THE CEIMSA DOSSIER

UNIVERSITE STEHDHAL-GRENOBLE 3

(2004)

DOCUMENT #9

5 July 2004

Grenoble, France

Dear Colleagues and Friends of CEIMSA,

On July 1, 2004 our Research Center web site, <http://www.u-grenoble3.fr/ceimsa>, was removed from the Stendhal University server. Our university administators cut the line to our web site, which was an important research tool for hundreds of students and scholars in Europe and America. Several thousand pages, including the "Publications des ACTES" of three international confrences which contained articles written by teachers at Stendhal University, as well as many, many other scholars are no longer available to researchers and students..

This arbitrary and grossly irresponsible attack on academic freedom has already provoked a response from one active scholar.  (Please see letter below.) We invite you to join us in defending nothing less than a fundamental academic freedom : TO CONDUCT RESEARCH AND TO READ SHCOLARLY PUBLICATIONS.

In addition to impeding current research, Stendhal University administrators have interupted my summer course on U.S. Foreign Policy, offer to a group of students from The University of Texas-Austin, who until now were using our research center web site to prepare for their summer class on the  Grenoble campus. This course will soon be completed, but without the necessary readings found on the CEIMSA web site.

Again, we invite you to protest this arbitrary action against our research center and against academic freedom, an action which has been accompanied with no explanation --neither in writing nor verbal !???

Sincerely,

F. Feeley

Professor of American Studies

University of Grenoble