(From the Irish Times: Wednesday 30th March 2005)

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This didn't seem to come through earlier

WOMEN'S STUDIES AT UCD

Madam, - There are serious misconceptions in Kevin Myers's
ill-intentioned and ill-informed attack on Women's Studies at UCD (An
Irishman' Diary, March 22nd).

Firstly, far from stirring in his grave, that great educational
innovator Newman would have welcomed the emergence of
interdisciplinarity as a significant phenomenon of the past two decades
in the academic world. Not only has it proved remarkably fruitful in
promoting dialogue between disciplines, it has also created productive
new approaches and opened up new areas of knowledge and understanding.

It is no coincidence, therefore, that interdisciplinarity has been
embraced internationally in the sciences and in the humanities, and is
at the forefront of innovative research methodologies and educational
policy worldwide.

It is unhelpful and inept of Kevin Myers to conflate
interdisciplinarity and the restructuring of UCD. These are quite
separate matters.

Secondly, Women's Studies is as academically rigorous as any other
discipline. It is regrettable that your columnist is unaware that it is
possible to be academically rigorous and politically engaged without
being biased or doctrinaire. The Women's Education, Research and
Resource Centre at UCD has a well-founded international reputation for
excellence in its field.

Established by UCD in 1990, the centre conducts commissioned research
on a wide range of issues, including gender and public policy, and also
offers a full range of postgraduate and undergraduate courses, all of
which are open to both women and men. The programme in Lesbian Studies
and Queer Culture to which Kevin Myers refers is part of WERRC's
extensive national programme of community outreach education, and was
funded by the Education Equality Initiative of the Department of
Education and Science. An independent and highly positive evaluation of
this new programme was published in 2003. I would be pleased to supply
your columnist with a copy.

Finally, I should point out that WERRC is not "unique", as Kevin Myers
claims. Women's studies and feminist scholarship are flourishing not
only in several other Irish universities, but also worldwide. As a
feminist scholar and teacher, I am proud to work in an area which aims
to contribute to social change for women and in gender relations
through education and research.

For several years now, two of your columnists have been intent on
pursuing a vendetta against feminists. They have viciously targeted
those who work hard and effectively in many practical ways, through
education and research, service provision, community activism and
legislative change to create a more just and egalitarian society.

It is easy to attack ideals and idealists, but it is shabby journalism
and certainly unworthy of a leading national newspaper. Cheap jibes are
no substitute for intelligent critique and informed debate. - Yours,
etc.,

, Director, Women's Education, Research and Resource Centre, UCD,
Dublin 4.



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