I have just seen the earlier note sent to me by Carole together with
this one;I have been away from the University and it would be wrong
to suppose that my silence means that I have 'declined' the offer to
retract or correct my earlier comments.
I don't suppose that colleagues will want to be party to a long debate
about the decision made by Lancaster. I think it is a fine point about
which part of the University took action against the students: the fact
is that the University as a corporate body took legal action against
six students which they pursued through the courts and to the appeal
process (by which time it could quite easily have backed off from any
further action). The action was taken against students protesting about
the use of the University's premises for a convention at which arms
manufacturers were intending to be present and, as Carole, says, the
wider ramifications of this for the commercialisation of research at the
University and in a particular direction. They argued - and have
repeatedly argued - that this use of a university was unethical. I
agreed with them, as did a number of academics at Lancaster and
elsewhere, and I felt it was open to us to take whatever action we felt
appropriate to put pressure on the University to ensure it was aware of
the strength of feelings aroused by their action. That is the context
in which I felt it was unfortunate that a conference on ethics at
Lancaster was being organised. This is a matter of tactics. It could be
more effective to use the conference as a vehicle to put more pressure
on the University; or it could be more effective to tell the University
it was going elsewhere in protest against its actions. I tend to the
latter view.
As to the issue of withdrawing from external examining, of course that
is a personal decision but, having written to the Vice Chancellor and
also having advertised my intention in the THES to do so, I had
correspondence from several academics indicating support and/or their
intention to take similar action. As the situation stands,Lancaster
University has suffered some negative publicity for its action against
the students but little else: it is good to know that this debate
however will have reminded colleagues of some of the issues involved
and perhaps my lead to further resistance to the direction
elements in Lancaster - and others in higher education - are taking
research.
Best wishes
Gary Craig
On Wed, 10 May
2006 14:51:40 +0100 "Truman, Carole" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> As organisers of a conference on 'Ethics, Accountability and Trust'
> (which relates to themes of social responsibility in our work as
> professionals), we felt it not so much ironic, but irresponsible that
> Gary Craig took it upon himself to circulate mis-information about
> Lancaster University and hence cast a slur over the credibility and
> worthiness of our forthcoming conference. We have pointed out to Gary
> Craig the nature of the mis-information he has circulated, and invited
> him to retract or correct his comments. His silence suggests he has
> declined our offer, and so we feel that it is both accountable and
> responsible for us as conference organisers to clear up this issue.
>
> First, Gary Craig has failed to distinguish (or is confused by) the
> difference between the university body (senate and the wider membership
> of the university), and individuals (i.e the V-C and University
> Secretary) who pursued the action against the George Fix Six (GF6). The
> University body - in the form of Senate - passed a motion critical of
> the manner in which the University (i.e. the VC) had proceeded in
> respect of the prosecution and asking for a review of its research
> ethics policy, commercialisation, campus rules on free speech and
> protests etc. This motion was drafted by the local AUT and passed with
> very few opposed.
>
> Gary Craig's description of the event in question is wrong. The
> University was not, to our knowledge, hosting an arms trade event. The
> GF6 protested on the more general grounds of the commercialisation of
> University research and the consequent possible involvement of ethically
> dubious firms such as maybe arms manufacturers. Our understanding is
> that the actual roll call on the day was anodyne.
>
> Gary Craig's decision to withdraw as an external examiner is a personal
> matter, although we are unaware of any such appointment. Any wider
> proposal to boycott external examining at Lancaster would be highly
> irresponsible and, we suspect, would be unlikely to be supported by the
> AUT, certainly not after any consultations with our branch.
>
> The GF6 issue has been widely publicised over several months. As far aw
> we know, there has been no suggestion of boycotting academic events or
> activities at Lancaster. So we cannot understand why Gary Craig has
> chosen to use this e-mail list now to propose such action.
>
> As conference organisers we should stress that there is widespread
> concern felt within the University body at the actions taken by the V-C
> in respect of the GF6. This concern has led to a systematic review of
> research policy here at Lancaster. The conference should be seen, not as
> 'ironic', but as a proper part of an entirely commendable review of
> research in HE and beyond. Should Gary Craig wish to contribute to this
> scholarly debate, he is of course, most welcome to submit an abstract.
>
> As conference organisers, we believe that recent events at Lancaster,
> and the ensuing debate in which we have all engaged, makes us extremely
> well-placed to host a conference on Ethics. A recent article in the
> Times Higher supports this view.
>
> If you would like to be active in such debates, please come along to the
> conference - we have extended the deadline for submission of abstracts!
>
> Further conference details and booking arrangements can be found at:
> http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/events/ethics/programme.htm
>
>
> Carole Truman, On behalf of the conference organising group.
>
>
> ON 05/05/06, GARY CRAIG WROTE:
>
> I think it is ironic that this conference is being held at Lancaster
> University, which recently insisted on taking students to court (and
> pursuing aggressively them through the appeal process)who were
> protesting against the unethical behaviour of Lancaster University in
> hosting arms trade events. I would have hoped that we might use
> opportunities such as this to put more pressure on the University.
> Several of us have already told the University that we will withdraw
> from external examining responsibilities unless it stands down from
> action against the students. I hope the student body will use the
> opportunity to protest against the behaviour of the university.
> Gary Craig
>
> On Fri, 5 May 2006 11:38:33 +0100 "Truman, Carole"
> <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > Can I draw your attention to the above international conference which
> > is being held at Lancaster University, UK on the 12th and 13th
> > September 2006.
> >
> > The conference will explore issues of Social Responsibility,
> > Accountability and Trust within an interdisciplinary arena, including
> > contributors from Sociology, Social Policy, Health and Medicine, the
> > Environment, Business and Management as well as Philosophy.
> >
> > Key-note speakers include:
> >
> > Lord David Puttnam, CBE - President of UNICEF, Politician and
> > Film-maker who will talk on Accountability and Responsibility in
> > Public Life
> >
> > Professor Frank Furedi - author of "Politics of Fear", "Where Have All
>
> > the Intellectuals Gone?", "Therapy Culture", "Paranoid Parenting" and
> > "Culture of Fear"
> > On the second day of the conference there will be a panel comprising
> > representatives from major UK research funders (ESRC, AHRC, Joseph
> > Rowntee Foundation, MRC).
> >
> > We would particularly welcome more participation from the fields of
> > Social Policy and Social Research since the conference provides the
> > opportunity to explore current debates around ethics, social
> > responsibility, accountability and so on within a truly
> > inter-disciplinary environment. We have extended the deadline for our
>
> > call for papers until 31st May. If you would like to offer a paper,
> > please submit an abstract of between 250 and 1000 words to:
> > [log in to unmask] as soon as possible.
> >
> > Further conference details and booking arrangements can be found at:
> > http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/events/ethics/programme.htm
> >
> >
> > Carole Truman
> > Department of Applied Social Science
> > Lancaster University
> > Lancaster LA1 4YL
> >
> > Tel +44 (0)1524 594090
> > Fax +44 (0)1524 592475
> >
> > e-mail [log in to unmask]
> >
>
----------------------------------------
Gary Craig
Professor of Social Justice,
University of Hull
Hull, HU6 7RX
Email: [log in to unmask]
tel. 01482 465780
fax 01482 466088
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