Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: Patrick Maume
Subject: Re: Irish Studies at St. Mary's University Twickenham
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From: Patrick Maume
Please add my name to the petition. I am of course doing this in a
personal capacity.

On Wed, Jul 20, 2016 at 7:27 PM, Emmons, David M.
wrote:

> Please add my name; it extends the geographical reach which is already
> astonishing.
>
> David M. Emmons
> Prof. History Emeritus
> University of Montana
>
> ________________________________________
> From: The Irish Diaspora Studies List [IR-D[at]JISCMAIL.AC.UK] on behalf of
> O'Brien, Karen [obrien[at]UNC.EDU]
> Sent: Wednesday, July 20, 2016 9:09 AM
> To: IR-D[at]JISCMAIL.AC.UK
> Subject: Re: [IR-D] Irish Studies at St. Mary's University Twickenham
>
> Please include my name as well.
>
> All the best,
> Karen
>
> --
> Karen O=E2=80=99Brien, Ph.D., M.F.A.
> Assistant Professor and David G. Frey Fellow in Dramatic Art
> University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
> Affiliate Faculty: Global Studies; Institute for the Environment; and
> Contemporary European Studies
> Profile: http://unc.academia.edu/KarenOBrien
> E: obrien[at]unc.edu
>
> ________________________________________
> From: The Irish Diaspora Studies List [IR-D[at]JISCMAIL.AC.UK] on behalf of
> Tony Murray [t.murray[at]LONDONMET.AC.UK]
> Sent: 18 July 2016 10:24
> To: IR-D[at]JISCMAIL.AC.UK
> Subject: [IR-D] Irish Studies at St. Mary's University Twickenham
>
> Dear friends and colleagues,
>
> You may be aware that the MA Irish Studies programme and the Centre for
> Irish Studies at St. Mary's University in Twickenham are currently under
> threat of closure.
>
> Find below my letter of support for colleagues at St. Mary's which will
> appear shortly in the Irish Post. Also copied below are similar letters
> from Prof. Roy Foster and from Prof. Mary Hickman & Prof. Shaun Richards.
>
> Please circulate to raise awareness of this matter amongst the wider Iris=
h
> Studies community.
>
> Thank you.
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Tony
>
>
>
> Dr. Tony Murray
>
> Director, Irish Studies Centre
>
> Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
>
> London Metropolitan University
>
> Tower Building,
>
> Holloway Rd
>
> London N7 8DB
>
>
>
> Tel: 020 7133 2593
>
> *
> http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/faculties/faculty-of-social-sciences-and-human=
ities/people/surnames-k-to-m/tony-murray/
> http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/faculties/faculty-of-social-sciences-and-human=
ities/people/surnames-k-to-m/tony-murray/
> >*
>
> londonmet.ac.uk/irishstudiescentre
>
>
>
>
>
>
> 15 July 2016
>
>
>
>
>
> I am writing to express my dismay at the stated intention by the senior
> management at St. Mary=E2=80=99s University to terminate both the Centre =
for Irish
> Studies and its degree programme in the subject.
>
>
>
> The work of our colleagues at St. Mary=E2=80=99s University has long comp=
lemented
> our activities here in the Irish Studies Centre at London Metropolitan
> University. The proposed closure of the only remaining degree programme i=
n
> Irish Studies in the south of England along with the distinguished resear=
ch
> work of the CIS, especially in recent years under the visionary
> directorship of Prof. Lance Pettitt, is extremely concerning. It would be=
a
> severe blow to Prof. Pettitt and his team, but it would also diminish all
> of us who have worked to build and support the profile of Irish Studies
> over the last thirty to forty years.
>
>
>
> It is especially regrettable that a move like this seems possible now whe=
n
> people in Britain require the unique knowledge, expertise and perspective
> that Irish Studies can bring to a rapidly changing European and global
> environment, not least in regard to the potential consequences of Brexit
> for Anglo-Irish relations.
>
>
>
> The loss of Irish Studies at St. Mary=E2=80=99s would be a deeply disturb=
ing
> development and I sincerely hope that the university reconsiders it
> position.
>
>
>
> Yours sincerely,
>
>
>
>
>
> Dr. Tony Murray
>
> Director, Irish Studies Centre
>
> London Metropolitan University
>
>
>
> londonmet.ac.uk/irishstudiescentre
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> 21 June 2016
>
> I find it both shocking and stupefying that the management at St Mary=E2=
=80=99s
> has apparently decided to put an end to the long-lived and distinguished
> tradition of Irish studies there, by suspending the successful MA in Iris=
h
> Studies and effectively withdrawing support from the Centre of Irish
> Studies. The university has maintained a distinguished record in the fiel=
d
> for decades, boosted in recent years by the appointment of Lance Pettit a=
s
> Director, the longstanding input of Ivan Gibbons, and the imaginative
> recruitment of pioneering scholars such as Professor Mary Hickman to
> professorial research fellowships. I have visited the Centre, lectured
> there, and attended stimulating and high-octane symposia organised by its
> staff. It also has a distinguished record of producing students and winni=
ng
> grant-aided support, notably from the Irish Government, as well as
> encouraging research in new growth-areas such as film studies and diaspor=
ic
> patterns. With Oxford and Liverpool, St Mary=E2=80=99s is one of the high=
er
> education institutions that has kept up a consistent strength in Irish
> studies, a subject of great interest for students at undergraduate and
> postgraduate level- especially those based in London. The study of Irish
> society and culture, and the country=E2=80=99s ancient and complex relati=
onship
> with Britain, has been increasingly relevant through the past decades, an=
d
> never more so than at the present moment. For the university to wilfully
> cut off this area of strength and potential seems extraordinarily
> counter-productive, at a time when demand is high and other institutions =
of
> higher education (including my own) are putting resources firmly into thi=
s
> subject as an intellectual growth area. It is also a cavalier and unjust
> way to treat distinguished and hardworking academics. They, and the
> subject, deserve better.
>
> Yours sincerely
>
>
> R.F. Foster
>
> Carroll Professor of Irish History
>
> Hertford College, Oxford
>
>
>
>
>
> The end of the Centre for Irish Studies (CIS) at St Mary=E2=80=99s?
>
> Following a decision made by senior management the MA Irish Studies at St
> Mary=E2=80=99s University will not be recruiting a new cohort of students=
for
> September 2016. The University has further decided not to include the
> Centre for Irish Studies in its plans for strategic development for
> 2016/17, deciding to back Bioethics (CBET), Human Slavery and the Benedic=
t
> Centre for Religion and society amongst others. The contracts of the four
> Research Fellows have all come to the end of their term this year and the=
y
> have been made redundant. The contract of the Director of the Centre ends
> in July and it too will not be renewed. Ivan Gibbons is retiring after
> seven years service at the end of August.
>
> CIS has been in existence since 1991 when the BA Irish Studies degree
> began. The University has long had links with Ireland since its inception
> in 1850. While the current MA students will be =E2=80=9Ctaught out=E2=80=
=9D, London will
> not have a university-backed centre for research and postgraduate teachin=
g
> in Irish Studies for the first time in a generation, despite the capital
> being home to the largest Irish community in Britain.
>
> It is deeply ironic that this decision has been taken in 2016 after all
> the renewal of relations between Britain and Ireland so far this century,
> including reciprocal Head of State visits. The cultural and social analys=
is
> and understanding that is provided by =E2=80=98Irish Studies=E2=80=99 is =
needed now more
> than ever as the relations between the UK and Ireland are tested, and the
> political nature of these islands is being recast internally and within
> Europe.
>
> The University decision has been taken despite the CIS distinguishing
> itself in many ways in the past five years. For the record, it is the onl=
y
> such centre at St Mary=E2=80=99s to have been part of an AHRC research ne=
twork
> grant (2015-17 Irish modernisms); CIS staff won British Academy grants (o=
ne
> grant being the largest single amount in the School of Arts and Humanitie=
s
> in 2014-16, on the Irish diaspora ); as a small, new unit of assessment
> (U36) in the 2014 REF submission it achieved highly and out performed
> other more established units in areas of its submission (60% 4* and 3*
> weighted overall); MA graduates have gone on to PhD study and we had two
> PhD completions and two current part time students have recently
> successfully completed MPhil/PhD transfers within the past 6months; a
> succession of Culture Ireland grants, delivered a vibrant programme of
> pubic engagement and impact projects that took Irish Studies to Luton and
> Leeds, and from Brazil and to the Bronx; it ran and developed an
> increasingly popular set of community language programmes (with 38 studen=
ts
> in 2015/16), funded by the Irish Government, recognized annually at the
> Embassy and most recently (May 2016) CIS successfully applied for 3 year,
> funded programme from the Irish government=E2=80=99s An Roinn Arts, Cultu=
re and
> Gaeltacht to develop the Irish language worth =E2=82=AC104,000.
>
> CIS worked in partnership with the Irish Cultural Centre (ICC) in
> Hammersmith, the APPG in Parliament on an annual lecture series, with the
> Irish Literary Society likewise and undertook research and publications
> with the Irish Film Institute in Dublin and the theatre company Cia
> Ludens/University of Sao Paulo in Brazil. Other colleagues gave invited
> lectures in India in November 2015. In September 2015, CIS hosted the
> British Association of Irish Studies annual conference, in January 2016 i=
t
> worked with the ICC to host a conference on Trauma and the Troubles, and =
in
>
> January the University also had the vision to appoint Prof McAleese as a
> Visiting Professorship with significant Irish input, teaching and public
> engagement.
>
> All this is now being jettisoned.
>
> Prof. Mary J. Hickman
> Prof. Shaun Richards
> Former Professorial Research Fellows St Mary=E2=80=99s University, Twicke=
nham
>
> 4 July 2016
>
> --
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