“We should be active in communicating what we stand for.” Rector Martin Paul on why Truth Matters at Ruhr University Bochum

This year, SAR celebrates 25 years of a global academic freedom movement strong enough to meet the challenges ahead. In this special series, we are inviting partners from across the network and around the world to share what the 25th anniversary theme Truth Matters theme means to them and their work. Join the movement »

Threats to truth, inquiry, and free expression abound today. For Professor Dr. Martin Paul, Rector of Ruhr University Bochum, that means universities should be even more vocal about how those values are embodied on campus. RUB is a hive of activity on these themes, with threatened scholars continuing their research, student advocacy seminars, and even a “Garden of Refuge” exhibition created by SAR advocacy seminar students and situated within the university’s botanical garden, honoring scholars who have been wrongfully imprisoned. In this conversation, Professor Paul and SAR Executive Director Rob Quinn discuss what we can learn from history and how universities can lead the way in declaring that Truth Matters.

Episode highlight:

Rob Quinn: I’m wondering, in your role as rector of University Bochum, what are you seeing, and what does the theme, Truth Matters, mean to you?

Martin Paul: Well, I think, you know, truth matters, and the seeking of truth is at the core of every university. And as we are the first university established in West Germany after the Second World War, we feel especially committed to that, you know. And I think even more today, I feel sometimes we live in some sort of post-truth world.

Universities have to go back to their core even more than before. It’s all about academic freedom, solidarity, and global civic responsibility, because our role is not only to do research and publish it, but also to reach out to the public and provide safe spaces for those whose role in communicating the truth is threatened. And that’s, I think, at the core of our mission here.”

Additional resources:

The “Garden of Sanctuary” Walk is a temporary exhibition within the Botanical Garden of Ruhr University Bochum. Created by students from the Scholars at Risk Student Advocacy Seminar 2025 in collaboration with the International Office, it celebrates the fundamental right to academic freedom and honors the courage, resilience and contributions of scholars who are wrongfully imprisoned or who have been forced to leave their homelands due to war, persecution, or political oppression. As visitors walk through the Botanical Garden, they trace the journeys of scholars in exile—individuals who walk among us and have faced threats to their freedom and lives for thinking, teaching, and seeking truth.

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