The New Republic Launches Open University
Posted on September 25, 2006
The New Republic has added a new blog called Open University. The blog will be home to scholarly and political discussions. Yale Daily News reports that TNR has brought together a number of scholars to post on the blog include two Yale professors.
A U.S. publication known for its moderate-liberal viewpoints, The New Republic added the blog to its site in order to give members of academic institutions a forum for political discussion. Two Yale professors, David Bromwich and Jacob Hacker, became writers for this blog after contributing other work to the magazine. A Yale alumnus, David Greenberg '90 -- currently an assistant professor of history and journalism and media studies at Rutgers University - is the moderator of the site.Open University's welcome post was written by Rutgers University professor and author David Greenberg.Greenberg, also a contributing editor for The New Republic, said Open University differs from other blogs in its content and approach. Writers - almost all current professors in the humanities - contribute short entries throughout the day, commenting on topics ranging from international-student enrollment to professors with political ambitions.
"The idea, as I understand it, is to bring together a number of scholars from different fields, of differing views, of different ages and degrees of experience with blogging," Greenberg said. "The hope is that collectively we will have something of interest to contribute to debates about politics, culture, academia and education."
To the best of our knowledge, this blog is unlike any other out there. It's dedicated to thinking about not just the news of the day but also the news from the academy: Controversies in campus politics that warrant thoughtful discussion. Scholarship from our various disciplines that we think deserves a broader hearing. Ideas we had in doing our research that seem eerily relevant to something we read in The New York Times today. Our bloggers range widely over the political spectrum. They include both novices and old hands (as well as chastened dabblers like me).In the post Greenberg linked to an article he wrote for the Times about blogging. You can the rest of the long list of contributors to Open University here. Open University looks like it will be an interesting blog. The New Republic has had some bad luck with blogs in the past, such as Lee Siegel's terminated blog.
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