News in brief

The scheme is designed to help universities overcome the difficulties of hiring staff, especially in areas such as science/business and at a senior administrative level. The Retired Academics Database (RAD) is a register of retired academics from around the world who are keen to continue teaching after they have formally retired and are willing to work overseas. http://www.acu.ac.uk/adverts/rad/ . .
Bio-political tattooing

Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben, a New York University (NYU) Global Distinguished Professor, recently canceled his trip to America in protest of the new U.S. policy of fingerprinting and photographing all foreigners who need visas to enter the country. Agamben, an accomplished scholar and writer who planned to teach a seven-week graduate seminar in NYU’s department of comparative literature in March. Agamben explained that he objected to fingerprinting, retinal scanning and subcutaneous tattooing, all of which he defined as ”bio-political tattooing.” He said he feared that domestic citizens would eventually become targets of this tattooing: “The bio-political tattooing the United States now imposes could well be a precursor to what we’ll be asked to accept later as the normal identity registration of a good citizen.”

Castles in the air

Even building a castle in the air is just a matter of clever design, it now seems. The Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) in Zürich recently celebrated its 150th anniversary with a competition to design ‘castles in the air’: examples of future-orientated party architecture. Out of 49 designs, the top five were chosen. Hauke Henneke, head of the jury and professor of Architecture, slyly remarked that some entries were worthy of some of the castles in the air the Executive Board of the ETH sometimes comes up with.

The winning castle in the air will actually be built. It’s meant to be an eye-catching feature of the campus in the period between March and June. The castles in the air should be very easy to construct and deconstruct: they’re not meant to be permanent.

www.ethlife.ethz.ch . .
Americans overcharged

American students pay much more for their academic books than their European counterparts. A Californian consumer organisation published a report critical of the artificially high prices Californian and Oregon students must pay for their books. On average, a student must pay 900 dollars for books. The price differences are indeed staggering. One example: ‘Calculus, early transcedentals’ by James Stewart. In Holland, a student pays 60 euros for this book, which is regularly used at TU Delft. Students in the U.S. must pay 130 dollars for the same book.

www.calpirgstudents.org . .

Retired resources

The Association of Commonwealth Universities, whose membership comprises over 480 universities drawn from the Commonwealth countries of Africa and Asia, Australasia and the South Pacific, Canada and the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, Cyprus and Malta, has created a database of retired academics and administrators willing to take on short-term contracts at understaffed universities in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. The scheme is designed to help universities overcome the difficulties of hiring staff, especially in areas such as science/business and at a senior administrative level. The Retired Academics Database (RAD) is a register of retired academics from around the world who are keen to continue teaching after they have formally retired and are willing to work overseas. http://www.acu.ac.uk/adverts/rad/ . .
Bio-political tattooing

Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben, a New York University (NYU) Global Distinguished Professor, recently canceled his trip to America in protest of the new U.S. policy of fingerprinting and photographing all foreigners who need visas to enter the country. Agamben, an accomplished scholar and writer who planned to teach a seven-week graduate seminar in NYU’s department of comparative literature in March. Agamben explained that he objected to fingerprinting, retinal scanning and subcutaneous tattooing, all of which he defined as ”bio-political tattooing.” He said he feared that domestic citizens would eventually become targets of this tattooing: “The bio-political tattooing the United States now imposes could well be a precursor to what we’ll be asked to accept later as the normal identity registration of a good citizen.”

Castles in the air

Even building a castle in the air is just a matter of clever design, it now seems. The Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) in Zürich recently celebrated its 150th anniversary with a competition to design ‘castles in the air’: examples of future-orientated party architecture. Out of 49 designs, the top five were chosen. Hauke Henneke, head of the jury and professor of Architecture, slyly remarked that some entries were worthy of some of the castles in the air the Executive Board of the ETH sometimes comes up with.

The winning castle in the air will actually be built. It’s meant to be an eye-catching feature of the campus in the period between March and June. The castles in the air should be very easy to construct and deconstruct: they’re not meant to be permanent.

www.ethlife.ethz.ch . .
Americans overcharged

American students pay much more for their academic books than their European counterparts. A Californian consumer organisation published a report critical of the artificially high prices Californian and Oregon students must pay for their books. On average, a student must pay 900 dollars for books. The price differences are indeed staggering. One example: ‘Calculus, early transcedentals’ by James Stewart. In Holland, a student pays 60 euros for this book, which is regularly used at TU Delft. Students in the U.S. must pay 130 dollars for the same book.

www.calpirgstudents.org . .