Date: 10 February 2010 12:14:18 pm GMT+01:00
To: principal@kcl.ac.uk, jan.palmowski@kcl.ac.uk, keith.hoggart@kcl.ac.uk
Subject: Letter urging change of policy on Dr. Ginzburg, Professor Lappin, Dr. Meyer-Viol and Professor Travis
To:
Professor Jan Palmowski, Head of Humanities, KCL
Professor Rick Trainor, Principal, KCL
Professor Keith Hoggart, Vice Principal, KCL
Dear Professors Palmowski, Trainor, and Hoggart,
We write to add our voices to the international outcry against the sacking of Dr. Jonathan Ginzburg, Professor Shalom Lappin and Dr. Wilfried Meyer-Viol, and the forced retirement of Professor Charles Travis despite contractual obligations for renewal.
As philosophers and linguists, we would like to remind you that all four are researchers of the highest calibre. We are amazed that King's College would launch such a serious and self-defeating attack on its world-class expertise in formal semantics and philosophy of language.
Perhaps still more serious is the attack on the principle of security of tenure in universities and on the academic freedom that it protects.
Your actions have grave implications for the reputation of King's College London. We urge you to reconsider.
Yours sincerely,
Nicholas Allott
Research fellow, Centre for the Study of Mind in Nature (CSMN), University of Oslo
Endre Begby
Research Fellow, Centre for the Study of Mind in Nature (CSMN), University of Oslo
Einar Duenger Bøhn
Research fellow, Ethics programme, Dept of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas, University of Oslo
Lene Bomann-Larsen
Postdoctoral Fellow, Dept of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas, University of Oslo; and affiliate of CSMN, University of Oslo
Eline Busck Gundersen
Research fellow, CSMN, University of Oslo; and assistant professor, Aarhus University
Herman Cappelen, FNA
Arche Professor, University of St Andrews, Director of Arche; and Research Director CSMN, University of Oslo
Timothy Chan
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for the Study of Mind in Nature, IFIKK, University of Oslo
Jan Terje Faarlund
Professor, Centre for the Study of Mind in Nature and Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies, University of Oslo
Christel Fricke (professor of philosophy)
Director of the Centre for the Study of Mind in Nature (CSMN), Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas, University of Oslo
Olav Gjelsvik (Professor)
Research Director, CSMN, Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas, Faculty of Humanities, University of Oslo
Atle Grønn
Associate Professor of Russian Linguistics, University of Oslo
Carsten Hansen
Professor, Centre for the Study of Mind in Nature (CSMN), University of Oslo
Edmund Henden
Research Fellow, Centre for the Study of Mind in Nature (CSMN), Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas, Faculty of Humanities, University of Oslo
Guðmundur Andri Hjálmarsson
Ph.D. student, Arché, University of St Andrews.
Heine A. Holmen
Ph.D. Fellow, Centre for the Study of Mind in Nature (CSMN), University of Oslo
Alison M. Jaggar
College Professor of Distinction, University of Colorado at Boulder, Philosophy and Women and Gender Studies; and
Research Coordinator, University of Oslo Center for the Study of Mind in Nature
Anders Nes
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for the Study of Mind in Nature, University of Oslo
Bjørn Ramberg
Professor of Philosophy and Research Coordinator, Centre for the Study of Mind in Nature, University of Oslo
Kari Refsdal
Ph.D. fellow, Centre for the Study of Mind in Nature (CSMN), University of Oslo
Kjell Johan Sæbø
Professor, Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages, University of Oslo
Lalaine H. Siruno
PhD Research Fellow, Centre for the Study of Mind in Nature, University of Oslo
Rachel Sterken
PhD student, Centre for the Study of Mind in Nature (CSMN), University of Oslo
Andreas Stokke
PhD Student, Arché - Philosophical Research Centre, Department of Philosphy, University of St Andrews