If you haven't already, take a look at this site
http://humanitiesmatter.wordpress.com/
and if you agree with the general
thrust of it, please sign the petition and circulate as widely as
possible. A lot of the problem with defending humanities in universities
is that we don't all agree about the best arguments to use -- whether to
'play their game' and make the case on the grounds of our contribution to
the economy, or whether to argue on the basis of the intrinsic social &
cultural value of humanities a la Stefan Collini. This site is trying to
build a coalition bringing together everyone who believes that HE teaching
in humanities should be publicly supported, for whatever reason. Obviously
e-petitions are unlikely in themselves to change policy any more than
chucking fire extinguishers will, but scientists have quite rightly
mobilised effectively behind "Science is Vital" and if humanities and
social scientists don't make similar efforts I think we'll be even more
vulnerable than we are already. At the very least it's hard to see it
doing any harm...
--
Dr Adam Smith
Senior Lecturer in US History
UCL History Department
Gower Street
London WC1E 6BT
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/history/People/Academic_Staff/smith
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