David Noble

:For other uses of the name David Noble, please see David Noble (disambiguation)

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David Noble is a critical historian of technology, science and education. He is best known for his seminal work on the social history of automation. He currently teaches at York University in Canada.

Related Topics:
Critical historian - York University - Canada

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In 1983 he founded the National Coalition for Universities in the Public Interest with Ralph Nader and Al Meyerhoff to try "to bring extra-academic pressure to bear upon university administrations who were selling out their colleagues and the public in the pursuit of corporate partnerships."

Related Topics:
National Coalition for Universities in the Public Interest - Ralph Nader - Al Meyerhoff

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Noble's leftist politics have given him a rocky career. He has been fired by both MIT and the Smithsonian Institution and was blocked from giving the commencement address at Harvey Mudd College because the administration claimed he was "anti-technology". At York University he was attacked as "anti-science" and "anti-intellectual" by the university president and his appointment to Simon Fraser University was blocked by administrators.http://www.monthlyreview.org/ddmxcerpt.htm

Related Topics:
MIT - Smithsonian Institution - Harvey Mudd College - Simon Fraser University

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In late November 2004, at York University, Noble garnered controversy for handing out information sheets regarding York's principal fundraising body, the York Foundation. Noble alleged that the Foundation is biased by the presence and influence of pro-Israel lobbyists, activists, and people involved in Jewish fundraising agencies and that this bias affects the political conduct of York's administration in important ways, such as the silencing of pro-Palestinian voices on campus.

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Most recently, Noble has been involved in helping found York Public Access as an alternative to the increased corporate slant of York University's official media relations department. Throughout 2005, Noble has been active in bringing attention to the continuing corporatization of the Canadian public university, in advocating for the importance of academic freedom and the socially crucial role of the tenured academic as public servant, and other social justice issues. Noble's latest book is a sweeping history of the myth of the promised land, connecting the disappointments of the ancient Western religious story of redemption and salvation with the rise of global capitalism and the response to these disappointments by the newest social justice movements.

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