What should universities be?
The Centre for Applied Philosophy, Politics & Ethics (CAPPE) at the University of Brighton is hosting a series of talks about what universities should be. These talks form the David Watson Memorial Lecture Series, 2015-2016.
All talks take place in the Old Courtroom Lecture Theatre , Church Street, Brighton, 6-30 – 8.00 pm.
5 January 2016
Jo Williams Academic Freedom in an Age of Conformity: Confronting the Fear of Knowledge
Once, scholars demanded academic freedom to critique existing knowledge and to pursue new truths. Today, while fondness for the rhetoric of academic freedom remains, the concept itself is increasingly criticised as outdated and elitist. Students and lecturers alike are often at the forefront of calls for censorship and restrictions on debate. In this talk I will trace the demise of academic freedom within the context of changing ideas about the purpose of the university and the nature of scholarship. Various intellectual and political trends have come together to erode a link between knowledge and truth. As a result, universities are less a ‘marketplace of ideas’ and more a site for the promotion of values. This creates a climate of conformity and encourages a culture of self-censorship.
Jo Williams is Director, Centre for the Study of Higher Education, University of Kent
19 January 2016
John Holmwood The University, Democracy and the Public Interest
Professor of Sociology, Nottingham University
Co-Founder, Campaign for the Public University
2 February 2016
Howard Hotson Educating homo sapiens
Professor of Early Modern Intellectual History, University of Oxford.
16 February 2016
David Eastwood Question Time
Vice-Chancellor, Birmingham University
Member, Browne Review
CEO Higher Education Funding Council, 2006-9
1 March 2016
Stefan Collini Reading the Ruins; imagining the future of Universities
Professor of Intellectual History and English Literature, University of Cambridge
8 March 2016
Julia Goodfellow Universities as Shapeshifters
Vice-Chancellor, University of Kent
Chair, Universities UK