Kmflett's Blog

Its 50 years since Warwick University Ltd was published as a Penguin Special. A 2nd edition remains in print.

The book detailed an occupation of Warwick University by students and the papers they discovered which revealed the links between the then new University and local Coventry big business. At the time such links were thought to be scandalous, probably a bit less so in the world of 2020. That doesnt mean they are anymore satisfactory however.

The book contains a final chapter by E P Thompson, then running the Centre for Social History at Warwick. He was an active supporter of the occupation and he warns of what the rise of the business University could mean for the traditional idea of a liberal academic education:

‘Is it inevitable that the university will be reduced to the function of providing, with increasingly authoritarian efficiency, pre-packed intellectual commodities which meet the requirements of management? Or can we by our efforts transform it into a centre of free discussion and action, tolerating and even encouraging “subversive” thought and activity, for a dynamic renewal of the whole society within which it operates?

The 14 days of strike action starting today by UCU members in 74 Universities raise very similar questions where workloads and casualisation,not to speak of pay levels are centrally about the University as a profit centre rather than a place for inquiry and learning.

History Workshop (@HistoryWO) are compiling a strike syllabus and Warwick University Ltd should definitely be on it