Senior academics have resigned from the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s peer review college in protest of the AHRC’s announcement several months ago that the Big Society was to be one of its research funding priorities. Thom Brooks, reader in political and legal philosophy at Newcastle University and leader of the campaign, told Times Higher Education that he objected to the inclusion of the phrase in the council’s delivery plan, and other reviewers have seen its inclusion as clear evidence of government infringement on academic freedom. Nearly 4,000 academics have signed a petition calling for the removal of all references to the Big Society from the delivery plan, and more resignations from the peer review council are expected. Read more in Times Higher Education and on the London Review of Books blog.