Academia
CategoryResponse From A Conservative (guest post by Philippe Lemoine)
The following is a guest post* by Philippe Lemoine, a graduate student in philosophy at Cornell University. It’s a response to a post by Les Green (Oxford) published here yesterday, “Because They Are Universities” (originally published at Green’s blog under the title “Why it is hard to be a campus conservative“). Lemoine’s response, below, was first published at his..
Because They Are Universities
The following is a guest post* by Leslie Green, Professor of the Philosophy of Law and Fellow of Balliol College at Oxford University. It was originally published at his blog, Semper Viridis under the title “Why it is hard to be a campus conservative.”
The Default: Rebuttals Not Retractions (several updates)
Over the past several days academics on social media have been discussing in increasingly agitated language the publication of “The Case for Colonialism,” by Portland State University associate professor of political science Bruce Gilley, in the academic journal, Third World Quarterly. (more…)
Poems on Academia by Felicia Nimue Ackerman
The following is a guest post* of poems, mostly about academia, by Felicia Nimue Ackerman, professor of philosophy at Brown University. (more…)
Revisiting “Grad Students: What Would You Tell Your Prof(s), But Can’t?”
About a year ago I asked, “Graduate students, what would you like to tell your professor(s) right now, but can’t?” (more…)
As Graduate Students Prepare For The New Academic Year
It was suggested to me that as the new school year approaches, it would be helpful to revisit a few posts from the past. The first set of these takes us traveling back in time to posts providing advice for graduate students. (more…)
Profs: What Do You Regret About Your Time In Graduate School?
In a new interview at What Is It Like To Be A Philosopher?, David Wong (Duke) says of his time in graduate school: (more…)
Questions Your Family Has About Your Graduate Student Life — And Answers
“We have a good university right here in town. Why did you have to move so far away for graduate school?”
“What do you mean you have schoolwork over the summer? Classes are out!”
“You’re a student—how could you be busy?” (more…)
Gender Studies Won’t Have Them As A Member: The Attempted “Conceptual Penis” Hoax
…the isomorphism between the conceptual penis and what’s referred to throughout discursive feminist literature as “toxic hypermasculinity,” is one defined upon a vector of male cultural machismo braggadocio, with the conceptual penis playing the roles of subject, object, and verb of action.
That’s a line from the intentionally nonsensical “The Conceptual Penis ..
Peter Singer Event Disrupted By Protestors
A University of Victoria event last week featuring philosopher Peter Singer (Princeton), organized by the university’s Effective Altruism club, was disrupted by protestors objecting to Singer’s views about disability. (more…)
Working from Home and (vs?) the Goods of Academic Community
How much time do you spend working in your campus office? Do you do most of your work from home? At a coffee shop? And how are changes in where people work affecting university life? (more…)
Is There A Defense of Shouting Down A Speaker At A University?
Last week, Charles Murray, a social scientist at the American Enterprise Institute, was scheduled to give a lecture at Middlebury College, at the invitation of a student group. Before he began speaking, though, many students and faculty in the audience stood up, turned away from the stage, and “shouted and chanted for such a long period that Murray couldn’t speak.” ..
Millions Of Students Fail To Protest Curriculum (updated)
Millions of college students over the past decade have not protested their curricular requirements or assigned readings, a new study reports. The study, by Daryl B.X. Sepshuns and Yuall Nothis (both of Common Sense University) was published as news was breaking of students making unusual academic demands of their schools. (more…)
The Worst Conversations You’ve Had As A Professor
Prodigal Academic, a science professor and blogger, lists the “worst conversations I’ve had as a professor.” They include:
- telling a student who was stalking his TA to stop doing so
- the first time dealing with a student who is literally crying over a grade
- giving personal hygiene advice
- being confronted with a screamer
- telling a graduate student the..
The Halo Effect in Academia (guest post by Felicia Nimue Ackerman)
The following is a guest post* by Felicia Nimue Ackerman, professor of philosophy at Brown University. It’s in two parts: a poem (first published as a letter to the editor on The Chronicle of Higher Education website, March 20, 2014) and a brief essay (originally published in The Providence Journal on April 28, 2009). (more…)
“Can I Look Myself in the Eye and Decide to Become an Academic?”
A reader writes in with the following concerns:
The results of this election have substantiated some feelings I’ve been having for a while. For a few years I’ve been planning (not without a lot of consideration and some hesitation) to go to graduate school and play my cards with the hope of entering academic philosophy. Now, however, it is harder for me to see th..
Tough Enough: Resilience in Academia
Part of what’s behind the disagreements over freedom and security in academia that we’ve been seeing a lot of lately (over things like political correctness, trigger warnings, safe spaces, etc.) are two different attitudes. (more…)
Petition on Higher Education and Brexit
A petition to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Theresa May, to “safeguard UK higher education” has over 1,200 signatories. Created by philosopher Helen De Cruz of Oxford Brookes University, the petition focuses on anti-immigrant rhetoric and the consequences of Britain exiting the European Union. (more…)
The “Grad School Takeover”
Even in four-year colleges that emphasize undergraduate education, new appointments are going to top graduates from a mere handful of prestigious doctoral programs that emphasize research and professional advancement over teaching. The academic job market and tenure expectations focus ever more intently on publications, whether in book or journal form, that tend to ..
Keeping Philosophical between Undergrad and Grad
A reader writes in:
I am planning on applying to graduate school in philosophy for 2017. However, I graduated from my undergraduate institution a few years ago and have been doing non-philosophy things since. I’m looking for opportunities to get (re)involved in philosophy, but pretty much everything I’ve found (institutes, journals, etc.) is either for current un..
What Was The Real Target of the Latest Academic Hoax?
Recently a pair of philosophers, Philippe Huneman (CNRS / Paris I Sorbonne) and Anouk Barberousse (CNRS / University of Lille), writing under a pseudonym, submitted a nonsense article to the journal, Badiou Studies, which accepted and published it (see this account, which I put in the Heap of Links last week).
The ostensible target of the hoax is Alain Badiou and..
Your Discipline Versus Your University?
An increasing number of academics simply adopt what Albert Hirschmann would call an “exit” strategy—they care more for their discipline or, more to the point, their research network than the university that employs their labour and affirms their status.
So says sociologist Steve Fuller (Warwick) in a brief interview published at Social Epistemology Review and R..