Academic Freedom

The Global Challenge
ISBN: 
978-963-386-233-9
paperback
$21.95 / €18.95 / £15.95
Publication date: 
2018
170 pages

Academic freedom—the institutional autonomy of scientific, research and teaching institutions, and the freedom of individual scholars and researchers to pursue controversial research and publish controversial opinions—is a cornerstone of any free society.  Today this freedom is under attack from the state in many parts of the world but it is also under question from within academe. Bitter disputes have erupted about whether liberal academic freedoms have degenerated into a form of coercive political correctness. Populist currents of political opinion are questioning the price a society pays for the freedom of its ‘experts’ and professors.

This volume summarizes the highlights of the discussions of international experts and political figures who examined the state of academic freedom world-wide at a gathering in the summer of 2017. Topics range widely, from the closing of universities in Turkey and the narrowing space for academic freedom in Hungary, China and Russia, to the controversies about free speech roiling American campuses. The book contains thoughtful historical analysis of the origins of the ideal of academic freedom; eloquent testimony from the front lines of the battle to defend the academy as a free space for controversial thought; as well as analysis of how university autonomy and self-government are endangered by hostile political forces around the world.

CONTENT

ACADEMIC FREEDOM FROM WITHOUT AND WITHIN, MICHAEL IGNATIEFF

ACADEMIC FREEDOM AND THE TENSION BETWEEN UNIVERSITY AND STATE, JOAN SCOTT
The University and the Nation
Academic Freedom
Public and Private

THE THREAT WITHOUT: STATE PRACTICES AND BARRIERS TO ACADEMIC FREEDOM AROUND THE WORLD
Three Ideas on Academic Freedom, Liviu Matei
The distinction between academic freedom and university autonomy
Academic freedom and institutional autonomy are multidimensional
Universities need the state
Lessons from CEU and other universities
Academic Freedom in the UK, the Indian Subcontinent and Bangladesh, Nirmala Rao
Academic Freedom in the UK
Academic freedom and the Indian subcontinent
Academic Freedom and Universities in Continental Europe, Helga Nowotny
Academic Freedom under attack in Turkey, Ayşe Kadıoğlu
Between Classical and new Theories of Academic Freedom: Experiences from teaching between New York and Abu Dabi, Catharine R. Stimpson
Introduction: The classical and the political definition of academic freedom
Academic freedom in the Gulf states: background
Experiences at NYU Abu Dabi
Conclusions

THE THREAT WITHIN: THE STRUGGLE FOR AND AGAINST ACADEMIC FREEDOM WITHIN U.S. UNIVERSITIES
The fundamental role of Academic Freedom and free inquiry in US Higher Education, Jonathan R. Cole
Academic Freedom and attacks against it in the US from a historical perspective
Two fundamental sources of academic freedom in the US
Lessons from Middlebury, Allison Stanger
Introduction
The Middlebury Incident
Academic Freedom and Controversial Speech about Campus Governance, Rogers Brubaker
Academic freedom in the US and its enemies: a polemic, Leon Botstein

TAKING ACCOUNT OF ACADEMIC FREEDOM IN HUNGARY
Key developments in Hungarian higher education, Attila Chikan
University autonomy in Hungary in perspective, Istvan Kenesei
Historical foundations of academic freedom in Hungary, Katalin Tausz
Quality assurance in Hungarian universities and increasing political bias, Valiera Csepe
The situation in Hungary from the perspective of private universities, Laszlo Vass

FREEDOM AND ITS ENEMIES, OR HOW TO BE A GOOD CITIZEN IN A TANGLED WORD, MARIO VARGAS LLOSA

BIBLIOGRAPHY

"Prompted primarily by a very specific situation, the decision of Viktor Orbán’s government to put an end to the operations of Central European University in Hungary in 2018, Academic Freedom: The Global Challenge developed into an ambitious project aimed at offering insight into the status quo of higher education across cultural frontiers with a focus on the multiple threats posed to academic freedom. Reuniting researchers from a variety of fields and cultural spaces, whose connection with CEU is more or less openly acknowledged, the volume is intended as one providing ‘thoughtful historical analysis of the origins of the ideal of academic freedom; eloquent testimony from the front lines of the battle to defend the academy as a free space for controversial thought; as well as analysis of how university autonomy and self-government are endangered by hostile political forces around the world’. Given the most recent events that have... more
"Redefreiheit ist also kein zusätzliches akademisches Privileg, sondern systemische Voraussetzung gerade für die Geistes-, Staats- und Gesellschaftwissenschaften weit fundamentaler als für die eher technischen Natur- und Formalwissenschaften der Mathematik und Physik bis zu den Ingenieurwissenschaften und der Medizin. Aber die Universitäten leben dabei nicht in einem politikfreien Raum. Das zeigen im Grunde alle Beiträge dieses kleinen Bändchens – und erst recht ihr hochschulpolitischer Hintergrund, die Vertreibung der CEU von Budapest nach Wien. Nach der Lektüre des Buches – gerade auch des Festvortrags von Mario Vargas Llosa und seiner Laudatio auf Sir Karl Poppers Verteidigung einer Offenen Gesellschaft gegen alle ihre vermeintlichen und wirklichen Feinde – erhält man insgesamt den Eindruck, es werde heute irgendwie weltweit alles schlechter; auch die akademische Freiheit sei nicht mehr das, was sie schon einmal war."
"The collection achieves its most important goal: engage the reader in a host of recent preoccupations entangling academic freedom and unpack them in global perspective. The book triggers the critical attitude it stubbornly preaches on its pages. Applying its own philosophy here and now, I salute it as a work that deserves to be read and criticized widely."