Academia – Page 5 – Justice Everywhere

To Strike or Disrupt? (take 2)

On 17 February, 2020

In November and December 2019, members of the University and College Union (UCU) – the trade union that represents many academics and other university staff in the UK – went on strike. On that occasion, in his post To Strike or Disrupt, Liam Shields discussed whether people not doing any teaching during the strike should go on strike or not, seeing that their striking does not result in significant disruption.

At the end of this week, the UCU will embark on a new wave of 14 days of strike spread over four weeks because the dispute remains unsettled. It therefore seems a good occasion to recall Liam’s argument and to flesh out some implications a bit further.

An Interview with Marc Stears (Beyond the Ivory Tower series)

By Aveek Bhattacharya

On 27 January, 2020

In Academia, Beyond the Ivory Tower, Democracy, Public Philosophy

This is the second interview in our Beyond the Ivory Tower series, following Onora O’Neill. Back in November, Aveek Bhattacharya spoke to Marc Stears about his experiences in politics, focusing on his time as a close adviser to then leader of the opposition, Ed Miliband.

Prof Marc Stears is Director of the Sydney Policy Lab. Stears was Professor of Political Theory at the University of Oxford in 2010 when his university friend Ed Miliband was elected leader of the opposition Labour party. After a secondment to the think tank Institute for Public Policy Research, Stears left academia in 2012 to become Chief Speechwriter for Miliband. He was a co-author of the 2015 Labour election manifesto and a member of the party’s general election steering committee. In 2013, the Telegraph ranked him the UK’s eighth most influential left-winger. After Labour’s election defeat in 2015, Stears joined another British think tank, the New Economics Foundation, as Chief Executive, before his move to Australia in 2018.

An Interview with Baroness Onora O’Neill (Beyond the Ivory Tower series)

By Fay Niker

On 6 January, 2020

In Academia, Beyond the Ivory Tower, Governance, Public Philosophy, Technology, Work

Aveek Bhattacharya and Fay Niker recently interviewed Baroness Onora O’Neill, asking her about her wide-ranging experiences combining being a professor of philosophy and a member of the House of Lords (among many other things).

Baroness Onora O’Neill of Bengarve is Emeritus Honorary Professor at the University of Cambridge and has been a cross-bench (i.e. not aligned with any political party) member of the British House of Lords since 2000. She has written widely in ethics and political philosophy, and is particularly known for her work on bioethics, trust and the philosophy of Kant. She was Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge from 1992-2006, President of the British Academy from 2005-9, chaired the Nuffield Foundation from 1998-2010 and chaired the Equality and Human Rights Commission from 2012-2016.

Conference Announcement: Ethics in a Global Environment

By admin

On 19 December, 2019

In Academia, General

The Centre for the Study of Global Ethics is pleased to announce its Sixth Annual Conference on 28 and 29 May 2020.

Call for Papers

We welcome abstract submissions addressing the central theme Ethics in a Global Environment, as well as a wide range of topics within global ethics.

Submission deadline is 1 February 2020.

Please visit

https://globalethics 2020.weebly.com

for more information.

To Strike or Disrupt?

By admin

On 25 November, 2019

In Academia, Education, General, Public Philosophy

In this post, guest contributor Liam Shields discusses an important dilemma related to the strike in UK higher education institutions.

Members of the University and College Union, the trade union that represents many lecturers and other university staff in the UK, at 60 universities will be called upon to withdraw their labour from their employers from 25^th November to 4^th December. However, some are on research leave, or will not be doing any teaching on some or all strike days, so their striking will go unnoticed. The question then is: should they go on strike or not?

Announcement: MOOC on ‘Inequality and Democracy’

By admin

On 7 November, 2019

In Academia, Democracy, Distribution, Economics, General

This is an announcement on behalf of the Private Property and Political Power project at Utrecht University. Its members have developed a freely-available Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) entitled “Inequality and Democracy” that may be of interest to our subscribers, readers, and/or their students.

Most countries are getting more and more unequal. But the core of democracy is political equality: that everyone should have an equal say in how their country is run. Can we really expect these things to go together? Can people have equal political power while economic inequality grows and grows? Take this course and decide for yourself.

Call for Applications: Stanford Center for Ethics Postdoctoral Fellowships

By admin

On 22 October, 2019

In Academia

Applications are now open for several Postdoctoral Fellows at the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society, Stanford University. The application deadline is 9th December 2019. Below is the call:

“For 2020-21, the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society seeks to appoint up to two postdoctoral fellows. Selected fellows will be designated as either General Ethics Fellows or Interdisciplinary Ethics Fellows. The two types of fellows have some distinct training opportunities and responsibilities, but they form a common community at the Center and participate together in the Center’s intellectual life. The programs are described in detail below. All applicants will be considered for both types of fellowships and do not need to tailor their application for one or the other fellowship.

From the Vault: Good Reads on Public Philosophy

By admin

On 19 August, 2019

In Academia, Public Philosophy

While Justice Everywhere takes a break over the summer, we recall from our archives some memorable posts from our 2018-2019 season.

Here are three good reads on issues relating to Public Philosophy that you may have missed or be interested to re-read:

In “Dumbed down for the masses?” Public philosophy in different keys, and why it matters for justice, Lisa Herzog reflects on some of the challenges involved in writing for a broader audience.
Tim Meijers and Ingrid Robeyns on Philosophical experiment about inequality: the authors report on an experiment they did to engage the public in a participatory “veil-of-ignorance” thought experiment.
John Tillson’s post addresses the question: Why isn’t ethical approval required for television shows?

Justice Everywhere will return in full swing on 2nd September with fresh weekly posts by our regular authors. If you have a suggestion for a topic or would like to contribute a guest post on a topical subject in political philosophy (broadly construed), please feel free to get in touch with us at justice.everywhere.blog@gmail.com.

From the Vault: Good Reads on Justice and the Academy

By admin

On 22 July, 2019

In Academia, Education

While Justice Everywhere takes a break over the summer, we recall from our archives some memorable posts from our 2018-2019 season.

Here are five good reads on issues relating to justice and/in the academy that you may have missed or be interested to re-read:

Matthew Adams on Justice and ‘Contingent Faculty’, which explores whether permanent university faculty have responsibilities to their colleagues holding (much) less secure positions, and if so, what these could be.
Mirjam Muller’s post entitled Who Cares: Emotional Labour in Academia, which persuasively highlights three reasons why we should care about a more equal distribution in providing emotional labour within our universities.
David Yarrow on Grade Inflation, Market Ideology, and the Contradictions of UK Higher Education Policy, which responds to politicians blaming academics for lowering standards by arguing that these effects are caused by their own ideologically-driven market reforms.
Lisa Herzog’s post addressing the question: What, if anything, is wrong with private money in political philosophy?
Robert Simpson’s essay, published as a two-part post, on Universities and Democratic Legitimacy.

Justice Everywhere will return in full swing on 2nd September with fresh weekly posts by our regular authors. If you have a suggestion for a topic or would like to contribute a guest post on a topical subject in political philosophy (broadly construed), please feel free to get in touch with us at justice.everywhere.blog@gmail.com.

Grade Inflation, Market Ideology and the Contradictions of UK Higher Education Policy

By David Yarrow

On 15 July, 2019

In Academia, Education

Politicians blame academics for lowering standards, but it is caused by their own ideologically driven market reforms. A version of this post was published in the Guardian on Friday 12th July.

The Education Secretary Damian Hinds has followed in an illustrious tradition of governments’ blaming Universities for the phenomena of grade inflation. Responding to findings by the Office for Students of an 80% rise in first class degrees (that the body claimed was ‘unexplained’), Mr Hinds attributed this problem to ‘unfair practices’ by universities. It follows his comments last year that ‘institutions should be accountable for maintaining the value of the degrees they award’, with the threat of fines for institutions who fail to comply.

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Category: Academia Page 5 of 10

To Strike or Disrupt? (take 2)

An Interview with Marc Stears (Beyond the Ivory Tower series)

An Interview with Baroness Onora O’Neill (Beyond the Ivory Tower series)

Conference Announcement: Ethics in a Global Environment

https://globalethics 2020.weebly.com

To Strike or Disrupt?

Announcement: MOOC on ‘Inequality and Democracy’

Call for Applications: Stanford Center for Ethics Postdoctoral Fellowships

From the Vault: Good Reads on Public Philosophy

From the Vault: Good Reads on Justice and the Academy

Grade Inflation, Market Ideology and the Contradictions of UK Higher Education Policy