – letter of concern

Board of Governors

Middlesex University in London

The Burroughs

London NW4 4BT

Dear Board of Governors

We are contacting you to express our concern with the decision to end all of the philosophy programs at Middlesex University, including the internationally renowned MA and PhD programs. We are extremely surprised that a university willingly closes down one of its most productive and original hubs of scholarship and research – particularly at a moment when student numbers are increasing.

We are also shocked to hear of the recent suspension of Professors Osborne and Hallward along with a number of philosophy students, and extremely surprised that your university administrators are going to such steps under your supervision.

The Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy holds a unique position in the academic community, both in the UK and internationally, and colleagues from all over the world eagerly follow its activities, staff and publications. The decision to close the department seems to go against the grain of the most commonly held ideas about the principles of university management and academic life, and we are afraid this will damage the reputation of Middlesex both in the short and long run.

We urge you to stop this plan of action and reinstall our belief that Middlesex University can still be a place of serious learning and academic freedom.

On behalf of the Seminar of Aesthetics, University of  Oslo,

Ina Blom, Professor, Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas

Knut Stene Johansen, Professor, Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages

Anne Danielsen, Professor, Department of Musicology

Marit Grøtta, Post Doctoral Fellow,  Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages

Hilde Bondevik, Associate Professor, Center for Gender Research

Karin Gundersen Professor, Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages

Torberg Foss, Clinical psychologist, psychoanalyst

Ragnhild Tronstad, Post Doctoral Fellow, Department of Media and Communication

Aino Rinhaug, Post doctoral Fellow, Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages

Arne Melberg, Professor, Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages

Anne Wichstrøm, Professor, Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas

Stian Grøgaard, Professor, The Art Academy of Oslo

Ståle Wikshåland, Professor, Department of Musicology

Christian Refsum, Associate Professor, Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages

Eivind Røssaak, Associate Professor, The National Library of Norway

Liv Hausken,  Associate Professor, Department of Media and Communication

Erling Guldbrandsen, Professor, Department og Musicology

Boel Christensen Scheel, Ph.D, Theatre Studies

27 May 2010

To the Board of Governors:

I spearheaded an earlier protest on the part of the American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division, regarding the proposed elimination of the philosophy department at Middlesex University. I and many others considered this to be a deeply mistaken action on your part — one that showed callous disregard for the broad value of a philosophical education in today’s complex world.

Your new action of suspending several professors and students as a result of their sit-in at Middlesex is a wholly unexpected and unnecessary outrage. You here abrogate rights of free association among members of your own faculty and student body, and you insinuate that a peaceful demonstration of disagreement with administrative decisions is unacceptable to the governing body of your university. This verges on a prohibition of free speech on the part of members of your community.

You should be aware that this new action of your administrators will bring the opprobrium of academics world-wide. It will put your university in a disrepute from which it is unlikely to recover anytime in the near future. Moreover, unless you swiftly rescind this ill-considered action, you are likely to be subject to a massive international academic boycott that will irreparably damage your university.

Written with grave concern,

Edward S. Casey, Ph.D.

President, American Philosophical Association (Eastern Division)

Distinguished Professor, State University of New York at Stony Brook

To the executive and governors of Middlesex University

I wrote recently to the Vice-Chancellor expressing my deep concern at the proposed closure of philosophy at Middlesex University.  The more I learn about the decision, the more disgraceful it seems.  In particular, if it is true, as widely reported and apparently unrefuted by Middlesex sources, that the closure of philosophy is driven by a desire to transfer HEFCE quota to students who will bring in higher levels of HEFCE funding, this implies a defrauding of students on higher-quota programmes.  These programmes are funded at higher levels because they are supposed to cost more; if they are in fact more profitable to the university than philosophy, something is seriously wrong.

The University’s response to student and staff protest at the proposed closure is also deeply disturbing.  The suspension of Professors Hallward and Osborne, Dr Kerslake, and of several students, suggests an autocratic and inflexible approach to management that is out of place in an institution of higher education (and, indeed, anywhere else). Refusing staff permission to attend a meeting of their own union is simply outrageous.

There is still time for the university to salvage something of its reputation, which I’m sure you are aware has been deeply damaged by events of the last few weeks.  I hope that the management of the institution will remove the suspension of staff and students immediately, and reverse the decision to close CMREP.

Yours faithfully

Dr Diana Paton
Reader in Caribbean History
Newcastle University

Subject: Petition to Boycott Middlesex University
From:    mayt@clemson.edu
Date:    Thu, May 27, 2010 10:45 am
To:      e.esche@mdx.ac.uk
m.driscoll@mdx.ac.uk
Cc:      protevi@lsu.edu

Dear Dean Esche and Vice-Chancellor Driscoll,

Allow us to introduce ourselves.  We are Todd May and John Protevi, from
Clemson University and Louisiana State University respectively.  We are
the authors of the petition that went up Wednesday 26 May calling for a
boycott of Middlesex until the philosophy programme is reinstated.  We are
writing you in the spirit of open communication to let you know our plans
for the petition.

It is easy to sign a petition, particularly an online petition.  However,
we do not plan the petition to be a merely symbolic gesture.  We hope to
use the petition as an organizing tool.  If you check the signatories to
the petition (which we commend you to do), you will notice not only a lot
of prominent academics, but also a good number of UK academics.  Our plan
is to cull the names from the petition and to ensure that professors
especially around the UK keep to their commitment to boycott Middlesex.
The names we gather on the petition will allow us to do this in a
systematic way, and the communication we have through the Save Middlesex
website will allow us to reach large numbers of signatories easily.

The actions you have taken since 26 April are, in our view, inimical not
only to the project of philosophy but to the very idea of a university.
We will be tireless in seeking to overturn them.

As we write, there are a thousand names on the petition (we’ve attached a
pdf of the its current status), and they are currently being added at the
rate of roughly a hundred an hour.  There will soon be several thousand.
We hope to use those several thousand and more in a concerted campaign
whose goal is the restoration of Middlesex’s philosophy programme.

Please allow one of us, Todd May, to add a personal note.  I have been
involved in grassroots campaigns of this type for the past several
decades.  Over time, one gets a sense of what is and is not likely to
happen.  From this experience, let me share with you that, given what has
unfolded around Middlesex, you cannot prevail here.  You may succeed in
eliminating the philosophy programme, but only at great cost to Middlesex.
In addition, that cost to Middlesex will likely be known as your legacy
to higher education in the UK.  I am sure that you don’t see the benefits
of that scenario as worth those costs, and hope that you can see your way
to acting accordingly.

In any case, we will update you periodically on the progress of the
boycott campaign.

Sincerely,

Todd May and John Protevi

Subject: Boycott of Middlesex University/ Department of Sociology, University of Mimar Sinan Guzel Sanatlar Istanbul/Turkey
Date: Sun, 30 May 2010 19:27:10 +0000

Dean Esche and Board of Governors

Middlesex University

The Burroughs

London NW4 4BT

30 May 2010

Dear Dean Esche and Board of Governors,

We write to express our shock and dismay at the suspension of students and Professor Hallward, Professor Osborne, and Dr Kerslake from Middlesex University. They stand accused of defending the practice of excellence in research and teaching against the absurd décision of closure  of the Department of Philosophy at Middlesex.

We therefore commit ourselves to an academic boycott of Middlesex University until it shows evidence of full reinstatement and continued support for its philosophy program.

Prior to such reinstatement, we will refuse to act as external examiners or to deliver talks at the school. We will encourage colleagues to reject job offers at Middlesex. We will refuse to visit campus for any reason other than to protest the decision to close the philosophy program. We will, in short, cease to engage with Middlesex as a legitimate academic institution.

Yours sincerely,

Ali Akay

Head of the Department of Sociology, University of Mimar Sinan Guzel Sanatlar Istanbul/Turkey

27 May 2010

Board of Governors
Middlesex University
For the attention of Dean Esche e.esche@mdx.ac.uk

I am writing to express support for the staff and students who have protested, quite rightly so, against your decision to close down philosophy at Middlesex. The decision to close the department is appalling enough, you well know that it has been an invaluable resource not only to scholars in this discipline but to many other academics who draw on its work. Now you compound this by suppressing dissent.

I am currently External Examiner for Psychoanalysis, and have been sent scripts for your 9 June Exam Board, but I will not participate in this process until you have reversed your decision on the suspensions and reconsidered the closure.

Yours sincerely,

Ian Parker
Professor of Psychology
Manchester Metropolitan University

School of Fine Art, History of Art & Cultural Studies,
University of Leeds,
Leeds LS2 9JT

27th May 2010

Dear members of the Middlesex University Board of Governors,

We were appalled to hear of your recent decision to close the department of philosophy, a decision that looks from every quarter short-sighted, narrow-minded and ignorant of the major contribution the department’s scholars and students have made – and continue to make – to intellectual advancement in the fields of continental philosophy, critical theory, political philosophy, aesthetics, and art theory – an influence that has been felt throughout the arts and humanities in the UK and abroad. Their impact on intellectual culture and public debate has been immeasurable.s

We are now further appalled to hear of your suspension of staff and students at Middlesex University for their courageous and democratic efforts to reverse your disastrous decision. This is an outright attack on legitimate protest, and an attack on the very people who – in having committed themselves to Middlesex, and over many years – have built the respect for and reputation gained by your institution. It is this that you are now demolishing. Your actions, in our view, are bullying, unreasonable and utterly disproportionate. This occupation was a defence of the very principles of higher education, of quality teaching, of research, of critical thought, and of the values of active participation in public life. Staff and students who have been involved in the events, website and teach-in that were organised under the occupation should be nothing but proud of their efforts to defend exactly what a university should stand for and hold dear. They are an inspiration for what real education should be and what university life should represent. That they are now victimised by the very institution they built – their employment or student registration suspended, their livelihoods threatened – is beyond belief.

The management’s recent actions and failure to listen to the growing clamour of international voices defending the department of philosophy bring the name of Middlesex into utter disrepute. No longer will we be recommending our students to your institution. You compromise not just an institution’s name, but also the good work of all scholars under your employ.

We hope that as an individual member of the board you will use your voice to challenge the board’s decisions internally – and, if necessary, that you publically distance yourself from this reprehensible course of action. We hope that the suspensions of staff and students will be lifted without delay and that the decision to close the department be reversed.

Yours sincerely,

Prof. Griselda Pollock
Dr Gail Day
Dr Eva Frojmovic
Dr Kerry Bristol
Prof. Catherine Karkov
Dr Barbara Engh
Dr Mark Westgarth
Dr Diane Morgan
Dr Joanne Crawford
Dr Marcel Swiboda
Prof. Vanalyne Green
Chris Taylor
Dr Eric Prenowitz
Dr Ashley Thompson
Dr Catherine Ferguson
Dr Valerie Mainz
Prof. Roger Palmer

School of Fine Art, History of Art & Cultural Studies, University of Leeds

26 May 2010,

The Institute of Education UCU branch sends greetings to all those involved in the campaign against the closure of the Philosophy department at Middlesex.  The principled stand taken by staff and students has been a shining example to us all.  It is a complete outrage that anyone should face disciplinary action for their participation in protests against these cuts.

In solidarity

John Yandell
Local UCU Branch President
Room 619
Institute of Education
20 Bedford Way
London WC1H OAL

020 7612 6992
j.yandell@ioe.ac.uk

http://www.ucuatioe.org/ (branch website)
http://www.ucu.org.uk/ (UCU website)

Dear Board member;

I am deeply disturbed, as many members of the wider academic community will be, to learn of the suspension of members of staff and of the student body in relation to the protests at the decision to close the Philosophy programme at Middlesex University. The decision to close the programme, in itself, is enormously damaging to the reputation of the University, but the insensitive response to the student anger over this decision can only serve to damage that reputation further.

I was proud to work in the Philosophy team at Middlesex University for 15 years of my academic career. During that time, the Philosophy group did immense work to enhance the status of the University through the quality of their teaching and research, as evidenced by high ratings in teaching quality exercises and their consistently high ratings in research assessment exercises. The level of feeling in the student body is demonstrates that standard of teaching, and the level of protest you have received from the international academic community shows the high regard for their research.

I hope the Board of Governors will demand a full account from those responsible for taking these deeply damaging decisions, and will take steps to restore the University’s reputation in the eyes of the wider academic world and of its own students, and prospective ones.

Kind regards

Phillip Cole

Professor of Applied Philosophy

School of Health and Social Sciences

University of Wales, Newport

Allt yr yn Campus

De : emily apter <emily.apter@gmail.com>

Date : 26 mai 2010 16:15:49 HAEC

À : michael@partridges.org.uk

Cc : Eric <eric.alliez@free.fr>, Denis Hollier <dh25@nyu.edu>, Alexander Galloway <galloway@nyu.edu>, Ben Kafka <kafka@nyu.edu>, Avital Ronell <ar3@nyu.edu>

Objet : faculty suspensions

Dear Michael Partridge,
The recent suspensions of philosophy faculty and students at Middlesex
are nothing short of a terrible strike against political justice and
the vitality of thought in the British university system.  I would
like to add my name to the list of those worldwide who clamor to
reverse the decision to penalize those protesting the closing of
Philosophy at Middlesex – a beacon department to so many – as well as
the initial decision to shut down the department by fiat.

Sincerely yours,

Emily Apter
Professor of French and Comparative Literature
New York University