Friday 11 March

This week, Prakarsh will ask us to think about the implications of the LSE’s recent “Gaddafigate” scandal.

It has been quite an eventful week for LSE and it would be great to know where we stand in today's happy hour.

Some questions to think about:

- Has LSE's reputation actually been hit by its links to the Gaddafi family?

- If yes, was Howard Davies right in stepping down to salvage it (after all, he was popular with students and staff)?

- Which of the following reasons is the most instrumental or was it their combination that led to the resignation?

1. PhD being awarded to Saif Gaddafi and accusations of it being plagiarized

2. Davies being an advisor to the Libya Sovereign Wealth Fund

3. Accepting charity from the Gaddafi foundation

- More generally, should universities not take money from dictatorial regimes (even if there are no strings attached)?

- Where do we go from here: should universities also look into sources of dubious tuition funding or if relatives of students are engaged in any wrongdoing?

- Are universities increasingly sacrificing academic independence through donations (or has it always or never happened)?

Some links:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/mar/08/universities-donations-tyrant-lse-gaddafi

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9413000/9413950.stm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/mar/03/howard-davies-lse-resignation-letter