Debating a death sentence: 5 questions from the Editors of AcademiaSG
AcademiaSG editors suggest 5 questions for Parliament to consider when they discuss the decision to close Yale-NUS College in 2025.
First CHS, now CDE and New College: A tale of three top-down decisions
Peter Ooi and Melody Madhavan, alumni of Yale-NUS College, consider several proposed mergers in faculties and programmes at the National University of Singapore (NUS), and raise concerns about the lack of stakeholder consultation prior to their announcement. In many policy areas, decision-makers in Singapore are increasingly cognisant that making decisions the right way is just […]
At this rate, Yale-NUS College’s successor won’t succeed in achieving its lofty goal
Linda Lim and Pang Eng Fong respond to the NUS President’s stated rationale for closing Yale-NUS College in 2025. The two economists argue that the apparent lack of due process, stakeholder engagement and strategic planning do not augur well for New College, which NUS promises will preserve the essence of Yale-NUS.
Liberal arts, university autonomy and expectations of activism: Yale–NUS in context
Meredith L. Weiss argues that while Yale-NUS College has had some success in creating a more open and tolerant campus culture, attempts to preserve this have to be viewed in historical context. Over the decades, students’ engagement in wider society has been suppressed and deprioritised. State controls on student activism and university autonomy have worked […]
Muslim extremism after two decades of the ‘Global War on Terror’
Mohamed Imran Mohamed Taib, an independent researcher who writes on religious reform, multiculturalism and interreligious relations, considers the effect of the US ‘Global War on Terror’ on Muslim extremism. The 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on America, a global superpower, radically changed the world. Two hijacked planes crashed into the twin towers of the World […]
Tackling Singapore’s terrorism threat: Bringing the people back in
Eugene K B Tan, Associate Professor of Law at the Yong Pung How School of Law, Singapore Management University, considers Singapore’s response to the threat of terrorism following 9/11. This essay is based on an article published in the journal, Law and Policy (2009). Also in our 9-11 anniversary series:Muslim extremism after two decades of the ‘Global […]
The closure of Yale-NUS: A loss for Singapore
Linda Lim (professor emerita of corporate strategy and international business at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, who previously taught at Swarthmore College) and Pang Eng Fong (professor emeritus and former dean at Singapore Management University’s Lee Kong Chian School of Business) consider how Yale-NUS has demonstrated the value of a […]
The song remains the same: The emergence of security studies in the wake of 9-11
Farish A. Noor, Professor at the Department of History, University Malaya (UM), looks at the reductive lens through which Islam and Muslims have often been understood in security studies since the attacks on the United States of 11 September 2001, and traces historical connections between these works and those of 19th-century colonial scholars. Summary After […]
Webinar on Liberal Education in Singapore
Following up on our Academic Freedom Survey released in August 2021, and the recent announcement that Yale-NUS College is to close, AcademiaSG organised this panel discussion on Thursday 9 September. Panelists: Haolie Jiang, Yale-NUS College Class of 2021 and a co-founder of CAPE, the Community for Advocacy & Political Education. (More) Robin Zheng, Assistant Professor […]
Finding the words for richer conversations about race
There are many things scholars cannot do, but building vocabularies and frameworks is a core part of our work. Recent developments are good reminders that ideas are slow-moving things with unpredictable trajectories.