---
layout: post
status: publish
published: true
title: ! 'Media piece: "Taking Back the University", The Guardian'

wordpress_id: 1173
wordpress_url: https://www.martineve.com/?p=1173
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categories:
- Politics
- Academia
- Output
- Public Engagement
- Media
tags:
- academia
- protest
- Media
comments:
- id: 6317
  author: peps mccrea
  author_email: pepsmccrea@gmail.com
  author_url: http://www.learnerosity.com
  date: !binary |-
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  date_gmt: !binary |-
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  content: ! 'Looking forward to the ''director''s cut''.... want to hear the real
    story!


    Incidentally, how did the remote collaborative writing work out for you - would
    you do it again?'
- id: 6318
  author: Martin Paul Eve
  author_email: martin@martineve.com
  author_url: ''
  date: !binary |-
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  date_gmt: !binary |-
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  content: ! 'The remote collaboration on Google Docs went really well. We each took
    it in turns to blast stuff down, then edited each others'' writing. Was tough
    to get going and expose oneself at the very beginning, but once it was underway
    it wasn''t a problem.


    Directors'' cut tomorrow!'
---
<p>A quick post to mark the publication, co-authored with <a href="http://jennifermjones.net/">Jennifer M Jones</a>, of "<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/higher-education-network/blog/2011/jun/15/univeristies-radical-academics-jobs-training">Taking Back the University</a>"; a piece that gives a quick rundown of radical alternative re-imaginings of the University over the past year.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.martineve.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/owl.jpg" alt="Angry Owl" title="Angry Owl" style="width:750px;" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1174" /></p>
<p>The piece was written collaboratively in Google Documents originally under the title "Angry Young Academics", with each of us blasting down thoughts before restructuring. Once we had reached a point where we felt satisfied, we began negotiating with The Guardian. Much of the material from the original had to go. This is fair enough; a mainstream media outlet has to cater for its audience. We would like, though, probably in a few weeks, to release the unadulterated "directors' cut" version, so keep your eyes peeled.</p>
<p>Anyway, here's a teaser:</p>
<blockquote><p>Whenever university radicalisation is condemned, it should be remembered that radicalism is partially the purpose of the university. It has long been among the core functions of the university to reconsider the self-explanatory. "Radical", a return to the beginning, comes from radicalis, meaning "of roots". This radicalism is evident: as atomism was validated by 17th and 18th century chemistry, shattering all that seemed solid into (predominantly) air, other fields realised that they too must be radical.</p></blockquote>
<p>You can read the rest over at the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/higher-education-network/blog/2011/jun/15/univeristies-radical-academics-jobs-training">Guardian Higher Education Network</a>.</p>
<p><i>Featured image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/loshak/">Daniel2005</a> under a CC-BY license.</i></p>