Contesting Academia: A Long Table

From major budget cuts to violently repressed protests concerning collaborations with external partners, from science scepticism and restrictions of academic freedom to debates questioning whether academics should be involved in activism, academia is being subjected to contestation from multiple sides. 

Contesting Academia

In this first event of a series on the role of contestation in academia, the Contesting Governance Platform invites different members of the Utrecht University (UU) community (academic and support staff, students, activists, and representatives) to share their insights about forms of contestation they have witnessed, been subjected to, experienced, or participated in at UU and beyond. Organised by Dr Fabio Cristiano (Conflict Studies) and Dr Alessandra Spadaro (International and European Law), we invite reflections on academia ‘re-imagined’ with thoughts shared on what a university is or should be, the role of academia in society and the future of the university. 

The event is conceived as a “long table” conversation. This format challenges traditional notions of expertise and hierarchy and was first developed by Lois Weaver in 2004 to have conversations on difficult topics in a setting similar to a dinner table. The conversation around the long table will be facilitated by prompts shared by the organizers, with the aim of mapping the experiences of participants with contestation in and against academia. The insights gained will inform in a bottom-up manner the topics covered in the other events of the “Contesting Academia” series. If you would like to participate, please see the registration link below, and note that the space is limited.