In a hybrid format, with around 20 students online and 20 attending at the Roeterseiland campus, the school addressed the contested meanings and associations of the term ‘liberal’ in current public debates, including those that concern the university and the role of the humanities today. Following an opening keynote from US-based scholar, Dr Rachel Greenwald Smith, participants discussed questions about the relation between public and private spheres under conditions of contemporary neoliberalism, and the role of culture in questioning what passes as ‘liberal democracy’ today. In doing so, participants ranged from political and economic (neo-)liberalism to literary and aesthetic liberalism, including thinking about old and new realisms in the novel.

The other keynote speakers were: Prof. Dr Sarah de Mul (Open University NL), Dr Pieter Vermeulen (KU Leuven) and Prof. Dr Johannes Völz (Goethe-University, Frankfurt am Main). The other co-organizers were Prof. Dr Maria Boletsi (Leiden University/University of Amsterdam), Divya Nadkarni (University of Amsterdam) and Dr Marco de Waard (Amsterdam University College).