As far as I'm aware I'm not voting on the existence of hobbits this week, but if I were and the J.R.R. Tolkien Professor of English Literature and Language was urging me to believe in them I'd be looking at who was bankrolling them. #orcslivesmatter#sauronrules#entsrsogay
Flippancy aside Beth I take your point, but the funding link has to be addressed surely? As far as I know none of the chairs you've listed have the kind of political slant or clout an EU funded scholarship program has and certainly have no bearing on an EU referendum.
Three links and selected quotes on Jean Monnet scholars:
From an Internet dictionary [apparently] providing concise explanations of terms used in the EU debate:
"The EU pays for hundreds of, so-called, Monnet professors to teach about European integration at European universities and high schools.
They have an important influence on the ideas of social science academics, increasing support for EU integration."
http://en.euabc.com/word/673
From UKIP:
"To learn that one and a half thousand academics around the world are being paid by the EU to promote EU integration is deeply concerning and akin to the sort of deliberate indoctrination one would expect in Cold War Communism, not in the twenty first century western world."
http://www.ukip.org/eu_subverting_uk_education_as_ukip_reveals_eu_funded_university_professors
From the TES:
Robert Ackrill, a professor at
Nottingham Trent University who won a Jean Monnet chair to support teaching on the economics of the EU, said that there was “nothing” in the application process “that requires us to show we have delivered pro-EU views”.
The award money is used to support teaching and research, he said. “I receive no money from the chair into my pocket.”
https://www.timeshighereducation.co...s-deny-claims-of-bias-from-brexit-campaigners
Pay your money and take your choice right? It's a minefield Beth. and while I'm happy to concede I've never been one for academia it won't stop me questioning "experts" and their motivations which is, I think, a sound principle.