Barrie Karp (b. 1945 in Laredo, Texas) is a New York City philosophy professor and painter. Karp says she is interested in Continental philosophy, for instance the work of Luce Irigaray, and in the work of American feminists such as bell hooks, Judith Butler, Drucilla Cornell, Patricia J. Williams, Hazel Carby, Angela Davis, Sara Ruddick and Ann duCille. Through her activity, Karp tried to define feminism as a movement that can work across disciplinary boundaries and be informed by various traditions of scholarship. Paintings of Karp's appeared in the November/December 2008 issue of Tikkun magazine and by the Tikkun editor's August 2009 online blog.
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After studying painting and liberal arts at Chatham College with Vaino T. Kola and Jerry Caplan from 1962 through 1964, she transferred to Columbia University, where she earned a B.S. in 1967. A teacher of philosophy, cultural studies, humanities and arts from a decidedly feminist and anti-racist perspective in New York City colleges since 1970,[1] she filed an unsuccessful discrimination case against City College after losing her position in 1975 over her complaints to the affirmative action office about a "current and historical lack of female philosophy department faculty members at CCNY."[1]
She completed an M.A. (1977), a M.Phil. (1979) and a Ph.D. (1980) in the Philosophy Department at City University of New York.[1] Her doctoral dissertation was titled "Self-Deception."[2] Since 1982, she has been a faculty member of Eugene Lang College and the School of Visual Arts (Humanities and Sciences Department).
Karp began art studies with Maria Lowenstein (1954 to 1959) and Lycoming College (Ian James, 1962). After her Chatham College studies she also studied art at Provincetown Workshop (Leo Manso, Victor Candell, summer 1964) and New York University (Leo Manso, fall 1964, spring 1965).[2] After completing her Ph.D. she studied at the New School for Social Research (Leo Manso, early 1980s); with the Art Students League (Leo Manso, Rudolf Baranik, 1981-1983); and at the Provincetown Art Association Museum School (Selena Trieff, 1983).[2]
After the administration of the New School decided not to renew Prof. Karp's contract to teach in the cultural studies department, the campus chapter of Students for a Democratic Society conducted a May 7, 2008 protest rally “for a socially just, responsible, and democratic university.” The activist students characterized the administration decision as part of a plan to “corporatize” the school and restructure its curriculum away from the school’s progressive tradition.[3]
In addition to seeking her rehiring, the students were demanding the removal of New School Board of Trustees treasurer Robert B. Millard over his chairmanship of L-3 Communications, a major military contractor. Eight students had been arrested for blocking the entrance to L-3 on March 19, 2008, the fifth anniversary of the Anglo-American invasion and occupation of Iraq.[3] They were also protesting the New School's dealings with companies which they alleged were underpaying their workers and otherwise violating their rights and the school's "refusal to hear the demands" of Local 78 of the Asbestos, Lead & Hazardous Waste Laborers Union.[4]