Comment on Gender Insurgency & Neo-liberal Reform:

In calling for the subversion of neoliberal governance on UK campuses, Richard Johnson suggested a “return to collective work, activism and the formation of ‘little networks’” along with greater demand for “representation” or democratic practices in “decision making.” This is a call worth heeding. One question, though, is under what conditions collective work is to be conducted? Is it within the approved and funded structures of a university, e.g., centres, institutes which are supported by an administration? Or outside it--without the financial support and required institutional assessment rules and with the costs born by individual researchers? Or if at a university supported centre will it become a site for contest over representation which might well supplant the “research” of a centre. The answer to this is critical for our fellow academics have heretofore surrendered to the rules of engagement set by administrators which pay our salaries in exchange for compliant employee behavior. I suggest that independent fora and short lived small networks constitute a preferable approach which can be further supported by blogs or other fora to assist in building networks. It is important to thwart the timidity and risk adverse behavior that Mayer, Fritschler and Bruce L. R. Smith of George Mason University have found predominate on U.S. campuses (see Closed Minds? Politics and Ideology in American Universities). Working collaboratively outside university controlled entities may be the only way in the short run to circumvent the acquiescence to timidity manifest in practices such as publishing only in safe, mainstream journals, curtailing unconventional research projects, or hiring safe candidates for open positions.
K.O. (omarakk@oneonta.edu) SUNY Oneonta.