Dear Editor,
I am writing to announce an upcoming Social Research conference, which I think you and some of your colleagues and readers may be interested in attending. This conference, Free Inquiry at Risk: Universities in Dangerous Times will be held at The New School in New York City on October 29, 30, and 31, 2008 and will be the 18th conference in the Social Research series dedicated to enhancing public understanding in an engaging, multi-disciplinary discussion. If your readers might like to attend, I would be grateful if you would let them know about the conference. It is also free for all students. To view the agenda, schedule, speaker bios and to register, please visit www.newschool.edu/freeinquiry.
So you know a little more, over three days, the conference speakers will explore how the trends and challenges that face universities in the US and abroad today may affect the core values of academic freedom and free inquiry. These current trends include rapid globalization, changes in the geo-political arena, modes of financing, the extension of higher education franchises, the rise of collateral institutes and research centers, the relationship between specialization and integration, regime change, and other conditions of duress. The discussion will reach beyond the US, to Israel and Palestine, South Africa, China, Post-Soviet States, Russia, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, and Belarus.
It may interest you to know that not only does the conference focus on a subject of critical importance to universities everywhere, but it is also a major part of our commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the University in Exile, that remarkable haven of academic freedom and free inquiry created by Alvin Johnson, the first president of The New School, for the scholars he presciently rescued from the ravages of fascism. The conference begins with a talk by Ira Katznelson, Former Dean of The New School for Social Research about the Two Founding Moments of the New School. The keynote event is a conversation among endangered scholars from Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Belarus, and China discussing their experiences in their home country where they faced persecution, prosecution, and imprisonment. Aryeh Neier, President of the Open Society Institute, will moderate. The final session on Friday, a panel of current and former university presidents and other leaders (From MIT, the University of Chicago, Amherst, and Berkeley) discussing the importance of free inquiry and academic freedom and how to maintain them in our universities.
This conference is made possible with generous support from the Ford Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, and Eugene Lang College, The New School for Liberal Arts. If you would like to share an annoucement with your readers, I've included a short description of the conference after my signature. Please be in touch with Roberta Sutton, the conference coordinator, via this email address if you have any questions. Thank you very much for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Arien Mack
Marrow Professor of Psychology
Director: Journal Donation Project
Editor: SOCIAL RESEARCH
The New School for Social Research
212-229-5727, Ext, 3105 (Tel)
212-229-5476 (Fax)
mackarie@newschool.edu
65 Fifth Avenue
New York City, NY 10003
Conference Description:
FREE INQUIRY AT RISK: UNIVERSITIES IN DANGEROUS TIMES
A Social Research Conference at The New School commemorating the 75th anniversary of the University in Exile
October 29, 30, and 31, 2008
Rapid globalization, international collaborations, massification, corporate partnerships, increasing number of franchises, regime change, and other conditions of duress are reshaping universities around the world. What are the benefits and what are the risks to academic freedom and free inquiry as universities navigate these trends? This conference will look backward at the role of academic freedom and free inquiry in research universities and forward to what the future may have in store.
Location: John Tishman Auditorium, 66 West 12th Street, NYC
Tickets: $30, $10 per session (Free for students, New School faculty and alumni)
Contact: socres@newschool.edu or 212-229-5776 x3121
Register: www.newschool.edu/FreeInquiry
Please quote 10 Academic Resources Daily in your application to this opportunity!
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