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Title: Academic Freedom in a Global Context: Scholars at Risk Location: Indiana University Bloomington Focus: Academic freedom, globalization, educational policy |
Type: Lecture/talk |
Published Date: October 23, 2009 |
On Friday, October 23rd, from 4-5:30pm, Professor Irving Epstein, Professor of Educational Studies and Associate Dean of the Faculty at Illinois Wesleyan University, will present on academic freedom and globalization at Indiana University Bloomington in the School of Education Alumni Room 2277.
Professor Epstein has strong interests in educational policy, comparative and international education, and children’s rights issues and has taught in Los Angeles, Perth, Australia, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. His recent publications include the Greenwood Encyclopedia of Children's Issues Worldwide (general editor, 2008) and Recapturing the Personal: Essays on Embodied Knowledge in Comparative Perspective (Information Age Pub., 2007). Professor Epstein has been an active member of the Advisory Board of the Scholars at Risk Network since its inception nine years ago and has given numerous conference presentations about the work of SAR and the challenges of hosting scholars at risk. In January, 2010, he will be co-directing a three hour workshop, along with Rob Quinn and Sinead O'Gorman, the Executive Director and Deputy Director of Scholars at Risk, devoted to issues involving administrative strategies for responding to academic freedom violations and threats, at the American Conference of Academic Deans annual meeting in Washington, D.C.
Globalization trends present unique challenges to traditional conceptions as to what academic freedom entails, but they also offer interesting possibilities with regard to a re-conceptualization of the term. Even more importantly, the opportunity to engage in efficacious advocacy for the protection of academic freedom is made more possible by certain globalization influences. The growth of the Scholars at Risk Network, as the most effective international NGO of its type, is a case study in point. In this talk, Professor Epstein will discuss the growth and development of SAR within a larger theoretical discussion of the challenges of protecting academic freedom globally in the 21st century.