Move to phase out philosophy teaching at leading department branded a 'national and international concern'

A university's decision to shut its philosophy programme has sparked concerns about the future of the humanities and become a cause célèbre for intellectuals around the world.

Students at Middlesex University, in north London, are engaged in a lengthy "sit in" over plans to phase out philosophy teaching at their campus, a decision they claim is ideologically driven.

Some of the world's leading philosophers have waded into battle, declaring in a letter that the closure is of "national and international concern". The controversy is a sign of things to come as cutbacks are made in humanities departments across the country.

Middlesex's Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy, an international leader in subjects such as critical theory, aesthetics, Marxism and psychoanalysis, is now in jeopardy.

The letter, to the Times Higher Educational Supplement, is signed by Slavoj Zižek, international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, Alain Badiou, emeritus professor of philosophy at Paris's Ecole Normale Superieure, Judith Butler, Maxine Elliot professor of rhetoric and comparative literature, University of California, Berkeley, and more than 20 others. It claims "Middlesex is widely recognised as one of the most important centres for the study of modern European philosophy anywhere in the English-speaking world."

An earlier letter, from the linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky, expressed the hope that the "unfortunate decision will be reversed, for the sake of the university, the intellectual life of the UK, and not least the future of this ancient and indispensable discipline worldwide".

The decision to close the university's philosophy teaching programme was taken last month by the dean of the School of Arts and Humanities, Ed Esche, following a six-month consultation with staff. The university says the number of BA philosophy students it attracts is "unsustainably low", at 12 a year for the past three years and with six firm acceptances so far for next year.

In an open letter to his colleagues and students published last month, Professor Peter Hallward, programme leader for the MA programmes in philosophy at Middlesex said: "The dean explained that the decision to terminate recruitment and close the programmes was 'simply financial', and based on the fact that the university believes that it may be able to generate more revenue if it shifts its resources to other subjects."

The decision comes amid wider concerns about cutbacks in humanities departments at Sussex, King's College London and Hull. Many academics fear that universities are looking to shift their focus away from humanities to courses such as science, technology and business that can attract more teaching income.

Earlier this year, in a letter to the Observer, several university vice-chancellors warned that funding cuts and a decision to focus on the sciences have left philosophy, literature, history, languages and art facing "worrying times".

Students at Middlesex have started an online protest campaign, and more than 12,000 people have signed an internet petition attacking the closure plan. This weekend they are holding a series of lectures and debates on their Trent Park campus to create an "alternative educational experience" and promote the "ethos" of their philosophy department.

They claim the department is profitable, has one of the most successful masters philosophy programmes in the country and, in a recent assessment, was ranked as the highest-scoring department in the university.

A Middlesex university spokesman said: "Philosophy is only able to operate with subsidies from other subject areas in the university. The university has no choice but to address this issue, particularly in the context of announced, and further anticipated, public funding cuts. We recognise this is a difficult period for philosophy staff and students, and will be working with them to determine the best way forward."

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