University, Autonomy, and Neoliberalism, Today

GISELA CATANZARO

Bolonia

Conferencia; Opening Conference of the International Consortium of Critical Theory Programs (ICCTP): The Critical Tasks of the University; 2017

International Consortium of Critical Theory Programs (ICCTP)

Although there is a certain trans-historical persistence to the question of the critical tasks of the university, which continues to resonate, this question does not arise in a vacuum. Instead, it emerges precisely in the moments of greatest obscurity, moments of crisis in which it seems more necessary than ever not only to resist but also to oppose, even from within the university, new forms of praxis to dominant social and political tendencies. But the critical emergence of the question about the critical potential of the university remains paradoxical, because it is precisely in moments like this that the possibility of such critical thought can least be taken for granted. I would like to argue that this crisis of confidence concerning the existence or even the possibility of critical thought in our university institutions is not purely a loss. But neither can we make this crisis the conclusion of our reflections on the critical tasks of the university in the present. Instead, I think a productive point of departure for such reflection would be to refer to the collision of two thesis that, in my view, it?s essential to advance simultaneously?and forcefully?in light of the current political and ideological conjuncture. On the one hand, there ?is? no autonomous university to defend. On the other hand, it?s necessary to defend the autonomy to which the university claims to aspire.