Scholars at Risk Awarded University of Iowa’s Courage of Conviction Award for Promoting Academic Freedom, Human Rights, and Student Advocacy

IOWA CITY, IOWA, March 5, 2025— Scholars at Risk (SAR) was honored to receive the Courage of Conviction Award from the University of Iowa Center for Human Rights (UICHR). The award, presented to an individual or organization possessing extraordinary commitment to the protection of human dignity and to the advancement of human rights, especially in the face of opposition, recognized SAR’s work promoting and protecting academic freedom worldwide. 

The University of Iowa, a member of the SAR Network since its founding, specifically acknowledged SAR’s Student Advocacy Seminars program for having provided students with valuable human rights advocacy and research skills over the past ten years. With the support of the SAR Network, university students across the US, Canada, and Europe have developed original grassroots campaigns on behalf of Scholars in Prison cases such as Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali in Iran, Dr. Abdul Jalil Al-Singace in Bahrain, Professor Ilham Tohti in China, and more. Students have also received the opportunity to advocate to Congressional offices on behalf of wrongfully imprisoned scholars during SAR’s US Student Advocacy Days, of which the University of Iowa has a long-time active participant in. 

SAR staff representatives Clare Robinson (Director of Advocacy) and Adam Braver (Student Advocacy Seminar Coordinator) accepted the award on behalf of SAR at the University of Iowa. Robinson delivered remarks as well, emphasizing the value of collective advocacy within the SAR Network: 

“At this critical time in US higher education, we all must act in support of dialogue, of evidence, of truth. The beauty of the network is that we can take those actions together, having an even more powerful impact, and countering a tendency for isolation in the face of challenges.”

The event concluded with a series of conversations with the University of Iowa community about the unprecedented attacks on higher education in the US—conversations that reinforced the importance of unity, solidarity, and collective advocacy within the higher education sector as well as the value of the existing SAR Network.

As such, SAR is grateful for the University of Iowa’s continued membership and engagement with the SAR Network. SAR thanks UICHR for the Courage of Conviction Award and looks forward to future collaborations with the UICHR. 

Learn more about the Student Advocacy Seminars here.

Learn how universities can join the SAR Network and defend academic freedom here.