2005 Media Releases
Wednesday, 30 November 2005
Transformation of universities at a time of great social change
Universities, challenged by a variety of social forces, are undergoing a deep transformation in both their internal structure and their relationship to the rest of society.
This transformation is central to a more general intensification of social inequality, privatisation of public institutions, and reorganisation of access to knowledge …
These comments come from one of the world’s leading social scientists, Professor Craig Calhoun, who visits Melbourne next week as keynote international speaker at a special La Trobe University forum dealing with the future of universities.
The seminar, at 11 am on Monday 5 December, has been organised by the La Trobe University Thesis Eleven Centre for Social Theory, named after the highly successful Australian journal of social theory, 'Thesis Eleven', that celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.
Professor Calhoun is President of the US Social Science Research Council (SSRC) and Professor of Sociology and History at New York University. Under his presidency, the SSRC has been reinvigorated as a leader of public social science and research into critical social issues. His own research interests range from knowledge institutions, innovation, information technology, HIV/AIDS and social transformation to media, democracy and the public sphere.
Professor Calhoun says for universities to be effective institutions for the public good, requires ‘not merely a defense of old habits or an embrace of new trends’.
‘We need a stronger analysis of how universities can be public, how funding shapes possibilities, what kinds of benefits can be achieved, how they are distributed, and – perhaps most basically – how this can be addressed reflexively, in public discussion both within universities and on national and international levels.’
Co-presenter of the seminar is leading Australian higher education commentator, Professor Simon Marginson, from Monash University, who has recently been appointed to the Editorial Board of 'Thesis Eleven'.
The seminar will be held on the third floor, David Myers Building , La Trobe University main Melbourne campus at Bundoora, [Melway Reference E8 Map 573, (29th ed.)]
Yankee go home - and take me with you!
On Wednesday 7 December, Professor Calhoun will feature at a second Thesis Eleven seminar on ‘American Civilization’, starting at 10 am at Radford Hall, Chisholm College, on the main Melbourne campus at Bundoora.
This will include the Australian launch of a new book, ‘Gore Vidal’s America’, written by La Trobe University Professor of Politics, Dennis Altman. The book will be launched by Dr Ian Britain, Editor of 'Meanjin'.
Professor Altman will be a panelist at the seminar, along with Professor Beilharz; La Trobe sociologist, Dr Trevor Hogan; Monash University educationist, Dr Peter Murphy; Sydney writer and author of 'Highway to Hell', Clinton Walker; and La Trobe historian, Dr Diane Kirkby.
Professor Beilharz, Director of the La Trobe University Thesis Eleven Centre for Social Theory, says the seminar will explore why Australians, and people from many other nations today, have a ‘love-hate relationship’ with the US. Until the sixties, in contrast, America was viewed as a new civilization, or as ‘The American Dream’.
‘Many people say they hate America, but scratch the surface and you find this great affinity with US culture. Maybe you like jazz, or American films, or their technology. A good illustration of this is a bit of graffiti I saw in Mexico: “Yankee go home” - and beneath someone had written: “and take me with you”.’
Professor Beilharz says the US and modernity go hand-in-hand.
‘For many people the US represents a capacity to remake themselves. While Australians admire many aspects of US popular culture, they don’t historically like inequality.
‘When you’re dealing with the fundamental intellectual questions of today, you can’t avoid looking at the US and, differently, Europe. For example welfare: do you have a minimal system like the US, or make better provisions like some European countries? Do you have Howard’s US-style industrial relations system or something more like Germany’s? Should we follow the American university system, or go our own way?’
Professor Calhoun will also be awarded an honorary doctorate from La Trobe University for his contributions to the social sciences. With a doctorate from Oxford University, he has taught at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, from 1977 to 1996, where he was Dean of the Graduate School and founding Director of the University Center for International Studies. He has also taught at the Beijing Foreign Studies University, the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, and the Universities of Asmara, Khartoum, Oslo, and Oxford.
His study of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 resulted in the prize-winning book, 'Neither Gods Nor Emperors: Students and the Struggle for Democracy in China' (California, 1994). Among his other works are 'Understanding September 11th' (New Press, 2002), and 'Lessons of Empire' (New Press, 2005). He was also Editor in Chief of the 'Oxford Dictionary of the Social Sciences'.