A massive protest movement has emerged in response to an economic crisis, rapidly increasing wealth inequity, and diminishing employment and educational opportunities for an entire generation. The recent financial crisis, facilitated by Wall Street malfeasance, has only exacerbated a devastating decades-long trend that continues to socialize risk and privatize profit. This trend toward increasing economic injustice has disproportionately affected communities of color and left tens of millions homeless, jobless, and overburdened with student loans and underwater mortgages.

As educators and students, we have witnessed decreases in state funding for education, coupled with increases in tuition costs, the privatization of research, the commodification of campus spaces, the use of precarious and part-time positions, and attacks on collective bargaining. This has had a disciplinary effect on educators and students alike, hindering the pursuit of higher education, open and critical inquiry, as well as democratic participation.

SPEP stands in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement, which represents a direct challenge to these social and political inequities and economic injustices, as it reclaims social spaces for democratic deliberation and participation and pushes back against a growing suspicion of social solidarity and the public good. SPEP encourages its members to support these principles and practices in the Occupy movement through any and all of the unique resources available to them.

The passage of the following resolution is not intended to endorse the methodologies or conclusions of the Pluralist’s Guide to Philosophy but to express, on behalf of the SPEP membership, appreciation of and support for the efforts of the Pluralist’s Guide to inform prospective students about graduate programs friendly to philosophical pluralism. For a statement regarding SPEP’s position on all ranking statements see: http://www.spep.org/?page_id=78.

Proposal for Resolution for SPEP Members Regarding the Pluralist’s Guide to Philosophy (accepted, with amendments, 10-21-2011 at the SPEP Business Meeting)

I. The membership of the Society of Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy supports the independent efforts of the new Pluralist’s Guide to Philosophy to:

1. provide new sources of information on areas of philosophy that remain underrepresented in most doctoral programs in the discipline and
2. provide information on the conditions for women and minorities in graduate philosophy programs.

The membership of SPEP has long championed pluralistic approaches to philosophy, as well as increased diversity in a field that continues to have the lowest representation by women and people of color compared to all other disciplines in the humanities and social sciences.

II. For the same set of reasons, the membership also supports the new APA-sponsored Guide to Graduate Study in Philosophy, which complements the Pluralist’s Guide by providing a comprehensive survey of all Ph.D. and M.A. graduate programs in the U.S. It includes concise information on women and people of color among faculty and graduate students as well as figures on average number of years to completion of the degree and placement data, while furnishing a profile of departments’ distinctive emphases.

III. We commend those committed to providing enhanced information about doctoral programs in philosophy in the US, as well as those working to promote diversity in the profession. While we appreciate those who have engaged in constructive dialogue about both Guides and their production, we condemn the incivility that has marked some criticisms, especially ad hominem attacks on the Pluralist’s Guide’s organizers and contributors as well as on SPEP and its membership despite the latter’s independence from the construction of this Guide. We are grateful to the authors of and contributors to both Guides for their work. Philosophy currently faces unprecedented marginalization within the academy; we support efforts to move past archaic divisions and find common ground.

Given the recent and ongoing controversies surrounding the rankings of graduate programs in Philosophy, we would like to reiterate that SPEP remains independent from any ranking system.

For more information on SPEP’s long standing position on graduate program rankings, we invite you to read our Statement on Rankings.

Last spring we reported that the Philosophy Department at the University of Nevada, Reno was in danger of being eliminated due to severe budget cuts. Today, we have received word that the budget proposal approved by the Regents of the University at the June 17 meeting “did not include any reduction of faculty or elimination of programs in the Department of Philosophy.”

Deborah Achtenberg, Chair of the Department, has a letter expressing gratitude to all who spoke out in support of Philosophy at UNR. In the letter, she also outlines some of the initiatives and activities the Department is undertaking to continue to enrich the education of students and serve the interests of the University and the state of Nevada.

Read Deborah Achtenberg’s letter here.

We are very happy to hear this and join the Department of Philosophy at UNR in celebrating this good news.

50th Anniversary SPEP Conference Cover Design

We are very happy to announce the details of the 50th Anniversary SPEP Conference to be held in Philadelphia, October 19-22, 2011.

The 2011 SPEP Program is now available here.

We invite you to visit the Philosophy Documentation Center’s SPEP Conference Registration webpage to register for the 2011 conference in Philadelphia, pay your Annual Dues for the 2011-2012 Membership Year, and register for the 50th Anniversary Banquet Dinner.

Please note: to attend the conference you must pay BOTH conference registration fees and annual dues. If you would like to renew your membership or join SPEP without registering for the conference, please visit the Philosophy Documentation Center’s SPEP Membership webpage.

The 2011 50th Anniversary Conference will take place at the Sheraton Society Hill Hotel: 1 Dock Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104.

This year the conference will start on Wednesday afternoon, October 19th.

We will have special anniversary sessions featured throughout the conference, culminating in a banquet dinner on Saturday evening, October 22nd followed by a reception featuring music and dancing.

All attendees are cordially invited to the banquet dinner on Saturday, October 22nd at 8:00 p.m. Please join us for a celebration of those who have participated and contributed to the success of SPEP in the last 50 years. Our banquet will include a brief program of acknowledgements, a piano concert by Michael Kim, a special menu created by Executive Chef Glen Matlack, and a complimentary selection of fine wines.

To register for the banquet dinner (cost is $60) and make your entrée selection, please visit the Philosophy Documentation Center’s SPEP registration page.

All attendees are invited to attend the après-dinner reception including dancing and cash bar at 10:00 p.m.

Room Reservations

Lodging for conference participants has been arranged at the Sheraton Society Hill Hotel, One Dock Street (Second & Walnut Streets), Philadelphia, PA 19106. Phone: (215) 238-6000.

Ask for the SPEP room block or book directly online at our group reservations website: http://www.starwoodmeeting.com/Book/SPEPconference2011.

• Conference rate: $175 (single & double); Additional Persons $20. Hotel includes fitness center, sauna, and indoor pool. Wi-Fi is complimentary in the lobby. The hotel is located adjacent to the waterfront and set within America’s most famous square mile, blocks from the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, world class restaurants, night clubs, theaters, and shopping.

Note: Room reservations must be made by 12:00 a.m. on September 26, 2011. Please mention the SPEP conference rate.

Graduate Student Accommodations

For information contact Laura McMahon at laura.mcmahon@villanova.edu.

Book Exhibit

All inquiries related to this year’s book exhibit should be directed to Rachel Aumiller, book exhibit coordinator (raumil01 (at) villanova.edu).

SPEP is pleased to congratulate long time member, Linda Alcoff, for her recent election as Vice-President of the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association. After a year as Vice-President, she will become President of the APA in the 2012-13 academic year.

Linda Alcoff is Professor of Philosophy at Hunter College and the CUNY Graduate Center.

Her work focuses on social identity and race, epistemology, politics and violence, Foucault, and Latino Studies.  She has edited 9 volumes and written two books: Visible Identities: Race, Gender and the Self (Oxford 2006), Real Knowing: New Versions of the Coherence Theory (Cornell 1996).

She has served on the Executive Committee of the APA and as Co-director of SPEP. We wish her the best of success in her new position.

UNR Building by Ed Bierman, on Flickr

We join the American Philosophical Association to state our strong concern over the proposed state budget cuts at the University of Nevada, Reno.

The administration has proposed to respond to threatened budget cuts from the governor and state legislature by eliminating the masters program and the undergraduate major in philosophy.

We urge you to contact the Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents regarding the danger that this proposes for the study of philosophy in the state of Nevada.  The University of Nevada at Reno has the only graduate program of philosophy in the state.

Also send further support for the philosophy department to the UNR administration (president@unr.edu).