The national media have been reporting on the news that Middlesex University’s Philosophy department is faced with closure. The university boasts one of the best Philosophy departments in the country, with internationally renowned PhD and MA programmes and is the home of the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy. It is the top performing research department at Middlesex, rated 5 in the last Research Assessment Exercise. Many of the academics that teach at Middlesex also contribute to the respected Radical Philosophy journal.
Dean Ed Esche has taken the decision to axe the subject because it is not as financially beneficial as other disciplines. Evidently, this action of giving commercially viable subjects preference over top quality intellectual enquiry has caused outcry in academic circles worldwide. Noam Chomsky, Slavoj Zižek and Judith Butler, to name many others, have all voiced their support for the department in letters to British newspapers.
The students have been staging a sit-in since last Tuesday in a bid to draw attention to this barbaric announcement. They have been occupying the mansion house at Trent Park peacefully, studying and giving lectures.
The Observer reported on the story this Sunday:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/09/middlesex-university-cuts-protest-philosophers
There is also an online petition, which currently boasts more than 13,000 signatures:
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/save-middlesex-philosophy.html
A wordpress blog documenting the occupation and support for the department:
http://savemdxphil.wordpress.com
Radical Philosophy journal:
http://www.radicalphilosophy.com/
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