Scholars at Risk conference examines pressures facing U.S. higher education and commemorates 25 years of protecting academic freedom worldwide
Posted October 14, 2025
Join SAR’s 25th anniversary year activities
Scholars at Risk (SAR) hosted a U.S. Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference on October 9-10, 2025, at New York University. The two-day event brought together domestic and international experts to examine escalating pressures on academic freedom and inform efforts to develop greater protections for scholars, students, and academic freedom in the US and beyond.
Experts from PEN America, the AAUP Center for Academic Freedom, the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, American Pride Rises, NADOHE, Education4All, and other leading US and global organizations discussed and debated the pressures on US higher education through a global historical lens, legal tactics to protect academic freedom on campuses, strategies to protect research and teaching that support diversity, equity, and inclusion, and opportunities to build solidarity across institutions and networks.
Panels paired leading voices from higher education in the United States with international discussants from regional coalitions for academic freedom, bringing perspectives from Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Americas for greater global context.
Welcome and opening
Sarah Willcox, SAR Deputy Director, welcomed participants to the event, emphasizing the value of building connections with one another as pressures grow on the higher education sector. She urged the audience to consider how they are sparking conversations about academic freedom “that speak not to everyone, but with everyone.”
She also highlighted SAR’s Strategic Plan for 2023-28 as a roadmap for the years ahead and SAR’s recent Free to Think 2025 report as a tool to discuss threats to higher education.
Eve Darian-Smith, UC Irvine, author of Policing Higher Education: The Antidemocratic Attack on Scholars and Why It Matters
The conference opened with virtual remarks by Eve Darian-Smith of UC Irvine, author of Policing Higher Education: The Antidemocratic Attack on Scholars and Why It Matters.” She discussed the actions against higher education by state and federal government actors, highlighting the rise of extremist political figures and their control over public education. “Leadership may differ in terms of religious orientation, political ideology, and domestic goals, but common to all is seeking to control public education and ensure that young people and future generations are controlled in what they say, how they protest, and challenge the question.” Eve Darian-Smith ultimately urged participants not to accommodate executive orders that are contrary to statutory standards and to better communicate the stakes of the current attack on higher education.
Pressures on US higher education through a global, historical lens: What is new? What have we seen before? What can we learn?
- Amrit Singh, NYU Law School, moderator
- Katie Fallow, Knight First Amendment Institute, Columbia University
- Ramzi Kassem, Professor of Law, Co-Director & Founder, CLEAR, City University of New York School of Law
- Rachel Homer, Director, Democracy 2025 & Senior Attorney, Democracy Forward
- Kwadwo Appiagyei Atua, Director, African Coalition for Academic Freedom
Panelists discussed the pressures on US higher education through a global historical lens, focusing on threats and legal responses. Rachel Homer highlighted the US administration’s multifaceted attacks, including funding cuts, civil rights weaponization, and direct assaults on free speech. Katie Fallow noted the administration’s indirect methods, such as grant conditions and visa restrictions, as well as the importance of litigation. Ramzi Kassem detailed cases of targeted student activists, emphasizing the need for federal court orders to secure their release. Kwadwo Appiagyei-Atua compared these issues to African contexts, stressing the importance of academic freedom for democracy.
Remarks: Alfred Babo, Fairfield University, author of Exiled Scholars in Western Academia: Reflections on the Paradox of Inclusion and Exclusion
Alfred Babo discussed his book “Exiled Scholars in Western Academia,” co-authored with Sayed Hassan Akhlaq, which explores the experiences of 14 exiled scholars from Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Asia in Western academia. Contributors from the book share personal, analytical, and political reflections on their experiences as refugees and scholars in Western academia.
“Their stories are not isolated,” Dr. Babo said. “They are part of a larger, organic narrative that connects the lived experiences of exiled academics from a broader erosion of pluralism, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and what we call, in the US, DEI.”
Dr. Babo highlighted the challenges faced by exiled scholars, including systemic discrimination, legal barriers, and cultural disorientation, and noted that faculty members, especially those from immigrant and refugee backgrounds, report facing threats, harassment, and a climate of fear and emotional exhaustion. His book is a call for reimagining the academy as a space of mutual learning, political inclusion, and intellectual solidarity.
Education for some, or for all? Pressures on inclusive higher education and a pluralistic society
- Jane O. Newman, UC Irvine, moderator
- Andrea Abrams, Executive Director, American Pride Rises Network
- Paulette Granberry Russell, President & CEO, NADOHE
- Bencharat Chua, Director, Southeast Asia Coalition for Academic Freedom; Institute of Human Rights and Peace Studies, Mahidol University; international discussant
In this session, attendees spotlighted the range of recent threats to inclusive US higher education, particularly research and teaching that recognize and support diversity, pluralism, and equity. Jane Newman emphasized the importance of understanding the historical conditions and structural dimensions of the challenges to inclusivity in higher education.
Paulette Granberry Russell highlighted the challenges for members of underrepresented communities, especially first-generation college students, of studying and working in predominantly white institutions and the need for professional development and resources to support diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.
Andrea Abrams introduced the American Pride Rises Network, which aims to make the national case for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and provide communication tools to counter disinformation. She highlighted the importance of framing values and narratives, leveraging litigation and legislation, and engaging a base of people and organizations. “We must remember the opposition believes in the power of academic freedom and DEI.”
Bencharat Chua from SEACAF highlighted the systemic exclusion and lack of DEI policies in Southeast Asia, noting the role of nationalistic ideologies and ethnic conflicts. The panel stressed the need for collaboration and legal support to preserve and build on DEI efforts.
Lunch and networking conversations
During a lunch break, attendees had the opportunity to consider ways to get involved with the SAR network, explore connections across SAR’s global community, learn about SAR’s scholar review process for at-risk scholars seeking direct assistance, and explore SAR’s recently released Free to Think 2025 report, exploring concerning trends in attacks on higher education communities around the world.
Remarks: Carlo Invernizzi Accetti, Academic Freedom Teaching Coalition, Moynihan Center, City College of New York
Carlo Invernizzi Accetti from the Moynihan Center at City College of New York discussed the Academic Freedom Teaching Coalition, which aims to design and deliver a new course curriculum on higher education values and practices. The initiative involves scholars from five continents and will be piloted in the City University of New York’s core curriculum in 2026. The course will explore the concept of academic freedom, its cultural practices, and its relationship to the purpose of higher education.
“Academic freedom also depends on a series of practices, habits, and culture within academic institutions,” he said. “The idea here is that freedom is not just something you have, like a bill of rights that you can put in your pockets, but also something that you do and that needs to be performed, acted, defended, and practiced, and that itself depends on learning. You need to learn how to be free, and you need to practice academic freedom to have it.”
Session 3: Early responses to current pressures: What is working? What is needed?
- Michael Kunichika, Amherst College, moderator
- Isaac Kamola, Trinity College, AAUP Center for Academic Freedom
- Amy Reid, Freedom to Learn Interim Program Director, PEN America
- Jacqueline Pfeffer Merrill, Senior Director, Civic Learning and Free Expression Projects, Council of Independent Colleges
- Camilla Croso, Director, Coalition for Academic Freedom in the Americas (CAFA), international discussant
This panel underscored the importance of viewing academic freedom as a human right, the role of international norms, and the necessity of building a culture of open inquiry. Speakers highlighted the impact of right-wing attacks, the role of media in shaping narratives, and the need for solidarity among institutions.
Specific strategies discussed included legal action, public mobilization, and centering academic freedom in the broader mission of higher education. Panelists highlighted the roles of professional associations, such as the International Studies Association and the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), in promoting academic freedom and shared governance. They discussed the need to improve students’ understanding of academic freedom, as well as the significance of leadership and the role of media and messaging in shaping public perception.
SAR’s 25th Anniversary Reception
SAR rounded out the first day with an evening reception to celebrate the launch of our 25th anniversary year (2025-2026). It was a wonderful opportunity to reflect on SAR’s achievements and to celebrate what we have built together: a global academic freedom movement strong enough to meet the challenges ahead. The evening brought together good conversation, perspectives from scholars who have been assisted by SAR, and a discussion about SAR’s ambitions for the future.
“SAR reminds us that ideas cannot be imprisoned, that creativity cannot be legislated away, and that academic and artistic freedom are not privileges: they are essential to our humanity,” said Achiro P. Olwoch, a playwright from Uganda and currently an assistant professor at Vassar College.
Stay tuned for more opportunities throughout the year to celebrate the Scholars at Risk Network and recommit ourselves to academic freedom and the defense of threatened scholars everywhere.
Session 4: Mobilizing lessons from home and abroad: Workshopping new and long-term responses
- Rob Quinn, Executive Director, Scholars at Risk, moderator
- Bobbie Laur, President, Campus Compact
- Nancy Thomas, Executive Director, Institute for Democracy & Higher Education, AACU
- Michael Gavin, President, Delta College & Founder, Education for All
- Rita A. Hodges, Associate Director, Netter Center for Community Partnerships, University of Pennsylvania and Executive Secretary, International Consortium for Higher Education, Civic Responsibility, and Democracy
The next day brought together higher education to discuss lessons from home and abroad. Panelists discussed how diversity, equity, and inclusion are not “add-ons” to academic freedom protection, but rather, core to preserving the “truth-seeking function” of higher education; that higher education institutions must unite and work in solidarity through unprecedented pressures on academic freedom; and how higher education must include local community engagement and effectively message its value for the public good.
“We continue to see failing K12 schools, and we are the producers of teachers in this country; we cannot separate that. When we talk about a failing health system, we have to reckon with higher education’s role and responsibility,” said Bobbie Laur, speaking to the responsibility of higher education to their local communities.. “Higher education sits at the nexus of every single major opportunity and problem in this country. In almost every major community and city and region in this country, [higher education institutions] are the largest employer and increasingly the largest landowner and developer.”
Plenary Workshop: Where do we go from here?
The US MidAtlantic Regional Conference ended with an open workshop aimed at engaging all participants in current and evolving responses to recent pressures on higher education in the US and beyond, to identify new and more effective ways to protect scholars, students, and academic freedom in the near and long terms.
SAR thanks everyone who attended and participated in the US Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference. Scholars at Risk gratefully acknowledges the many institutions, associations, partners, and individuals that contribute to our work: Mellon Foundation, the Open Society Foundations, the Teagle Foundation, the National Endowment for Democracy, the Charina Fund, the Fritt Ord Foundation, The Charles Koch Foundation, the Winston Foundation, The European Union, The Luce Foundation, The Carnegie Corporation, The Institute of International Education, The Sigrid Rausing Trust, Arcadia, The Prins Foundation, The MacArthur Foundation, and our anonymous donors, as well as Maynooth University (host for SAR Europe) and New York University (host for SAR Inc.) Special thanks to the Teagle Foundation for direct support for this event.
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