The BPA, the heads of philosophy departments, and many learned societies have today sent an open letter to St Mary’s University, Twickenham, urging them to retain their Philosophy programme. The BPA understand that the University’s management has been consulting about closing the Philosophy programme, a move which we think would run directly counter to the university’s publicly stated mission.
You can read the letter here; please consider signing a student-group’s petition in support of St Mary’s philosophy programme here. A second petition has been started here, and this latter petition-site accepts signatures from people who have non-UK postcodes/zipcodes. The signatories to the BPA’s open letter are as follows:
Prof. Robert Stern
President, British Philosophical Association
Dr Manuel Dries
Head of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, The Open University
Dr Meena Dhanda (D.Phil. Oxford) SFHEA
Reader in Philosophy and Cultural Politics, Course Leader Philosophy,
University of Wolverhampton
Dr Andrew Edgar
Head of Philosophy, Cardiff University
Prof Bob Brecher
Director, Centre for Applied Philosophy, Politics & Ethics
University of Brighton
Professor Jennifer Saul
Director, Society for Women in Philosophy UK
Dr. Karim Thébault
Honorary Secretary, the British Society for the Philosophy of Science
Professor M. Wheeler
Head of the Division of Law and Philosophy, University of Stirling
Dr Daniele Moyal-Sharrock
President of the British Wittgenstein Society
Dr Brendan Larvor
Head of Philosophy, The University of Hertfordshire
Dr David Rose
Head of the Philosophical Studies, Newcastle University
Prof. Daniel Whiting
Head of Philosophy, University of Southampton
Prof. David Archard
Philosophy, Queen’s University Belfast
Dr. Andrew Fisher
Head of the Department of Philosophy, University of Nottingham
Dr Kath Jones. External examiner for St Mary’s Philosophy programmes.
Senior lecturer at the University of Greenwich and senior fellow of the HEA.
Professor James R. O’Shea
Head of School of Philosophy
Dr Russell Re Manning
Head of Department, Religions, Philosophies, and Ethics, Bath Spa University
Prof Fabian Freyenhagen,
Head of School, School of Philosophy and Art History, University of Essex
Dr Todd Mei
Head of the Department of Philosophy, University of Kent
Prof. Hallvard Lillehammer
Assistant Dean, School of Social Sciences, History and Philosophy, Birkbeck, University of London
Professor Stella Sandford
Head of Department of Philosophy, Kingston University
Prof. Helen Beebee
Head, Department of Philosophy, University of Manchester
Prof. Rosanna Keefe
Head of the Department of Philosophy, University of Sheffield
Sorin Baiasu
Professor of Philosophy, Keele University
Prof. Bill Brewer
Head of the Department of Philosophy, King’s College London
Professor Maria Rosa Antognazza
Chair, British Society for the History of Philosophy
Prof. Helen Steward
Head of Philosophy, University of Leeds
Professor Fiona Macpherson FRSE
Head of the Philosophy, University of Glasgow
Professor Havi Carel
Head of Subject, Department of Philosophy, University of Bristol
Dr Rory Madden
Honorary Director of the Aristotelian Society
Dr Jonathan Webber
President, British Society for Ethical Theory
President, UK Sartre Society
Dr Mark Cain
Programme Lead for Philosophy, Oxford Brookes University
Prof. James Harris
Head of Philosophy, University of St Andrews
Prof. C. Hookway
Chair of the Analysis Committee
Prof. José Zalabardo
Head of the Philosophy Department, UCL
