David Suzuki returns to Ballarat to give a public talk on his new book The Legacy and his Legacy Project. I was lucky enough to catch him at UB a couple of years ago and found him to be both inspiring and sobering with regards to environmental ethics and activism. I think Ballarat is most fortunate to have another such opportunity.

From the promo: "Based on the premise - 'If I had one last lecture to give, what would I say?' -The Legacy presents a critical and candid exploration of a period of human history which includes David Suzuki's own life journey - an era which has overlapped and converged with many of the most important social, scientific, cultural and political developments of the past seventy years. His focus also acknowledges the wisdom of his grandparents and moves forward through to the promise held in the birth of his new grandson."

Held at the Wendouree Performing Arts Theatre
Sunday 17 October 2010
Please book following the link here.

Here is the link to the David Suzuki Legacy Project

Open Day 2010

Yes its that time of year again when staff spruik their courses for the public on Open Day. The School of Behavioural and Social Sciences and Humanities (BSSH) information booths will be located on level 2 of the T building (above glam ITMS with their cool VR lab).

Chipper staff will be on hand to answer all manner of questions including the ever popular "what job can my kid get with philosophy?", "why should my [insert name here] know stuff about other cultures and ways of doing things?", even the oddball, "No, you can't do philosophy [bleated at young adult within earshot of a number of people], the priest at school said not to!".

Here's a link to the Program of Events across the University's campuses. Please do come along and have a chat about the possibility of studying what we think are a range of interesting, informative and frankly, life-changing courses. Our School offers a wide variety of programs and courses and can a number of entry paths into university study (be sure to ask about the FAST Program).

Thinking Philosophically with Plato

Session four in the Thinking Philosophically with Plato series was concerned with the ideas of 'Citizenship and Disobedience' and focused on Plao's 'Crito'. As this was the last session in this particular series run by Jane Mummery for the U3A Hepburn Shire, we finished up with dinner at Franco's in Vincent Street, Daylesford. Vying for position next to the pizza oven (it was 2 degrees outside), it was a great way to end this short jaunt with the gadfly.

What is a philosopher?

A recent New York Times (16 May 2010) opinion(ator) piece by English philosopher Simon Critchley of The New School suggests that philosophers are indeed curious creatures of academe. Critchley grazes lovingly over the curious assortment of philosophers such as Thales who fell into a hole whilst gazing at the stars, the gadfly Socrates who reportedly had a face only a mother could love, the philosopher as buffoon or eccentric, as one one who spends years returning to the same topic or moves in and around a topic based on fascination, curiosity or perplexity. These characters and more are set out in this reassessment of an ancient art - the first in a series of writings by contemporary philosophers to be published by The New York Times.

A highly amusing piece, as is Critchley's The Book of Dead Philosophers. Find the rest of the series at The Stone.

Thinking Philosophically with U3A Hepburn Shire

'Living the Good Life' was the theme of this week's meeting of the Thinking Philosophically with Plato series delivered by Jane Mummery for the U3A Hepburn Shire in Daylesford. Participants read and responded to selections from 'Gorgias' (468e-479e) and The Republic.

Australia Koala Foundation

The Philosophy programme is honoured to have Rolf Schlagloth present a guest lecture on Wildlife Management at 8:30am on May 21 in T127 for the undergraduate course PHILO1004 Practical Ethics. Rolf is the Victorian liaison officer for the Australia Koala Foundation as well as a member of the University's Animal Ethics Committee (along with Jane Mummery). In addition to his duties at the Foundation, Rolf has studied at the University of Bonn and the University of Ballarat, and is a member of the DPI's Animal & Small Institution AEC, the Bureau of Animal Welfare. Rolf's guest lecture on wildlife management and conservation is not to be missed. All staff and students are invited to attend. Here is a link to the United Nations Official Video for The International Year of Biodiversity 2010.

Thinking Philosophically with Plato & U3A Hepburn Shire

The second seminar in the Thinking Philosophically with Plato series had the U3A mob engaged with the topic of 'Thinking without Illusions', which was no small feat given the chilliness of the evening's weather. A combination of woolens, coffee, hot chocolate or the pressed grape gave strength to the small group who braved the elements in the beautiful Daylesford Town Hall on May 11. Using selections from Meno and Phaedo (65b-77a), discussion gravitated around the possibility and implications of virtue et al, being taught or innate. We were undecided if Plato's metaphysical doctrine of recollection solved Meno's paradox or whether the Forms really offered a useful way to think about the Ideal and the practical. Jane held the audience captive with classical conundrums whilst Marnie took photos of members in various stages of winter-woolen undress.

VC's Mid-Year Report

The VC's Mid Year Report at the Mt Helen campus on May 12 was well attended by staff (to his surprise). However, it comes as no surprise to staff that UB is continuing to experience financial troubles given a range of factors (GFC, significant drop in International Students). In addition to the 54 million dollar deficit of this year, the University can expect to carry a deficit of up to 68 million dollars in the next financial year.

In the wake of the Auditor-General's assessment of the University, the VC has proposed a number of initiatives to combat the current difficulties being experienced, including that staff switch off lights and not using heaters (that went down well!). Of the initiatives proposed, the two stand outs seem to be the establishment of the UB Foundation and voluntary redundancies.

The Foundation, as I understand it, will be set up to strengthen the links between the University and the wider community, and specific individuals. The idea is to garner financial support in the form of establishing benefactors and scholarships. The other initiative that many staff anticipated are voluntary redundancies. While the VC did his best to carefully qualify the voluntary aspect of this new workforce initiative, the immediacy of the timeline for the process really alerted attendees to the importance (desperation?) of this particular initiative to senior management and the well-being of UB.

The Workforce Initiatives page at HR which includes a short video presentation of the VC's address. Only available via UB's intranet.

Recent VC's Blog entries related to this post: 'Hard Times' (April 29); 'Structural Adjustment for UB' (3 May); 'Establishing a Foundation for UB' (24 May). Only available via UB's intranet.

June Book Group

The June Book Group will meet at The Known World Bookshop on Sturt Street at 2:00pm on June 13 and plough onwards through Joyce's Ulysses. In the older Penguin edition (black cover) we read from pp. 425 -532. In the newer Penguin edition we read from pp. 561-703. As the chilly weather descends why not arrive early and peruse the shelves of the bookshop before ordering a warm beverage?

Philosophy Series at U3A Hepburn Shire

Jane Mummery is running a series of philosophy seminars for the U3A Hepburn Shire from April through to June. The series is called 'Thinking Philosophically with Plato'. The inaugural seminar was held on April 20 and looked at 'Living the Examined Life'. Aided by her trusty philosophical side-kick Marnie Nolton, a lively discussion of Plato's Apology ensued between the twenty-or-so participants of the evening seminar series.

Jane Mummery describes the structured series of classes as a sequence that examines some of the most fundamental philosophical teachings of Plato, one of the founders of the western philosophical tradition. In consultation with U3A Hepburn Shire, the series specifically examines Plato's relationship with his predecessor and chosen protagonist of his dialogues, Socrates, via an investigation of philosophical thinking, and what it means to live well in the world.

Fighting Proposed Programme Closure(s)

We are under the general impression that the closing down of programmes of study in universities is a consequence of drastic budget cuts. Typically, we hear of smaller programmes being cut or pressured into performing in a particular strategic way. You know the story, it hovers over us here in BBSH in various incarnations. Try this programme cut for size: Middlesex University is trying to cut its philosophy programme. Let me try that again for anyone not involved in the humanities and social sciences. Middlesex is trying to drop its highly successful and internationally renown philosophy programme even though undergraduate and postgraduate enrollments are high and research output by both postgraduate and tenured staff is also high.

Such a cut has little to do with some of the positions that are usually forwarded for the threatened closure of programmes of study. Ordinarily it falls to reduced enrollments, lack of industry partner financial support, or the like. But like false reductive arguments everywhere, there are always more options than what are presented by senior management. Indeed, we often box ourselves into false dichotomies when we face pressures from 'strategic enhancing mechanisms designed to align our school priorities with university/sector-wide optimisation delivery systems to value-add to our customer base and play nice with the ARC mob'. Yes, I made that stuff up, just like any other good exponent of weasel words would.

The logic inherent in cutting a small program is just as faulty as the logic seeking to cut out a large and prestigious one. Perhaps a closer look is needed at the skills fostered by the discipline itself rather than the generation of dollars. I fail to see how a programme should be cut because of numbers. I'm not sure who lost that memo about quality vs quantity but if you look a little more closely at both school and university policies on graduate attributes and the obligations we have as a HE institution, then the argument from quantity is a weak one, even under our current business model approach to HE.

But back to the shenanigans at Middlesex. Management at Middlesex are closing down all programmes in philosophy including the internationally renown MA and PhD degrees. This will also mean the closure of the Centre for Research in European Philosophy which is the highest ranking RAE department at the university. If you would like to find out more about this proposed closure and lend a pen to put an end to the proposal for closure of philosophy at Middlesex, please follow the links below. Scroll down the Save Middlesex Philosophy link to 'Write to protest against the closure decision'. Close to 12,000 have signed the petition and they have a Facebook page too, with members numbering at 9,500 as of this posting.

This is no time to be complacent or to think that Middlesex UK has little to do with Ballarat Australia. Signing online petitions and demonstrating in an articulate and respectful manner can effect changes. Just two years ago I was involved in the petitioning to save the biblical studies programme at the University of Sheffield - a department at the forefront of progressive and critical engagements in biblical studies, with strong undergraduate and postgraduate programmes of study, big-name draw card academics and stellar research outputs. The petitioning saved the department. Whilst it is not always appropriate to comment on these matters in a public forum (re matters of policy and confidentiality), it is always prudent to be aware of changes in HE overseas, and to respond to them. Here's hoping others might come to our aid and lift their pens when we rally against the closure of programmes of study, large or small.

Times Higher Education article on the proposed Middlesex closure May 1, and the student protest on May 5. Find out more about the Save Middlesex Philosophy project here.

Ballarat title has noses out of joint

The University of Ballarat featured in the Higher Education section of The Australian on April 21, 2010 over a current hot potato, academic titles. Assoc. Prof. Jeremy Smith (from our School and champion of the NTEU), is concerned that gifting TAFE heads with the academic title of Assoc. Pro dimishes the pursuit of the academic pathway. VC Prof. David Battersby responded by stating that "it is unclear to me how any of these actions diminishes the the importance of the associate professor title".

Prof. Battersby has also responded to this issue in his VC's Blog. The entry is titled 'The Role of the Head of School' (April 21, 2010). It's certainly worth reading in conjunction with the Higher Ed story, as Battersby takes the time to unpack Senior Management's rationale for such a move - an opportunity he doesn't get in the Higher Ed. Having said that, Jeremy Smith's points amount to little but a soundbite and I wonder if this issue will be followed up by the Higher Ed community.

I've tried to link in with the VC's Blog previously, but as it is strictly an internal access blog, I am unable to place it in the right hand coloumn of Noteworthy Blogs in BSSH Bloggers (which is an external blogger site). I suggest people book mark it in their favourites to keep abreat of developments at UB. Meanwhile, here's the link to the piece in the Higher Ed:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/ballarat-titles-have-noses-out-of-joint/story-e6frgcjx-1225856114245

Overhead projectors & other Extinction Level Events

An extinction level event is usually classified as a catastrophic disaster in which the world as we know it is altered beyond our ability to survive the changes, indeed beyond the ability of other biologicals to survive the changes (and yes, I did make that word up). Think Tunguska and the end of dinosaurs and the subsequent arrival of the Ice Age. OK, yes, I am prone to exaggeration on the point of overhead projector removal at the University of Ballarat, and I haven't adequately demonstrated my rather tenuous link with extinction level events, but, hey, it seems like no one else in the University is listening to the people who still use these in classrooms. I'm not alone, I know of at least..er...one other staff member in my School who uses them on a regular basis. I feel like a dinosaur, a dinosaur waiting for the meteor strike. I'm a dinosaur on the edge!

Antiquated they might be (the overhead projectors, not dinosaurs like me) compared to mobile technologies but when you're modelling PHILO 1002 Logic & Reasoning on the fly, and have interactive lectures and tutorials in which student information needs to be added as you demonstrate, the old fashioned overhead projector is a winner. Plus I love using those snazzy coloured markers.

It's a technology that is already present, that is, you don't have to buy what you've already bought. It's reasonably reliable too, that is...if the bulb works, if the arm is still attached, if the power cord is still attached, if someone hasn't nicked off with it (like someone did 5 mins prior to my tutorial in week 5 - even though I had a legible A4 note on the glass plate) and if someone hasn't written all over the whiteboard with permanent marker...and done nothing about it. Ho-hum, back to the drawing board.

UB Pulse: tachycardia or myocardial infarction?

It's a good effort...if we were in the secondary school sector or possibly even TAFE. Oh wait, we are! The UB Pulse staff survey website promises to maintain a good working relationship, that staff feedback is needed, and that the results will be used to accurately gauge all manner of maladies and lead to action. I've mentioned previously that I'm teaching Logic & Reasoning this semester. Naturally, fortuitously, perhaps even ironically, this week's topic on hidden premises seems relevant to claims of UB having a pulse. There are, however, rules to attributing hidden premises, and they are firstly that one should do so only when the argument is either weak, completely invalid or utterly mysterious without attribution of the hidden premise; secondly, when attributing the hidden premise improves the argument's validity (an appeal to the Principle of Charity); and lastly, when there is reason to think that the author believes the hidden premise.

Take a look at the claims made above (taken from the web site's front page) and spot the hidden or implicit premises at work. Having spotted a number of hidden premises on the front of the survey, and having filled in a number of previous staff surveys over the last five years and seen little genuine effort to address serious issues, I'm not exactly filled with confidence about what this new survey might bring. And I'm not game enough to start unpacking whether it's all about UB having a pulse or the staff having a pulse. I'll leave that up to you to decide. Let's assume that something in/of the University has a pulse, and this is a survey about the state of that pulse. That way, we remain civil, if not collegial.

Now I know you're not enrolled in Logic & Reasoning (although you could if you really wanted to. Alternatively, you could gift someone else in the University with an enrollment, say, someone in Senior Management?) so, back to the survey. I might be guaranteed anonymity in filling the survey out as the FAQ page assures me, but I can't return and add things to the list. If I do, I'm told that I've already filled the survey out. I get one shot and one shot only to list and describe UB's strengths and weaknesses (only three of each?).

In my survey opportunity - throwing anonymity to the wind, given we have such a poor budget for it anyway - I griped about the heavy centralisation of IT generally, and the abysmal UB web presence specifically. I'm convinced that Ian Wright and his team are fighting with one arm tied behind their backs on this. UB's website is just plain embarrassing. Staff information is grossly out of date, crucial information is absent, and this is unacceptable given that a regional university such as UB is super reliant on what should be a formidable Internet presence in the highly competitive HE market.

I also commented quite freely on the lack of diversity in food choices on campus (another no-no when encouraging International students or acknowledging that many staff are vegetarian, coeliac or kosher), and I put a plug in for gardeners. With such a beautiful semi-bush location for our Mt Helen campus, why don't we have gardeners, horticultural students or our sustainability mob looking after and planting native vegetation - such efforts would employ locals, demonstrate a commitment to the workplace as habitat (for all manner of creatures, including undergraduates and staff) that has moral worth, and surely have a number of positive impacts on well being. The grounds, as they are, are positively slovenly. I'm confident that organising staff/student busy bees in conjunction with state/council re-vegetation programmes would be a successful endeavor.

I do like the health metaphor, it's just that I don't know whether UB's pulse will be gravitating towards tachycardia or the inevitable myocardial infarction we all dread given the current climate (not limited to UB, of course). At the bottom of the survey is the disclaimer that states "If we don't hear from you, we can only assume that your pulse rate is perfect". I wonder what you will be suggesting in your valuable feedback on UB Pulse? Will you be asking for a better security presence on campus (given we now start work earlier and finish later)? Better lighting in the car parks? Get your skates on and fill in (another) survey. Go on, you know its good for you!

http://www.ubpulse.com.au/

May Book Group

This coming month on May 9th, we meet to tackle a larger chunk of Ulysses. In the older Penguin edition we're reading until p. 425; in the newer Penguin edition, read until p. 561. We finish just prior to the passage beginning "The Mabbot Street entrance of nighttown" . We commence at 2:00pm at The Known World bookshop in Sturt St, where the coffee machine is back on and the hot chocolate can hold its own.