AUL/General Introduction to AUL

Where does The Autonomous University of Lancaster come from?

AUL first emerged in late, intoxicated hours after a preparation meeting for the first knowledge lab. It is just an ideal, a banner under which a group of staff and students have begun to self-organise educational settings that are not limited by demands of the market. The aim of AUL is to offer seminars, lectures, workshops and whatever else you can imagine that is too narrow, too political, too hot or too different for the general academic curriculum in mainstream institutions. AUL is a growing network of people from around the world. The mission statement is still just random notes, visions, demands. A starting spectacular event was not really necessary till now :-)

History

The first meeting was at the first knowledge lab, as mentioned above. The second meeting took place shortly after. During late 2005 all kinds of people (activists, students, staff) showed up. Much support has been given by staff and students from the Institute for Environment, Philosophy and Public Policy and from CESAGen.

In early 2006 very diverse, quite independent events took place. The biggest of them was the Yurt. In spring the Thursday Lectures emerged, which continue till now. You can get a whole list of activities which took place in 2005 and 2006. Since autumn 2006 a [[AUL/Streams##FILMS_AND_DISCUSSIONS_FOR_SOCIAL_CHANGE.21|FILMS AND DISCUSSIONS FOR SOCIAL CHANGE! stream started.

Political Background of AUL

People who use the AUL banner for their activities want to deal with radical/alternative political topics, prepare action, experiment with forms of education, and they do not want to restrict their activities to customers of Lancaster Uni. Thus, AUL is a project of Popular Education. The mainstream approach to education is not accepted - it is too hierarchic!