NZ Initiative James Kierstead 01w v2

Dr James Kierstead

Research Fellow

James is Senior Lecturer in Classics at Victoria University of Wellington, where his research focusses on ancient Greek democracy.

His main focus at the Initiative will be on higher education policy, including academic freedom.

James holds a BA in Classics from Oxford, an MA in Ancient History from the University of London, an MA in Political Science from Stanford, and a PhD in Classics from Stanford.

He is also the co-host (with Michael Johnston) of Free Kiwis!, a podcast dedicated to free speech in a New Zealand context, and he can be found on Twitter at @Kleisthenes2.

 

Phone: 04 499 0790

Email: james.kierstead@nzinitiative.org.nz

Recent Work

The problem with the vice-chancellor’s ‘free speech’ column

In a column that appeared in The Post on 23 February, Victoria University of Wellington Vice-Chancellor Nic Smith criticizes the coalition's commitment to have universities adopt a free speech policy. Smith notes that ACT Party leader david seymour ‘has previously criticised universities for declining to host certain speakers and argued the institutions should lose funding if they don't “protect free speech.”' The vice-chancellor then states that ‘one inference of all this is that anyone who wants to speak on campus should be able to do so.' But it wouldn't actually be valid to infer from Seymour's criticisms of recent deplatformings at New Zealand universities that he thinks that ‘anyone who wants to speak on campus should be able to do so.' You can, of course, think that Vice-Chancellor Jan Thomas was wrong to prevent Don Brash from speaking to a student politics club in August 2018 (for example) and at the same time recognize that random people can't simply turn up at a university without an invitation and expect to get a hearing. Read more

Dr Michael Johnston
Dr James Kierstead
Kiwiblog
14 March, 2024

WEF cracked it

Readers will no doubt be aware of the WEF and of the many interesting and informative articles and posts about the organisation that can be found online. You may be aware, for example, that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as well as being the secret love child of Fidel Castro, is a WEF puppet. Read more

Dr James Kierstead
Insights Newsletter
8 March, 2024

When the bloat began

Last year, the Initiative released a report on administrative bloat at New Zealand universities. It showed that the majority of staff at New Zealand universities are non-academics, and that this has been the case for quite some time. Read more

Dr James Kierstead
Insights Newsletter
1 March, 2024
website greece

The Greek Miracle

Late last year, I taught my final course for Victoria University of Wellington, guiding 19 young Kiwis around Greece for the Classics field trip. The trip offered plenty of food for thought (not to mention food) for anyone interested (and how could you not be?) in the stupendous artistic and intellectual achievements of the ancient Greeks. Read more

Dr James Kierstead
ZB Plus
29 February, 2024
When the bloat began website thumbnail

Media Release: New research reveals the start of excessive non-academic staffing in New Zealand Universities

New research reveals the start of excessive non-academic staffing in New Zealand Universities Wellington (Wednesday, 28 February 2024) - This new research note, When the Bloat Began: Non-Academic Staffing at New Zealand Universities over the Long Run, 1961-1997, reveals the year in which non-academic employees started to outnumber academics at our universities. Building on the findings of our earlier research report, Blessing or Bloat? Read more

Dr Michael Johnston
Dr James Kierstead
28 February, 2024
Research Note When the bloat began with outline

When the Bloat Began: Non-Academic Staffing at New Zealand Universities over the long run, 1961-1997

This new research note, When the Bloat Began: Non-Academic Staffing at New Zealand Universities over the Long Run, 1961-1997, reveals the year in which non-academic employees started to outnumber academics at our universities. Building on the findings of our earlier research report, Blessing or Bloat? Read more

Dr Michael Johnston
Dr James Kierstead
28 February, 2024
pay and dismay

Pay and dismay

Last week it was reported that Queensland public servants have been offered up to five days of paid leave to tend to their ‘social and emotional wellbeing’ in the wake of the results of the Voice referendum. This is an obvious step in the right direction. Read more

Dr James Kierstead
Insights Newsletter
10 November, 2023
Lord Sumption

Podcast: Lord Sumption on free speech

This week we have a special guest, Lord Jonathan Sumption, in this combined Free Kiwis and The New Zealand Initiative podcast episode. Lord Sumption talks to us about his advocacy on free speech and is in NZ as a guest of the Free Speech Union. Read more

Dr Oliver Hartwich
Dr Michael Johnston
Dr James Kierstead
Lord Sumption
3 November, 2023
Podcast logo

Podcast: MMP vs FPP

Dr James Kierstead talks to Dr Michael Johnston about NZ's interesting Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) system vs First Past the Post (FFP), in the run-up to the 2023 NZ election. To listen to our latest podcasts, please subscribe to The New Zealand Initiative podcast on iTunes, Spotify or The Podcast App. Read more

Dr Michael Johnston
Dr James Kierstead
28 September, 2023
People crowd

Why We Don't Need Languages

Victoria University of Wellington has defended its plans to stop teaching German, Italian, Latin and Greek and to cease research in Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, and French. ‘It’s not like anybody speaks these languages anymore,’ Ex Nihilo Vice Provost Brenda Boffin told us in an exclusive interview, ‘except for the 1.1 billion or so Chinese speakers, the 559 million Hispanophones, the 310 million speakers of French, the hundred and twenty million or so speakers of German and Japanese, and the almost 70 million Italian-speakers.’ When we mentioned that China and Japan together accounted for over $15 billion in exports last year, and that Germany, Mexico and France accounted for over a billion more, Prof. Read more

Dr James Kierstead
Insights Newsletter
15 September, 2023

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