Public Lecture Series

The Centre for Cultural Studies Research at the University of East London and the University of Notre Dame London Centre presents:

'Losing the War of Academic Independence: Tales from the Trenches on Both Sides of the Atlantic'

• Date: Friday, 23 October 2009
• Time: 17:30
• Venue: University of Notre Dame London Centre, 1 Suffolk Street, London, SW1Y 4HG
• Transport: Piccadilly Circus or Leicester Square
  
  by

David Gunkel and Paul A Taylor

authors of the recent Times Higher Education Supplement article 'Winning the War of Independence' on differences between higher education in the US and UK.

The US and UK may be two countries separated by a common language, but their university systems do not even share that language. This is most starkly seen in relation to the concept of academic freedom and the protections afforded to it —the presumed right to unencumbered
investigation and instruction. Whilst academic independence is a fiercely guarded value in the US, in the UK it has largely disappeared in thickets of micro-management and corporate "initiatives." On the other hand, UK academics do not find themselves caught in the
cross-hairs of campus shootings or on the decline due to an increase in the number of part-time and contingent appointments.

In this public talk, Paul Taylor, Senior Lecturer at the University of Leeds, and David Gunkel, Presidential Teaching Professor at Northern Illinois University, continue a discussion they began this September in the pages of the Times Higher Education. They swap personal experiences of professional life in the two systems and account for the Japanese knotweed-like growth of bureaucracy on both sides of the Pond. They will seek to answer whether the grass really is greener for academic independence on the other side.

The lecture will be introduced by Ann Mroz and Greg Kucich and chaired by Mica Nava.

David J. Gunkel is Presidential Teaching Professor in the Department of Communication at Northern Illinois University. He is author of Hacking Cyberspace (2001) and Thinking Otherwise: Philosophy, Communication, Technology (2007).

Paul A. Taylor has been a visiting scholar in US and Europe. He is a regular contributor to Radio 4 programmes and is author of Hacking: Crime in the Digital Sublime (1999) and the forthcoming Zizek and the Media.

Ann Mroz is editor of Times Higher Education.

Greg Kucich is director of the London Program, University of Notre Dame in England.

Mica Nava is co-director of the Centre for Cultural Studies Research, University of East London, and author of Visceral Cosmopolitanism (2007).

PLEASE NOTE THE EVENT IS FREE BUT YOUR NAME MUST BE ON THE GUEST LIST TO GAIN ENTRY. PLEASE EMAIL g.s.perkins@uel.ac.uk WITH YOUR DETAILS.

Click on http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=407976 for further info about the debate.

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