medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Learned friends,
For several years I searched unsuccessfully for the so-called Dark Ages
in the medieval period.
Alas, I believe I've now found them in the 21st century.
More in sorrow than in anger,
Frank
>
> On 2/02/2010 9:06 AM, George FERZOCO wrote:
>> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
>> culture
>>
>> Dear medieval-religion colleagues,
>>
>> Following earlier messages to the list in regard to the situation at
>> King's College in relation to the teaching of palaeography there, I
>> thought I should forward this letter, written by the officers of the
>> Medieval Academy of America, for your consideration.
>>
>> I urge you not to think, 'Oh, the Medieval Academy has written, so I
>> don't have to bother.' It goes far deeper than that. The higher
>> education sector in the United Kingdom, after about twenty years of
>> financial and intellectual erosion, is reaching a state of crisis.
>> Indeed, today alone, the U.K. government has announced cuts to
>> spending on universities amounting to close to a billion dollars.
>>
>> These cuts have several powerfully negative effects.
>>
>> One is that administrators, in trying to justify and keep their own
>> jobs, are looking either to frighten or otherwise to dismiss
>> academics in significant numbers such that a considerable number of
>> scholars will no longer be employed by universities, resulting in a
>> diminished financial burden on the system. They would rather do this
>> than argue against the government hacks who are cutting university
>> funding.
>>
>> These administrators, in order to effect the latest government cuts,
>> are relying on a general feeling of powerlessness among academic
>> staff -- staff whose work must be vetted publicly for quality
>> regularly (often by panels who have little sympathy for the subject
>> areas under examination); staff who must routinely fill in time
>> sheets that describe how they spent their week doing what; staff who
>> know that unions in post-Thatcher Britain are feeble, at best. One
>> way they 'save money' is to rid their institutions of people who work
>> in disciplines less likely to attract money from public or private
>> sources -- hence, the purge of palaeography at King's.
>>
>> All of this is particularly pertinent to medievalists. Why? Although
>> the U.K. bursts with medievalia, its elected representatives have
>> over recent years demonstrated a powerfully negative attitude toward
>> medieval studies. There are several examples that come to mind, but
>> let this one suffice: that of Charles Clarke, a minister of education
>> under Tony Blair, who publicly spoke of how medieval history is
>> 'ornamental' and a waste of public money, and called for public money
>> to be spent on higher education only where the subjects are of 'clear
>> usefulness'.
>>
>> Don't believe me? Read:
>>
>> http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2003/may/09/highereducation.politics
>>
>> This attitude is very much alive and well among those seeking to
>> curry the favour of government officials and ministers. Example? A
>> well-informed source tells me that a major U.K. university has
>> decided that the way it will save money in its history department is
>> to get rid of three scholars -- the only three scholars in the
>> department who work on the pre-1800 period.
>>
>> Do not be lulled into thinking that this is someone else's problem.
>> It's a problem shared by all of us (remember John Donne!). Write the
>> people at King's, please.
>>
>> George
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