Subject: From a KCL alumnus and AKC on Computational Linguistics cuts
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:54:24 +0100
To:
Prof. Rick Trainor <principal@kcl.ac.uk>, Principal, King's College, The University of London,
Prof. Keith Hoggart <keith.hoggart@kcl.ac.uk>, Vice-Principal, King's College, The University of London,
Prof. Jan Palmowski <jan.palmowski@kcl.ac.uk>, Head of the School of Arts and Humanities, King's College, The University of London.
From:
Professor Dafydd Gibbon, B.A. A.K.C. (KCL) , Dr. Phil. (U Göttingen), Emeritus, Universität Bielefeld, Germany
Dear Professors Trainor, Hoggart and Palmowski,
Please find in the following a perspective by an Alumnus and Associate of King's on the planned Computational Linguistics cuts, which I have not found represented in many of the more rhetorical letters you will have received.
It is perhaps not as well recognised at King's as it should be that one of the strongest fabrics of our global Information Society, the Internet (not to mention countless digital documentation and knowledge repositories), is defined, maintained and developed by precisely this discipline. The syntax and semantics of hypertext, the logic of information retrieval, the development of Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 are inconceivable without the discipline of Computational Linguistics and related foundational disciplines in Logic and Philosophy, as well as in Computer Science. This is clearly reflected in very many industrial R&D projects, in European (EC DG INTSOC) and international funding, and in the employment policies of leading ICT companies, from Microsoft, Apple and Google through to myriads of university startups.
As an Alumnus and Associate of King's College, London (1966, German and French, AKC), as a computational linguist, and as one with decades of experience in university management, I am of course dismayed at your widely reported decision to cut the Computational Linguistics programme at King's and dismiss its senior staff. I consider the decision to be not only academically ill-advised (in view of the impeccable international scientific reputation of the staff), and socially wrong (in view of the breach of trust incurred) but also strategically and materially misguided (in view of the foundational role of the discipline in our global Information Society).
For nearly 50 years I have been proud to be a member of the King's student and alumnus communities, and have followed their development closely. King's gave me my professional start into a career of which I think I also have a right to be proud.
But the actions of King's management in cutting Computational Linguistics categorically contradict my decades of understanding of King's exemplary adherence to the highest standards of excellence, social conscience and cutting edge research in academia.
Beyond these more idealistic concerns, I ask you, with sincere concern for my alma mater: why should I - or my fellow alumni - continue to support and donate to the College in the light of such a grave and obvious management lapse, which, sadly, is now known to the world at large and threatens to destroy the previously highly ranked reputation of King's in a wide range of disciplines?
I look forward to a redressal and a transparent account of the situation.
Yours faithfully,
Prof Dafydd Gibbon, B.A., A.K.C., Dr. Phil.