Academic Freedom Media Review Archive
Scholars at Risk monitors reports of threats to academic freedom and higher education communities worldwide, including media articles, blogs, opinion pieces and other announcements. Scholars at Risk identifies situations of concern on its own and welcomes reports submitted by faculty, students and volunteers at participating higher education institutions. Subscribe to SAR’s weekly media review.
The below articles have been featured in this year’s media reviews.
CHINA / UKRAINE: Political education to include Party view on Ukraine war
Mimi Leung, University World News, 3/31
Several provincial governments in China have made it mandatory for university instructors to attend lectures to “correct” their thoughts on the Russia-Ukraine situation “in order to guide the teachers of ideological and political courses,” according to posts on Chinese social media. Read more.
IRAN / GLOBAL: Intervene to Help Sharif University of Technology Students
Scholars at Risk, 3/31
Scholars at Risk issued a letter to Iran’s higher education, research, and science sectors urging them to help secure the immediate release of Sharif University of Technology students Ali Younesi and Amirhossein Moradi, who are detained based on alleged nonviolent expressive activity and associations. Read more.
FRANCE: Liberté, egalité, autonomie: Do French universities want more freedom?
Ben Upton, Times Higher Education, 3/31
Times Higher Education’s Ben Upton examines attitudes toward institutional autonomy in France, a country that has one of the most centralized higher education systems in Europe, and asks whether its supposed effects on equality and academic freedom are limiting the appetite for more. Read more.
CHINA: China tightens restrictions and bars scholars from international conferences
Emily Feng, NPR, 3/30
At least five scholars based in China were prevented from attending virtual events for a gathering organized by the Association for Asian Studies. Attendees said that Chinese security officers and education officials directly intervened, citing regulations that require Chinese scholars to receive university permission to attend international in-person or online events. Read more.
UKRAINE / RUSSIA / UNITED STATES: Ukrainian, Russian Students Face Financial Woes in U.S.
Josh Moody, Inside Higher Ed, 3/30
Russia’s war against Ukraine has created financial uncertainty for both Ukrainian and Russian students, as many families paying for education abroad have seen rapid changes in their financial situations. Read more.
AUSTRALIA / CHINA: Australia Inquiry on Beijing Academic Freedom Threats
Sophie McNeill, Human Rights Watch, 3/28
The Australian parliament’s Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security released a report examining foreign interference at Australian universities. The committee heard evidence that Chinese government supporters threatened and intimidated pro-democracy students from China as well as university staff. Read more.
AFGHANISTAN: Schools, Universities lose 60 pc students amid humanitarian crisis
Najibullah Lalzoy, The Khamma Press News Agency, 3/27
Private schools and universities in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, have claimed to have lost 60% of their student body amid the ongoing humanitarian and economic crisis in the country, with many families and students opting for public education instead. Read more.
TURKEY: Over 1,000 academics, institutions express support for Boğaziçi University resistance
Bianet, 3/25
1,000 academics and 35 academic institutions have signed a petition titled, “Declaration of Support to Bogazici University Resistance,” condemning the state attacks on Boğaziçi University and demanding academic freedom and university autonomy. Read more.
GLOBAL / PALESTINE (OPT): Middle East Studies Scholars Approve BDS Resolution
Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed, 3/24
The Middle East Studies Association voted 768 to 167 to join the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement against Israel, “as a way to hold the government accountable for ongoing human rights violations.” Read more.
PALESTINE (OPT): Brandeis dissociates from Middle Eastern Scholars Association
Brandeis University, 3/24
Brandeis University announced it was dissociating from the Middle Eastern Scholars Association after it voted to join the BDS movement against Israel. In a statement, the university condemned MESA’s boycott of institutions of higher education in Israel and said the resolution “attacks the fundamental principles of academic freedom.” Read more.
GLOBAL: Reach out
Research Professional News, 3/24
Research Professional News catalogs a number of actions that universities can take to assist displaced scholars following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Read more.
NORTHERN IRELAND: Attacks against human rights advocate threaten academic freedom in Northern Ireland – UN experts (Press Release)
UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, 3/24
UN human rights experts expressed concern over an ongoing smear campaign against Irish human rights lawyer and Professor of Human Rights Law at Queens University Belfast, Colin Harvey, as it “threatens academic freedom in Northern Ireland and has the potential to spark physical violence.” Read more.
RUSSIA: Russia bars academics from international conferences
Pola Lem, Times Higher Education, 3/22
Russia’s Ministry of Science and Higher Education announced it was barring Russian researchers from participating in international conferences and that it will stop indexing Russian scientists’ publications in international databases. Russian scholars have become increasingly cut off from their colleagues around the world following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Read more.
INDIA / UKRAINE: India faces medical education crisis after Ukraine exodus
Pola Lem, Times Higher Education, 3/22
Thousands of Indian medical students have been forced to abandon their studies in Ukraine and return to India. The mass return of students has exposed some of the long-standing problems in India’s medical education system, and many students may find themselves unable to transfer their credits and resume their studies. Read more.
UNITED STATES / CHINA: High-profile trial begins for chemical engineer accused of hiding China ties
Natasha Gilbert, Nature, 3/21
The criminal trial for chemical engineer and University of Kansas professor Feng ‘Franklin’ Tao, who is accused of research grant fraud and failing to disclose links to China, began this week. Tao was arrested under the US government’s China Initiative, a program targeting intellectual property theft. The Biden administration ended the program last month. Read more.
SWEDEN / IRAN: Release of British prisoners in Iran lights hope for Swedish Djalali [SWEDISH]
Jesper Cederberg, Läkartidningen, 3/21
The release of two British-Iranian nationals, imprisoned in Iran under false allegations, has raised hopes for the release of Swedish-Iranian researcher Ahmadreza Djalali. Djalali was arrested nearly six years ago and sentenced to death for espionage. Read more.
UKRAINE / GLOBAL: Opportunities to learn: A triumph of light over darkness
Nathan M. Greenfield, University World News, 3/19
Liz Shchepetylnykova, a Ukrainian scholar and PhD candidate, speaks about her forced departure from Ukraine following Russia’s invasion. Shchepetylnykova has been working with Scholars at Risk to share information about what steps Ukrainian scholars need to take if they are looking for opportunities abroad. Read more.
EUROPE / UKRAINE: ERC launches initiative to help Ukrainian refugees
Craig Nicholson, Research Professional News, 3/18
The European Research Council launched an initiative to help researchers who are seeking refuge from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Read more.
UKRAINE / UNITED STATES: University of Chicago to begin offering full-tuition scholarships to undergrads affected by Ukraine war
CBS News, 3/15
The University of Chicago announced that it will give full-tuition scholarships for undergraduate students affected by the war in Ukraine. The university is also working with Scholars at Risk to place Ukrainian scholars and scientists in departments and laboratories at the university. Read more.
AFGHANISTAN: New restrictions imposed on students and faculty at Afghan universities
JURIST News, 3/15
Law students and lawyers in Afghanistan filed reports with JURIST indicating that the Taliban-led Ministry of Higher Education has issued a new set of rules and procedures that, in particular, prohibits students and professors from discussing or publishing information about their universities to local and foreign media. Read more.
UNITED STATES: UConn and Scholars at Risk: A Life-Saving Partnership, A Transformative Educational Experience
Jaclyn Severance, UConn Today, 3/16
A journalist and activist, Marvi Sirmed faces threats of violence in her home country of Pakistan, but has found safety and academic freedom through UConn’s unique and longstanding partnership with the Scholars at Risk Network. Read more.
BAHRAIN / GLOBAL: Rights Groups Letter to F1 CEO Ahead of Bahrain Grand Prix
Scholars at Risk, 3/15
Scholars at Risk, along with 26 international human rights organizations, issued a letter to F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix raising human rights concerns in Bahrain, including grave concern for the health and well-being of imprisoned Bahraini scholar Dr. Abduljalil AlSingace. Read more.
UNITED KINGDOM / RUSSIA: Cut ties with Russian universities, says UK government minister
Tom Williams, Times Higher Education, 3/15
Chris Philp, the United Kingdom’s minister for technology and the digital economy, said that no UK university can “in good conscience” continue to collaborate with Russian institutions, urging UK universities to sever ties with their Russian counterparts. Read more.
UNITED STATES / RUSSIA: The Ukraine Dilemma: U.S. Colleges Debate Whether to Sever or Sustain Ties With Russia
Karin Fischer, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 3/14
In the wake of an international boycott of Russia, which includes widespread sanctions and commercial businesses withdrawing operations from the country, universities in the United States grapple with whether they will continue cooperation with Russian institutions of higher education. Read more.
RUSSIA: ‘No future for us left in Russia,’ say fleeing academics
Pola Lem, Times Higher Education, 3/14
Three Russian scholars spoke to Times Higher Education after fleeing the country following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying there is no future left for them there amid a clampdown on free speech and severing of international academic ties. Read more.
EGYPT: Civil society organizations call on Egyptian authorities to drop the case of researcher Ahmed Samir Santawy and release him immediately
Scholars at Risk, 3/14
Scholars at Risk joined several human rights organizations in calling on Egyptian authorities to immediately release detained Egyptian graduate student, Ahmed Samir Santawy, and drop the charges against him. Santawy, who is appealing a four-year prison sentence, has had his retrial date postponed for a third time, from March 14 to May 9. Read more.
GLOBAL / INDIA: Open Letter Against National Overseas Scholarship (NOS) Restrictions (2022-2023 Guidelines)
Scholars at Risk, 3/14
Scholars at Risk joined more than 20 international associations and organizations endorsing International Solidarity for Academic Freedom India’s open letter to India’s Union Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment. The letter objects to guidelines for India’s National Overseas Scholarship, including restrictions on what scholarship recipients can study while abroad. Read more.
SOUTH AFRICA / UKRAINE: Academics condemn silencing of scientists over Russian invasion
Edwin Naidu, University World News, 3/10
South African academics condemned an instruction from South Africa’s Department of Science and Innovation to prevent scientists from speaking out against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Scholars at Risk’s Daniel Munier told University World News, “Government dictates to restrict scholars’, and scientists’ voices undermine, if not violate, their right to academic freedom.” Read more.
EUROPE / UKRAINE: Universities gear up to help Ukrainian academic refugees
Jan Petter Myklebust, University World News, 3/10
The Nordic nations of Iceland, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden are preparing to accommodate Ukrainian students and scholars fleeing Ukraine following the Russian invasion. Scholars at Risk Sweden section is currently determining what funding is needed for increased SAR placements at Swedish universities. Read more.
PALESTINE (OPT) / ISRAEL: Israel to decide which foreign lecturers allowed to teach in Palestinian universities
Middle East Eye, 3/8
Israel’s defense ministry reportedly plans to decide which foreign lecturers are allowed to teach in Palestinian universities in the occupied West Bank, and what topics they are allowed to teach. Read more.
UNITED STATES / UKRAINE: Ukrainian Refugees Fleeing War Arrive To America
CBSLA Staff, CBS Los Angeles, 3/8
Liz Shchepetykovia, a university researcher from Ukraine, and her partner relocated to the United States following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with support from Scholars at Risk. Read more.
GLOBAL: An Interview with Robert Quinn, Founding Executive Director of the Global Network Scholars at Risk [FRENCH/ENGLISH]
Vanessa Frangville, Gwennaël Gaffric, and Robert Quinn, Journal of Global Cultural Students, published online 3/10
Scholars at Risk’s Executive Director Robert Quinn speaks with Vanessa Frangville & Gwennaël Gaffric about academic freedom and the work of Scholars at Risk. Read more.
GLOBAL: Do academic boycotts work?
Simon Baker, Times Higher Education, 3/9
Western academics are considering the benefits and consequences of maintaining academic ties between themselves and their Russian counterparts following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Scholars at Risk’s Executive Director Robert Quinn believes that academic boycotts, in general, “should only be [done] with the utmost of care and really narrowest of circumstances”. Read more.
RUSSIA: “I will not reassure you: these students are doomed”: St Petersburg University expels students detained at protests against the military operation
Kommersant via The Moscow Times, 3/9
The administration at St. Petersburg State University, the oldest university in Russia, issued expulsion orders for three students who were detained while participating in anti-war rallies, protesting Russia’s invasion and assault on Ukraine. Read more.
GLOBAL / RUSSIA: UN General Assembly should suspend Russia’s membership of UN Human Rights Council
Scholars at Risk, 3/8
Scholars at Risk signed an open letter, endorsed by nearly 50 NGOs, calling on Member States of the United Nations to suspend the rights of the Russian Federation as a member of the UN Human Rights Council, for committing violations of international human rights law in Ukraine and Russia. Read more.
TURKEY: 3 academics appointed from outside Boğaziçi University to replace dismissed deans
Bianet, 3/7
Boğaziçi University’s administration announced via Twitter the replacements for three elected deans who were previously removed from office. Boğaziçi’s academics have been engaged in ongoing protests against the elected deans’ removals. Read more.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Classes resume after striking lecturers and government talks
Augustin Sadiki, University World News, 3/7
Classes and other academic activities at all universities and higher learning institutions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo resumed on March 3rd following a two-month-long strike. Academic staff had been protesting mistreatment by the government, including low salaries. Read more,
EUROPE / RUSSIA: European University Association suspends Russian members over pro-war statement
David Matthews, Science Business, 3/7
The European University Association suspended 12 Russian universities whose rectors signed a statement supporting Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The rectors’ statement indicated support for the country’s army and president, noting it is their “fundamental duty” to “teach our students to be patriotic and to strive to help their motherland.” Read more.
UNITED STATES: SD Senate passes ban on ‘divisive’ university race trainings
Stephen Groves, Associated Press, 3/7
South Dakota’s Senate passed a proposal from Gov. Kristi Noem to ban public universities from using training and orientation material that compels people to feel “discomfort” based on their race. Gov. Noem has billed the proposal as a repudiation of “critical race theory.” Read more.
THAILAND: Ejection of union president spotlights Thai generational divide
Pola Lem, Times Higher Education, 3/7
Thai student groups are in uproar after Chulalongkorn University said it would remove the elected president of the university’s students’ union, Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal, for inviting anti-monarchy speakers to an event. Read more.
EUROPE: European Union halts scientific cooperation with Russia
Brendan O’Malley, University World News, 3/5
The European Commission decided to halt cooperation with Russian research, science and innovation entities in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Commission will not conclude any new contracts with Russian organizations under the European Union’s research and innovation funding program, Horizon Europe. Read more.
EUROPE: Europe must be a safe haven for students and academics
Matteo Vespa, University World News, 3/4
European Students’ Union’s Matteo Vespa comments on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, what it means for Ukrainian students and academics forced to flee the country, and how the rest of Europe should respond with support. Read more.
GLOBAL: Two in five live under ‘significant decline’ in academic freedom
Ben Upton, Times Higher Education, 3/3
Data collected for the third Academic Freedom Index, released today, shows that countries that are home to 37 percent of the world’s population have seen a significant fall in academic freedom over the past decade. Data collected showed a significant decline in academic freedom in 19 countries, including the US and UK. Read more.
RUSSIA / UKRAINE: Consequences of war: A war that also threatens science
Robert Gast and Friederike Walch-Nasseri, Die Zeit, 3/3
Authors Robert Gast and Friederike Walch-Nasseri discuss the consequences for scientific research following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the severing of ties, financial, academic, and otherwise, between the East and the West. Read more.
UKRAINE: Solidarity with the people of Ukraine and Ukrainian higher education
Scholars at Risk, 3/2
Scholars at Risk issued a statement in solidarity with the people of Ukraine and condemning the ongoing acts of aggression against the Ukrainian people by Russian forces. Read more.
RUSSIA / EUROPE: More Russian ties cut as Europe offers help to Ukraine colleagues
Ben Upton, Times Higher Education, 3/2
While many education ministries and university associations have spoken out in support of their Ukrainian colleagues following Russia’s invasion of the country, there has been less consensus about how academic relations with Russia should change. The European Commission has said it will not sign any new contracts or agreements with Russian organizations for EU programs. Read more.
RUSSIA / UKRAINE: Russian academics risk arrest to oppose Ukraine war
Pola Lem and John Ross, Times Higher Education, 3/1
Russian academics said they are doing what they could to oppose their country’s war on Ukraine, including by participating in protests and signing petitions. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russian citizens in 48 cities took to the streets to protest, triggering thousands of arrests. Read more.
EUROPE / RUSSIA: Europe divided on whether to isolate Russia scientifically
David Matthews, Science Business, 3/1
Governments, universities, and individual academics are being forced to choose whether to cut research ties with Russia after its assault on Ukraine. Ukraine has called on Europe to isolate Russia through all means necessary. Read more.
UKRAINE / INDIA / ALGERIA: Indian, Algerian students killed in Ukraine; others stranded during Russia’s invasion beg for help
Jennifer Hassan and Niha Masih, The Washington Post, 3/1
At least two students studying abroad in Ukraine, one from India and another from Algeria, have been killed in Kharkiv, following heavy shelling from Russian forces. Tens of thousands of students studying abroad in Ukraine are calling for support from their governments to help them safely exit the country. Read more.
NICARAGUA: Restore Leadership, Institutional Autonomy to Nicaraguan Universities
Scholars at Risk, 3/1
Scholars at Risk issued a letter to Nicaraguan officials in response to recent legislative measures stripping the operating licenses of a number of Nicaragua’s leading academic institutions and giving control of their operations to the government. Read more.
THAILAND: The student, the Penguin and the king: elite Thai university roiled by dissent
Rebecca Ratcliffe, The Guardian, 2/27
Chulalongkorn University removed the head of the student union, Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal, from his position after he was accused by the university of engaging in activities that damaged its reputation, undermined public order, and were incompatible with Thai culture. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Youngkin seeks funding to beef up security at Virginia’s HBCUs
Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, The Washington Post, 2/26
Republican Governor of Virginia Glenn Youngkin said he will ask the state’s General Assembly for emergency funding to enhance security at historically Black colleges and universities, following recent bomb threats against HBCUs Norfolk State and Hampton. Read more.
AFGHANISTAN: Afghan public universities reopen with gender segregated classes
Al Jazeera, 2/26
Afghanistan’s main universities reopened six months after the Taliban returned to power. A small number of women have returned, but classes are now segregated by gender. The Taliban insist they will allow girls and women to be educated according to an Islamic curriculum. Read more.
UNITED STATES / RUSSIA: MIT Ends Program in Russia
Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed, 2/28
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced it would be ending its joint research program in Russia with the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology. MIT stated that the joint research program must end “in light of the unacceptable military actions against Ukraine by the Russian government.” Read more.
GERMANY / RUSSIA: Germany halts academic collaboration with Russia over Ukraine war
Chris Havergal, Times Higher Education, 2/25
The German Ministry of Education and Research announced that all collaboration with Russia on education and research was to be “halted immediately,” amid growing condemnation of its invasion of Ukraine. Read more.
UKRAINE / INDIA: Students appeal to government for help to leave Ukraine
Shuriah Niazi, University World News, 2/24
Students from India studying in Ukraine have appealed to their government for help to leave the country as tensions over a possible Russian invasion mounted. Read more.
UNITED STATES: The Justice Department is ending its controversial China Initiative
Ryan Lucas, NPR, 2/23
The Justice Department said Wednesday that it is scrapping its China Initiative, a program that it launched under the Trump administration to counter Beijing’s theft of American intellectual property but increasingly came under criticism from civil rights groups that say it created a climate of fear among Asian Americans. Read more.
TURKEY: Fresh concerns over ‘violations’ of academic freedom in Turkey
Emily Twinch, Research Professional News, 2/23
Academic freedom campaigners have expressed deep concern about ongoing developments in Turkey, including what they described as political interference and “arbitrary dismissals” of senior staff from one of the country’s most prestigious universities. Read more.
INDIA: No bail; ‘prima facie evidence Hany Babu part of Maoist outfit’: court
Indian Express, 2/22
An Indian court has rejected bail to Delhi University associate professor Hany Babu. Babu was part of a committee advocating for the release of G.N. Saibaba, an Indian scholar convicted of and in prison for Maoist links. Babu was arrested in 2020 and charged with criminal conspiracy and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. Read more.
VENEZUELA: Why do they warn that universities in Venezuela are at risk? [SPANISH]
Caroline Mayor, Voice of America, 2/21
University representatives in Venezuela are attempting to bring international attention to violations of academic freedom, university autonomy, and fundamental rights, such as freedom of expression, in the country. Read more.
EGYPT: CEU Senate calls for immediate and unconditional release of Ahmed Samir Santawy
Central European University, 2/21
Central European University’s senate called for the immediate and unconditional release of CEU Master’s student Ahmed Samir Santawy on the occasion of his retrial. Santawy remains imprisoned in Egypt, where has been charged with crimes in apparent connection with his studies and alleged nonviolent expressive activity. Read more.
UNITED STATES: College faculty are fighting back against state bills on critical race theory
Nick Anderson and Susan Svrluga, The Washington Post, 2/19
Faculty leaders at prominent public universities across the United States have come together in recent weeks to pass resolutions reaffirming their institutions’ commitment to academic freedom and to denounce legislation seeking to limit what can be taught about race and other subjects. Read more.
HONG KONG: Hong Kong visa denial for professor ‘could signal tightening restrictions’
Pola Lem, Times Higher Education, 2/19
Hong Kong recently rejected a visa for Ryan Thoreson, a US-based human rights researcher who teaches law part-time at Hong Kong University. SAR’s advocacy director, Clare Robinson, told Times Higher Education, “The sector should see this visa denial as a warning that academic freedom in Hong Kong is increasingly vulnerable.” Read more.
UNITED STATES: Texas Lt. Governor Slams ‘Looney Marxist’ Professors, CRT
Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed, 2/18
Texas Republican lieutenant governor Dan Patrick tweeted that he would ban the teaching of critical race theory (CRT) in public higher education after the University of Texas at Austin’s Faculty Council passed a resolution affirming professors’ right to teach CRT and gender justice. Read more.
BELARUS: A year and a half of repressions in Belarusian universities: who suffered and for what? [RUSSIAN]
Marta Sakavik, Deutsche Welle, 2/18
The Belarusian Students’ Association released a report on the impact on Belarusian universities following the crackdown on 2020 protests against the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko. Since 2020, nearly 500 students have been detained, 260 were expelled from higher education institutions, and 150 faculty lost their jobs. Read more.
NEW ZEALAND: Victoria University campus to be closed for month and a half due to ‘protest activity’
NZ Herald, 2/18
Protests occupying the Victoria University of Wellington’s Pipitea Campus have led to the temporary closure of campus until April 11. Vice-Chancellor Professor Grant Guilford expressed disappointment that the protests had disrupted teaching and research and acknowledged the negative impact the closure will have on university staff and students. Read more.
AFGHANISTAN: Desperate students seek online higher education as doors shut
Shadi Khan Saif, University World News, 2/18
Afghan students seeking international learning opportunities are turning to online education with underground preparation sessions. Read more.
INDIA: Plagiarism Row: HC Bars 3 Historians From Publishing ‘Defamatory’ Material on Vikram Sampath
The Wire, 2/18
Audrey Truschke, Ananya Chakravarti, and Rohit Chopra, all US-based historians of India, have been barred by a Delhi high court from making public the contents of a letter they wrote to Britain’s Royal Historical Society alleging plagiarism against Indian author Vikram Sampath. Read more.
BELARUS: Submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus to the Human Rights Council
Scholars at Risk, 2/17
Scholars at Risk made a submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on Belarus expressing concern about the restricted state of academic freedom in Belarus, in particular the ongoing persecution of students and scholars in the country. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Several HBCUs Respond to Bomb Threats
Sara Weissman, Inside Higher Ed, 2/17
A number of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) received bomb threats this week, marking the fourth wave of similar threats in less than two months. Fayetteville State University suspended classes and campus operations after receiving a threat. Read more.
BELGIUM / EGYPT: Protests in Brussels as Egypt’s president Sisi arrives for EU-AU summit
Ahmed Gamal Ziada, Middle East Eye, 2/16
Human rights advocates rallied against Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, in Belgium for a summit between the European Union and the African Union, for his human rights abuses, which include the imprisonment and prosecution of Egyptian researchers Patrick Zaki and Ahmed Samir Santawy. Read more.
RUSSIA / UKRAINE: Russia-Ukraine tensions mar rectoral poll with stolen ballot box
Ben Upton, Times Higher Education, 2/16
Police were called to Ukraine’s National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy during an election for the institution’s rector after a group of masked men stole a ballot box and poured green dye into another. There is speculation as to whether the break-in was politically motivated to undermine the election of Professor Serhiy Kvit, who previously served as university president before protests overthrew a pro-Russian government in 2014. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Politics Prevail in Search for Georgia Chancellor
Emma Whitford, Inside Higher Ed, 2/16
The University System of Georgia Board of Regents voted to name former two-term Georgia governor Sonny Perdue the sole finalist for the chancellorship of Georgia’s 26-institution public university system. Students Against Sonny, a group fighting Perdue’s appointment, fear that Perdue will defund the university system and increase political interference in academia. Read more.
AFGHANISTAN: Half-empty campuses and segregation as Afghan universities reopen
Pola Lem, Times Higher Education, 2/16
Times Higher Education spoke to students and staff from four public universities in Afghanistan who reported, generally, a decline in student and staff numbers and concerns over the quality of education under the Taliban. Read more.
UNITED STATES: UT Austin Council Approves Academic Freedom Statement on CRT
Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed, 2/16
The University of Texas at Austin’s Faculty Council passed a resolution affirming academic freedom and the faculty’s right to teach critical race theory and gender justice. The resolution is based on a template resolution called “Defending Academic Freedom to Teach About Race and Gender Justice and Critical Race Theory,” adopted by faculty senates at other universities. Read more.
AFGHANISTAN / UNITED STATES: Suspension of Afghan Fulbright Program shatters dreams for 140 semifinalists now stuck under Taliban rule
Sudarsan Raghavan, The Washington Post, 2/15
The US State Department recently canceled its Fulbright scholarship program in Afghanistan, citing “safety and security, logistical issues and programmatic issues.” Reports indicate that the decision affected 140 semi-finalists, many of whom had rejected other scholarship opportunities. Read more.
UNITED STATES / GLOBAL: Professor Admits He Defrauded International Students
Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed, 2/14
Yue Liu, a former engineering professor at the University of Wisconsin (UWM), admitted his guilt to “information with wire fraud” and engaging in an unlawful monetary transaction, according to an announcement by the Justice Department. According to court documents, Liu “devised and executed a scheme to defraud … foreign students who were accepted into graduate programs at UWM.” Read more.
NICARAGUA: Nicaragua Seizes Universities, Inching Toward Dictatorship
Yubelka Mendoza and Maria Abi-Habib, The New York Times, 2/14
Five of Nicaragua’s private universities have been brought under state control in President Daniel Ortega’s most recent crackdown on dissent. Nicaragua’s politically active student population is one of the last pockets of opposition to Ortega’s authoritarian government since the administration has jailed political activists, raided media offices, outlawed protests, and closed dozens of nongovernmental organizations. Read more.
BELARUS: Release and drop charges against Marfa Rabkova
Scholars at Risk, 2/11
Scholars at Risk sent a letter to Belarusian authorities urging them to release and drop charges against imprisoned European Humanities University student, Marfa Rabkova. Marfa has been charged in relation to her nonviolent participation in nationwide protests over the contested re-election of Alexander Lukashenko to the presidency, and now faces up to 20 years in prison. Read more.
AFGHANISTAN: Taliban urges Afghan professors in exile to return to country
Najibullah Lalzoy, The Khaama Press News Agency, 2/9
Afghanistan’s Taliban-run Ministry of Higher Education asked public university professors, many of whom left the country following the takeover by the Taliban, to return to the country to teach. 229 professors from Afghanistan’s top three universities fled the country following the Taliban’s takeover. Read more.
CANADA: Supporting scholars at risk
Canadian Association of University Teachers, February 2022
The Canadian Association of University Teachers discusses pathways to Canada for academics around the world who are at risk of violence, including placement of at-risk scholars by Scholars at Risk. There are currently 25 universities that makeup SAR’s Canadian chapter. Read more.
UNITED STATES: A Lawsuit Accuses Harvard of Ignoring Sexual Harassment by a Professor
Anemona Hartocollis, The New York Times, 2/8
Three female graduate students filed a lawsuit against Harvard University, accusing the university of ignoring allegations of sexual harassment from Prof. Dr. John Comaroff, a respected anthropologist and an expert on South Africa, and allowing him to intimidate students by threatening their academic careers if they reported him. Read more.
UNITED STATES: ‘I Swore an Oath’: Behind a U. of Florida Professor’s Plea to Testify Against the State
Jack Stripling and Emma Pettit, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2/8
According to emails obtained by The Chronicle, one of the University of Florida professors seeking permission, and later barred from, testifying in a voting-rights case had proposed to Dean David E. Richardson of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences that he take unpaid leave from the university during the duration of his participation in the case. Read more.
PALESTINE (OPT) / ISRAEL: Letter protesting invasion of Birzeit University and assault on students
Committee on Academic Freedom, Middle East Studies Association, 2/8
The Middle East Studies Association’s Committee on Academic Freedom issued a letter to Israeli government and military officials protesting the Israeli military’s assault on Palestine’s Birzeit University campus on January 10, 2022. Read more.
NICARAGUA: Nicaragua to Take Over Six Universities Seen as Critical of Ortega
Ismael Lopez, Reuters via US News, 2/7
Nicaraguan lawmakers loyal to President Daniel Ortega on Monday passed legislation allowing the state to take over six universities the government effectively shut down last week, in a move critics say entrenches authoritarianism. Read more.
UNITED STATES / CHINA: George Washington U.’s President Called the Posters ‘Offensive.’ Now He Says They’re Protected Speech.
Katherine Mangan, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2/7
A free-speech debate was sparked at George Washington University after unknown persons hung posters across campus satirizing the 2022 Winter Olympic Games by calling attention to Chinese government human-rights abuses. The university’s interim president, Mark S. Wrighton, initially called the posters offensive but reversed course after being accused of censorship. Read more.
AFGHANISTAN: Professor steps down after being accused of blasphemy
Najibullah Lalzoy, The Khaama Press News Agency, 2/5
Yaqub Yasna, a professor at the Alberoni University, has stepped down from his position after professors at the university accused him of blasphemy. The professor posted on Facebook that this was in response to his criticism of ethnic politics in Afghanistan. Read more.
TURKEY: Appointed rector dismisses one more academic from Boğaziçi University
Bianet, 2/7
Boğaziçi University Rector Naci İnci, who was appointed to the position by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, dismissed Dr. Kaan Öztürk, a professor in the Department of Computer Engineering. Announcing his dismissal on Twitter, Öztürk stated that he was not ashamed of the rector’s decision “because not being liked by Naci İnci is a medal of honor.” Read more.
AFGHANISTAN: Some universities reopen, in others professors have fled
Shadi Khan Saif, University World News, 2/4
Afghan students returned to public universities in some Afghan provinces this week after almost a year of suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the takeover of the country by the Taliban. The Taliban announced that public universities in six provinces were open to women. Read more.
TURKEY: ‘Restore academic freedom and autonomy at Boğaziçi University’
Bianet, 2/3
Scholars at Risk has called for “immediate steps to safeguard academic freedom and institutional autonomy,” in an open letter to President Erdoğan, Council of Higher Education head Prof. Özvar and Boğaziçi University’s appointed rector Naci İnci. Read more.
NICARAGUA: Nicaragua’s congress bans 4 universities and 6 aid groups
The Associated Press via ABC News, 2/2
Nicaragua’s National Assembly, controlled by President Daniel Ortega, outlawed four private universities. The best known of the schools outlawed is Polytechnical University of Nicaragua, a central institution in the anti-government protests of 2018. Read more.
TURKEY: Restore Academic Freedom and Autonomy at Boğaziçi University
Scholars at Risk, 2/2
Scholars at Risk sent a letter to Turkish state and higher education officials in response to the arbitrary dismissal of three democratically appointed deans from Boğaziçi University. Read more.
HONG KONG / UNITED STATES: US law scholar says Hong Kong denied him visa to teach at university
AFP via France 24, 2/2
American legal scholar Ryan Thoreson, who specializes in LGBTQ rights, said he was denied a visa to teach at the University of Hong Kong, where he was hired to teach human rights law as a tenure-track assistant professor. Read more.
VENEZUELA: Venezuelan teachers live in “subhuman conditions”, according to the opposition [SPANISH]
La Vanguardia, 2/2
Venezuelan opposition politicians publicly condemned the country’s budgeting standards for university professors and higher education, referring to the low budgeting as “miserable and deathly,” causing a “diaspora” of academics, and leading to empty classrooms and limited teaching capabilities. Read more.
EGYPT: Egypt postpones trial of rights researcher Patrick Zaki
Middle East Monitor, 2/1
An Egyptian court postponed the trial of Patrick Zaki, scheduled to begin on February 1, to April 6. Zaki, a masters student at the University of Bologna, was arrested by Egyptian officials in 2020 and accused of spreading false information in an article he wrote. Read more.
TURKEY: Boğaziçi students and staff fear reprisals after deans sacked
Jack Grove, Times Higher Education, 1/31
Turkey’s Higher Education Council (YOK) dismissed three democratically elected deans from Boğaziçi University, signaling a renewed attack on institutional autonomy and freedom of speech in Turkey’s universities. Read more.
HONG KONG: Members of student publication resign en masse citing pressure from Hong Kong Baptist University
Selina Chang, Hong Kong Free Press, 1/31
The editorial board of a student publication at Hong Kong Baptist University announced that all management at the newsroom had collectively resigned following interference from the university. Read more.
AFGHANISTAN: Taliban to reopen public universities, no word on female students
Reuters, 1/30
Taliban acting higher education minister announced that Afghanistan’s public universities, which had been closed since the Taliban seized power in the country, would reopen on February 2. He did not specify whether female students would be able to return. Read more.
HONG KONG: University of Hong Kong covers up 33-year-old Tiananmen tribute painted on bridge, weeks after removing statue
Hillary Leung, Hong Kong Free Press, 1/29
Workers at the University of Hong Kong covered up a segment of a bridge dedicated to the Tiananmen dead on Saturday morning, weeks after the school’s removal of a statue commemorating the deadly crackdown attracted international condemnation. Read more.
MYANMAR: Universities, professors and students still under attack
Naw Say Phaw Waa, University World News, 1/28
February 1 marked the one-year anniversary of the military coup in Myanmar. To mark the anniversary, university students’ unions, activists, and anti-junta organizations called on citizens to continue to take part in a silent strike in protest of the coup. Read more.
EGYPT: Egypt: Quash Verdicts and Stop Unfair Trials by Emergency Courts
Scholars at Risk, 1/27
Scholars at Risk joined the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy and over 60 organizations in calling on President Abdelfattah Al-Sisi to quash verdicts against seven arbitrarily detained human rights defenders and activists, including Central European University postgraduate student, Ahmed Samir Santawy. Read more.
NETHERLANDS / CHINA: University funding row raises Chinese influence fears
Yojana Sharma, University World News, 1/26
The Free University of Amsterdam (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) said it will return Chinese funding for its Cross Cultural Human Rights Centre (CCHRC) after it emerged that several of the center’s academics publicly denied that China oppresses Uyghur peoples. Read more.
EGYPT: Egypt urged to free masters student Ahmed Samir Santawy
Wachira Kigotho, University World News, 1/26
Central European University (CEU), in collaboration with Scholars at Risk, hosted a virtual symposium, “Free Ahmed Samir,” urging the Egyptian government to release CEU master’s student Ahmed Samir Santawy, who was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment. Read more.
UNITED STATES / CHINA: ‘In the End, You’re Treated Like a Spy,’ Says M.I.T. Scientist
Ellen Barry, The New York Times, 1/24
Gang Chen was arrested a year ago on charges of hiding his links to China. The charges were dismissed, but he said the damage — to him, and to American science — has lingered. Read more.
MOROCCO: #MeToo wave in Morocco over ‘sex for grades’ scandal
AFP via France24, 1/23
In the style of the #MeToo movement, female university students in Morocco have taken to social media to share experiences of professors demanding sexual favours in return for good grades. One student alleged that she was expelled from Morocco’s Hassan I University after refusing to submit to sexual blackmail from a professor. Read more.
AFGHANISTAN / UNITED STATES: Afghan Students in US Face Uncertain Future
Akmal Dawi, Voice of America, 1/23
Afghan students studying at universities in the United States fear they may not be able to return home because of safety concerns following the country’s take over by the Taliban. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Judge rules for professors in University of Florida academic freedom case
Susan Svrluga and Lori Rozsa, The Washington Post, 1/21
In a defense of academic freedom, U.S. District Judge Mark Walker ordered the University of Florida not to enforce its conflict of interest policy against faculty or others participating in lawsuits against the state. UF previously denied three political science professors permission to testify in a lawsuit challenging a state law championed by Governor Ron DeSantis. Read more.
TURKEY: Resistance to Erdoğan’s encroachment at Turkey’s top university, one year on
Kemal Kirişci, Mine Eder, and Mert Arslanalp, Brookings, 1/21
Brookings’ Kemal Kirişci and Boğaziçi University professors Mine Eder and Mert Arslanalp discuss the year-long resistance taking place at the university following President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan arbitrary appointment of its rector last January. Read more.
SUDAN: HE community continues protest against military regime
Wagdy Sawahel, University World News, 1/21
Sudan’s Professional Union of Professors of Sudanese Universities, Colleges, and Higher Institutions have joined in renewed calls on the international community to pressure the military regime following the death of seven demonstrators, including a student, during a march against the government. A military regime took control of the country during a coup in October 2021. Read more.
UNITED STATES / IRAN: Princeton student sues university over Iran jailing
Paul Basken, Times Higher Education, 1/20
Xiyue Wang, a Princeton University PhD student formerly imprisoned while studying in Iran, is suing the institution for alleged failure to help him. Wang, who was eventually freed in a prisoner swap between the US and Iran, argues that Princeton made a “foolish and reckless decision to direct” him to study in Iran and engaged in “a series of subsequent actions, inactions and reckless decision-making” that compounded his imprisonment. Read more.
TURKEY: Boğaziçi University | Three deans removed from office
Bianet, 1/20
The academics of Boğaziçi University announced that three elected deans at the university have been removed from office by the Council of Higher Education (YÖK). Read more.
BAHRAIN: Request for support to free imprisoned human rights defender Dr Abduljalil AlSingace, on hunger strike since July 2021
Scholars at Risk, 1/17
Scholars at Risk joined 26 human rights organizations in encouraging US, UK, German, and EU governments to raise Dr. Abduljalil Al-Singace’s case with Bahraini authorities. Read more.
UNITED STATES: US set to drop charges against MIT’s Chen on China research funds
Paul Basken, Times Higher Education, 1/17
US prosecutors recommended dropping criminal charges against Gang Chen, a Chinese-born Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor accused in the Trump-era crackdown on scientists with foreign funding. Read more.
MEXICO: Education and science under attack by AMLO’s government
The Yucatan Times via University World News, 1/17
The Yucatan Times reports that Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has criticized institutions of higher education in the country on at least eight occasions, describing them as “neoliberal” or “right-wing.” Read more.
AFGHANISTAN / IRAQ: Afghan students ‘in doldrums’ at Iraqi university
Pola Lem, Times Higher Education, 1/17
Afghan students from the American University of Afghanistan, who were previously evacuated to the American University of Iraq after Kabul fell to the Taliban in August 2021, say they are not getting the education they need to progress. Read more.
HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s Chinese University to start patriotic ‘national security education’
Radio Free Asia, 1/17
The Chinese University of Hong Kong will impose the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s patriotic education program on all students starting in the fall of 2022. Every student will be required to complete the course “Understanding China Today” in order to graduate. Read more.
GREECE: Greece begins training of a permanent police group in universities [SPANISH]
La Vanguardia, 1/17
Police officers assigned to the protection of universities in Greece began training in response to the continued occupations of campuses by protesters. Up until now, police in Greece could only access universities if there were indications of a crime or if their presence was requested by the university. Read more.
PAKISTAN: SC asks courts to respect universities’ powers
Nasir Iqbal, Dawn, 1/16
The Supreme Court of Pakistan issued a judgment stating that every university has the right to set out its disciplinary and other policies in accordance with the law, and that unless any policy goes against the fundamental rights of the students or violates any law, courts should exercise self-restraint in such matters. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Judge will decide soon on whether free speech violated at UF
Mike Schneider, Associated Press via Miami Herald, 1/15
A federal judge criticized an attorney for the University of Florida during a hearing on whether six faculty members’ free speech rights were infringed upon after the lawyer accused some of the professors of having no standing to make their cases because they had violated school policy. Read more.
EVENT: As One Year of Imprisonment Approaches, CEU Hosts Free Ahmed Samir! Online Conference
Central European University, 1/14
In February 2021, Ahmed Samir Santawy, Egyptian student and researcher at Central European University in Vienna, was arbitrarily detained and imprisoned by the Egyptian government. As one year since Ahmed’s disappearance approaches, CEU will host the Free Ahmed Samir! Conference on Academic Freedom in Egypt on January 25 to consider why university peers are being imprisoned and what can be done about it. Read more.
THAILAND: Student activists arrested during graduation boycott campaign
Prachatai, 1/14
Two student activists were arrested while holding banners on Chiang Mai University’s campus calling on students to boycott the graduation ceremony. Read more.
AFGHANISTAN: Private higher education providers battle for survival
Shadi Khan Saif, University World News, 1/14
Officials at a number of private universities in Kabul told University World News that private institutions are struggling to survive as they are facing a dramatic drop in the number of students enrolled. Private institutions have continued to operate while there have been no signs of resumption of studies at public universities. Read more.
MOROCCO: Morocco sex for grades: Hassan I University lecturer jailed
BBC, 1/13
A professor at Hassan I University accused of giving students good grades in return for sexual favors has been convicted of indecent behavior, sexual harassment, and violence and sentenced to two years in prison. This is the first verdict in a string of high-profile sexual harassment cases at universities in Morocco. Read more.
TURKEY: 2,102 people express solidarity with Boğaziçi University constituents
Bianet, 1/13
2,102 Turkish citizens signed a joint statement on the first anniversary of the protests against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s rector appointment at Boğaziçi University. The statement calls on authorities to take action to ensure university autonomy. Read more.
CHINA / HONG KONG: ‘Discreet’ chats to quiet defiance: tactics on Hong Kong campuses
Pola Lem, Times Higher Education, 1/12
After a year during which several of Hong Kong’s most prominent higher education institutions severed ties with student unions amid concerns about the national security law, academics practice caution when discussing politically sensitive topics in the classroom. Read more.
AFGHANISTAN: Taliban releases prominent Afghan professor from custody
Al Jazeera, 1/11
The Taliban released Faizullah Jalal, a Kabul University professor and outspoken critic of the Taliban, who was detained in relation to statements he allegedly made on social media. Read more.
FRANCE: Islamophobia row puts French campuses in crossfire as poll looms
Ben Upton, Times Higher Education, 1/10
Sabine Saurugger, director of Sciences Po Grenoble, called for “calm and rationality” among French academics after suspending a professor who had made criticisms of the institution in national media. The professor also previously claimed at an anti-racism event that Islamophobia was not comparable to other forms of discrimination. Read more.
AFGHANISTAN: Taliban prepares to segregate sexes in Afghan universities
Tahir Khan, Nikkei Asia, 1/10
Abdul Baqi Haqqani, Afghanistan’s minister for higher education, said in an interview that females will be allowed to access education after a new system to separate males and females is prepared. Read more.
TURKEY: Turkish court releases two Bogazici students from jail
Reuters, 1/7
A Turkish court released two Boğaziçi University students from jail. The students were detained amid widespread protests against the government’s appointment of a rector to the university. Read more.
AFGHANISTAN / GLOBAL: Keeping their heads down: how are Afghan students faring in the West?
Pola Lem, Times Higher Education, 1/6
Scholars at Risk Deputy Director Sarah Wilcox told THE that universities have played a critical role in the relocation of Afghan students and researchers who have managed to leave the country. Read more.
CHINA / UNITED STATES: China mounts anti-US campaign in Xinjiang universities amid genocide declarations
Mihray Abdilim, Radio Free Asia, 1/4
The Chinese government has begun a propaganda campaign directed at the United States over the country’s condemnation of Beijing’s human rights violations and genocidal policies targeting the Uyghur minority. Read more.
HONG KONG: Hong Kong students’ union faces ‘shackled’ role on campus
Pola Lem, Times Higher Education, 1/5
Staff and students voice concern over the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s condition that the students’ union can be reinstated only if it pledges not to break the law. Read more.
TURKEY: Call for international solidarity with Boğaziçi resistance
Bianet, 1/5
On the first anniversary of the Boğaziçi University protests, the Boğaziçi University International Community released a declaration calling for “international solidarity in its endeavor for academic freedom.” Read more.
HONG KONG: Removing campus Tiananmen artworks ‘obliterates history’
Mimi Leung and Yojana Sharma, University World News, 1/5
Students in Hong Kong said the removal of memorials that had been on campuses violated freedom of expression, artistic freedoms, and university autonomy. They also said it was an attempt by the authorities “to obliterate history,” particularly in the case of the Pillar of Shame commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen massacre. Read more.
UNITED STATES: US judge sides with Florida professors in voting rights case
Paul Basken, Times Higher Education, 1/4
A federal judge sided with University of Florida professors in their case against the university after the administration blocked them from testifying against the state of Florida in a voting rights case. Read more.
TURKEY: Boğaziçi University protests mark one year since Erdoğan’s rector appointment
Bianet, 1/3
Boğaziçi University’s students and scholars marked the anniversary of protests against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s rector appointment at the university by turning their backs to the rector’s office in symbolic protest for the 246th time. Read more.
AFGHANISTAN / UNITED STATES: American University of Afghanistan’s students are scattered all over the world, but their education continues
Paulina Smolinski, CBS News, 12/28
Students from the American University of Afghanistan are logging on across time zones to continue their education. Over half of the students have now been evacuated from Afghanistan and are mainly in Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, and the US, with others in Germany, France, Chile, and Rwanda. Read more.
UNITED STATES / CHINA: What the Lieber Verdict Says, and Doesn’t Say, About Future Probes of Scholars’ Ties to China
Karin Fischer, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 12/27
A federal jury found Charles Lieber, a former chairman of Harvard University’s chemistry department, guilty of lying to US government officials about his ties to China. The China Initiative, under which Lieber was charged, has come under increasing criticism for its chilling effect on international scientific collaboration. Read more.
YEMEN / NORWAY: Scholar against all odds
Kristina Bye, Khrono, 12/24
SAR scholar Abdulghani Muthanna discusses his experience as a scholar at risk in Yemen and his new position, organized by the SAR-network, in Norway. Muthanna fears returning to Yemen as he has openly criticized the political situation there and thus risks being arrested and punished if and when he chooses to return. Read more.
HONG KONG: Two Hong Kong universities remove Tiananmen artworks after Pillar of Shame dismantled
Guardian staff and agencies, The Guardian, 12/23
One day after the University of Hong Kong took down the Pillar of Shame, a statue commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, Hong Kong’s Chinese University of Hong Kong and Lingnan University removed similar works of art from campus. Read more.
AFGHANISTAN: Could online degrees be the way forward for Afghan women?
Pola Lem, Times Higher Education, 12/23
The University of the People, a non-profit organization that offers online degrees, has received more than 4,000 applicants to its scholarships launched specifically for Afghans. The university offers an opportunity for women to access education after it became more difficult following the Taliban takeover. Read more.
SWEDEN / AFGHANISTAN: Researchers from Afghanistan receive academic sanctuaries in Sweden
Linnaeus University, 12/21
The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency will fund a national support program for researchers from Afghanistan. The initiative comes from Scholars at Risk-Sweden. Read more.
MEXICO: A top university in Mexico becomes a battleground over academic freedom
Leila Miller, University World News, 12/15
Students have camped out at the Mexico City campus of the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics, a top public research center in Mexico, to call for the dismissal of the center’s new government-appointed director. Read more.
UNITED STATES: A Template for Academic Freedom
Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed, 12/15
Professors seek a united faculty voice against legislative incursions into the curriculum with respect to the teaching of race. Read more.
TURKEY: Boğaziçi University students indicted, face prison sentence over their protests
Bianet, 12/13
The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has indicted 14 Boğaziçi University students over their protests against the university’s rector, Naci İnci, who was appointed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Read more.
POLAND / AFGHANISTAN: “Polish Afghans” in the centers have remorse and symptoms of depression. University of Warsaw students want to help them [POLISH]
Wojciech Karpieszuk, Wyborcza.pl, 12/12
University of Warsaw undergraduate and doctoral students have organized what they are calling the “year zero” campaign, which invites Afghan students evacuated from Kabul to Warsaw. Through the campaign, Polish students will help prepare the young Afghans for studies in Poland. Read more.
BANGLADESH: Concern over attacks on peaceful activism of scholars, students
Mushfique Wadud, University World News, 12/11
The state of academic freedom in Bangladesh is worrying, according to Scholars at Risk’s Free to Think 2021 report, which documented scholars being fired for public expression critical of government figures and violence used by police and civilians to restrict and retaliate against student expression. Read more.
GLOBAL: Academics, students worldwide killed for beliefs or activism
Keith Nuthall, University World News, 12/11
Scholars at Risk’s Free to Think 2021 report highlights scholars and students who have been killed because of their beliefs or activism over the past year. Such attacks occurred in Afghanistan, Iraq, Haiti, Madagascar, Nigeria, and Yemen. Read more.
CHINA: ‘This is our voice’: The Uyghur traditions being erased by China’s cultural crackdown
Dale Berning Sawa, The Guardian, 12/10
Uyghur academics and pop culture figures have been disappeared en masse as part of efforts to erase Uyghur culture by the Chinese state in Xinjiang. An estimated 1.5 million people have been detained in “re-education” camps, including Rahile Dawut, a Uyghur folklore expert who disappeared four years ago. Read more.
BELGIUM: From now on, University of Antwerp will receive endangered scientists
Dylan Van Rooy, Radio 2 via VRT, 12/10
The University of Antwerp will start to welcome foreign academics who are threatened in their home countries to its campus. The academics will receive financial support, funded by Scholars at Risk, so they may continue their studies at the university. Read more.
MYANMAR: Higher education sector under systemic attack since coup
Yojana Sharma, University World News, 12/10
Scholars at Risk’s Free to Think 2021 report details attacks on Myanmar’s higher education community since the February 2021 military coup, including the use of force, arrests, mass suspensions and dismissals, and campus raids and occupations by military and police. Read more.
EUROPE / GLOBAL: Why Europe and the world need a ‘student at risk’ support scheme
Frederikke Veirum Høgsgaard, Hector Ulloa and Matteo Vespa, University World News, 12/10
Authors welcome and support the joint proposal of the European University Association, European Students’ Union, and Scholars at Risk calling for the establishment of a Europe-wide program of scholarships for students at risk. Read more.
EGYPT / ITALY: Egyptian court releases researcher Patrick Zaki
Al Jazeera, 12/7
An Egyptian court ordered the release, pending trial, of jailed researcher Patrick George Zaki, who was accused in February 2020 of “spreading false news” in relation to an article he wrote about the plight of Christians in Egypt. Zaki had been studying at the University of Bologna in Italy at the time of his detention. Read more.
UNITED STATES: South Carolina assault on tenure ‘would drive academics away’
Paul Basken, Times Higher Education, 12/2
Over two dozen Republican lawmakers in South Carolina have proposed to end tenure outright at their state universities by setting a five-year limit on employment contracts in the state’s eight-university system. Read more.
AFGHANISTAN: University teachers unpaid, academic activities stalled
Shadi Khan Saif, University World News, 12/2
University teachers and academic staff called off a protest set to take place in downtown Kabul in response to academic activities in all public universities across the country remaining stalled and university and school teachers going unpaid. Protest participants told University World News that there were “security concerns” and that the protest would be postponed. Read more.
RUSSIA: Russian academics urge release of imprisoned Moscow rector
Pola Lem, Times Higher Education, 12/2
A growing number of Russian academics are calling for the release of the rector of a leading Moscow institution, who they say has been imprisoned on false charges and could die if he remains behind bars. Read more.
RUSSIA / UNITED STATES: Russia Deports Professor With Ties to Bard
Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Ed, 12/1
Russia has deported American professor Michael Freese, who was teaching at St. Petersburg State University as part of a collaboration with Bard College in New York. Russian prosecutors labeled Bard an “undesirable organization” last summer. Read more.
UNITED STATES / CHINA: As U.S. Hunts for Chinese Spies, University Scientists Warn of Backlash
Amy Qin, The New York Times, 11/28
Scientists of Chinese descent working at American universities describe a “community on edge,” according to interviews with The New York Times. A recent study conducted by the University of Arizona found that around half of the scientists surveyed said they felt they were being surveilled by the U.S. government. Read more.
HONG KONG: Chinese University of Hong Kong seeks to reinstate student union, asks campus clubs to sign pledge not to break law
Rhoda Kwan, Hong Kong Free Press, 11/27
The Chinese University of Hong Kong asked student clubs to sign a declaration that they will not break the law as it plans to create a new student representative body. The university’s former student union voted to dissolve itself after the university severed ties, citing concerns the union had breached Beijing’s national security law. Read more.
OCCUPIED PALESTINEAN TERRITORY (OPT): Right to Education Week shows importance of knowledge, culture to raise awareness of Palestinian student resistance
Birzeit University, 11/26
This year’s Right to Education Week, organized by the Right to Education Campaign, was held at Birzeit University. A mural that symbolizes Palestinian students’ resistance to Israeli occupation practices, painted at the university, was the concluding event. Read more.
EGYPT: Violations of fair trial rights at the Emergency State Security Court
International Commission of Jurists, 11/26
The Egyptian Commission on Rights and Freedoms recently released a report about the case of Ahmed Samir Santawy. The report documents how his conviction and sentence resulted from criminal proceedings marred by human rights violations, including enforced disappearance, torture and other punishments, arbitrary deprivation of liberty, and other violations of rights. Read more.
HONG KONG: Academics raise fears over university leadership changes
Yojana Sharma, University World News, 11/26
An overhaul of the leadership of Hong Kong’s highly regarded universities has left many academics concerned for future university governance and global openness. Hong Kong’s academics say that new leaders will need to manage aligning with Beijing’s science and innovation aspirations and its clamp down on dissent while maintaining the city’s distinct global reputation and rankings. Read more.
SUDAN: Academic community rejects military’s power-sharing deal
Wagdy Sawahel, University World News, 11/24
The academic community has rejected an agreement signed between the military junta and the reinstated Prime Minister following the October 25 military coup. In response, the presidents of the councils of 12 public Sudanese universities rejected the deal and at least two vice-chancellors have resigned in protest. Read more.
AFGHANISTAN: Researchers at risk in Afghanistan need better tools to find help
Nature, 11/24
Organizations such as the Council for At-Risk Academics (CARA) and Scholars at Risk have seen a spike in inquiries from academic staff in Afghanistan looking to flee the country. According to reports, most academic staff — particularly women and those with international links — are either in hiding or looking to leave the country. Read more.
TURKEY: ‘Refusing to reinstate Academics for Peace is unlawful’
Bianet, 11/22
Turkey’s University Faculty Members Association (ÜNİVDER) denounced the State of Emergency Commission’s decision not to reinstate Academics for Peace. The association called the commission’s decisions “unlawful” and “in itself a punishment by prolonging the legal process initiated by the Academics for Peace to return to their jobs.” Read more.
SUDAN: Students killed as pro-democracy protests continue
Wagdy Sawahel, University World News, 11/22
Sudanese security forces shot and killed at least 16 people, including four students, and wounded dozens as thousands of Sudanese protested the October 25 military coup. Demonstrations have been ongoing since the coup took place and there have been 40 confirmed deaths since the military seized power. Read more.
TURKEY / UNITED STATES: Letter to the Inter-university Board of Turkey
American Psychological Association, November
The American Sociological Association issued a letter to the Board of Turkey (ÜAK) denouncing its denial of Turkish academic Mehmet Deniz’s application to recognize his PhD awarded by the State University of New York – Binghamton’s Department. Read more.
HONG KONG: Changing of guard in Hong Kong leadership ‘may narrow diversity’
Pola Lem, Times Higher Education, 11/18
Two Hong Kong university presidents, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology president Wei Shyy and City University president Way Kuo, recently announced they would be leaving their respective universities. Scholars fear that a broader change in leadership at Hong Kong universities could lead to a narrowing of diversity in academia. Read more.
UNITED STATES: U. of Florida Dean Says He Was Directed to Reject Professor’s Request to Testify Against the State
Emma Pettit, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 11/16
The University of Florida College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean David E. Richardson, who rejected a faculty person’s request to offer testimony in a voting-rights lawsuit against the state, said that his decision was made at the direction of senior administrators. Read more.
SUDAN: University council presidents take stand against coup
Wagdy Sawahel, University World News, 11/15
Professor Hunud Abia Kadouf, the vice-chancellor of the International University of Africa in Khartoum, declined an offer by coup leaders to be appointed as prime minister following the October 25 military coup. Ten presidents of the councils of public Sudanese universities have announced their rejection of the coup. Read more.
SWEDEN / IRAN: Djalali praised for fighting for freedom of research [SWEDISH]
Jesper Cederberg, Läkartidningen, 11/15
Scholars at Risk awarded its annual Courage to Think award to Swedish-Iranian scholar of disaster medicine, Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali. The award is given to individuals, groups, or institutions that show a commitment to protecting scholars and promoting academic freedom, whether through professional work, private or community service, or by facing personal risk. Read more.
PHILIPPINES: Opposition mounts against removal of ‘subversive’ books in libraries
Sherwin De Vera, Rappler, 11/14
Opposition is mounting against the Commission on Higher Education–Cordillera Administrative Region’s recently released memo encouraging higher education institutions to remove “subversive” materials from libraries. University of the Philippines’ Library Council indicated that the university’s libraries would be resisting political interference in the flow of information. Read more.
CAMEROON: Bomb attack on university lecture hall wounds 11
AFP via University World News, 11/13
University of Buea Vice-Chancellor Horace Ngomo Manga announced that a homemade bomb thrown into a university lecture hall wounded 11 students on November 10. The bombing took place in a region of Cameroon in the grip of a bloody separatist conflict. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Openness on American campuses is under threat. Here’s how we preserve it.
Robert Quinn, Driving Discovery Series, Charles Koch Foundation, 11/12
Scholars at Risk’s founding Executive Director Robert Quinn discusses the strain on the openness of American campuses and encourages university and college leaders to emphasize academic freedom and formalize responsibility for promoting it on their campuses. Read more.
THAILAND: Student organisations reject court’s ruling
Aekarach Sattaburuth, Bangkok Post, 11/11
The Student Council of Chulalongkorn University, along with 23 other university student groups, issued a joint statement rejecting the Constitutional Court’s ruling that prominent student activists Panupong Jadnok and Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul were guilty of trying to overthrow the constitutional monarchy. Read more.
ZIMBABWE: Students want a ‘better, freer and more democratic Zimbabwe’
Tonderayi Mukeredzi and Prince Gora, University World News, 11/11
Student members of the Zimbabwe National Students Union, who were recently acquitted after an eight-month trial on charges of disorderly conduct related to student activism, vowed to continue mobilizing for a “better, freer and more democratic Zimbabwe.” Read more.
UNITED KINGDOM / ISRAEL: Israeli ambassador protest: LSE investigating threats against Tzipi Hotovely
BBC, 11/10
The London Institute of Economics has launched an investigation into whether students threatened Israeli Ambassador Tzipi Hotovely while she was giving a speech on campus after video clips circulated on social media of protesters chasing the ambassador. Read more.
Ahmadreza Djalali honored with 2021 Courage to Think Award
Scholars at Risk, 11/9
Scholars at Risk announced that Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali is the recipient of its Courage to Think Award for 2021. Dr. Djalali, a prominent scholar of disaster medicine sentenced to death in Iran, is being recognized for his struggle for academic freedom and connection to the international academic community. Read more.
PHILIPPINES: Anger as university books purge described as ‘academic freedom’
Elvira Ramirez-Cohn, University World News, 11/9
Academics at the University of the Philippines Diliman accused top higher education official, chair of the Philippines Commission on Higher Education Dr Prospero de Vera III, of “effectively sanctioning book purging,” after he defended the right of state universities to remove reading materials deemed ‘subversive.’ Read more.
CHINA / GLOBAL: Western academics warn against ‘Cold War’ attitude on China
Pola Lem, Times Higher Education, 11/8
Academics warn that a renewed “Cold War mentality” may affect research and education ties between China and the West. Western scholars increasingly face pressure to take a critical standpoint on China. Read more.
SUDAN: Universities suspend activities following military coup
Wagdy Sawahel, University World News, 11/8
Following a military coup on October 25, at least two Sudanese universities — the University of Khartoum and the Omdurman Islamic University — have announced the suspension of classes as the country continues to experience political instability. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Brown, Columbia and Cornell Face Bomb Threats
Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed, 11/8
Brown, Columbia and Cornell Universities faced bomb threats that led to portions of their campuses being evacuated and shut down for investigation. No credible threats were found. Read more.
SCOTLAND / DENMARK: Scholar pulls out of university talk amid fresh row over academic freedom
Alison Campsie, The Scotsman, 11/7
Dr. Somdeep Sen, an associate professor at Roskilde University in Denmark, announced he would no longer be speaking at Glasgow University, where he was invited to present his work, “Decolonizing Palestine.” His decision came after the university asked him to share his speech ahead of the event to ensure his talk did not breach UK terror laws. Read more.
HONG KONG / CHINA: EXCLUSIVE-New Hong Kong university classes set out dangers of breaking security law
Jessie Pang and Sara Cheng, Reuters, 11/5
Hong Kong university students have begun taking compulsory courses on Beijing’s National Security Law. The content of the courses is reported to be on the dangers of breaking the law. Students have also reported the presence of CCTV cameras in the classrooms. Read more.
TURKEY: International Call for Solidarity: Boğaziçi University Academics Begin the 2021 Fall Term Under Assault
Jadaliyya Reports, 11/4
Boğaziçi University academics issue a call to international public opinion to support them in their struggle against government actions undermining the university’s autonomy, including a presidential rector appointment. Read more.
UNITED STATES: University of Florida Reverses Course to Allow Professors to Testify Against State
Michael Wines, The New York Times, 11/5
Following widespread protest, the University of Florida reneged on its decision to prevent three political science professors from testifying in a voting-rights lawsuit against the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis. The professors had sued university officials in federal court, claiming their First Amendment rights had been violated. Read more.
CHINA: In Xinjiang, officials are trying to stamp out Uyghur identity
The Economist, 10/21
Officials in China’s Xinjiang province have rounded up nearly 400 Uyghur artists and intellectuals, placing them into camps, prisons, or disappearing altogether, but some of their work produced while in detention, including poetry and a novel, has escaped. Read more.
NORWAY: New government seeks to tighten control over universities
Jan Petter Myklebust, University World News, 10/20
The new government in Norway has moved to tighten political control over universities through proposed reforms found in an 80-page agreement, dubbed Hurdalsplattform. The head of Universities Norway, Professor Sunniva Whittaker, said the agreement represents a “shift towards a new form of government interference” at a level “not seen for decades.” Read more.
UNITED STATES / CHINA: Tennessee offers to rehire engineer cleared in China trial
Paul Basken, Times Higher Education, 10/19
The University of Tennessee at Knoxville has offered to rehire Anming Hu, the engineering researcher acquitted in the first court prosecution under a Trump-era crackdown on academic scientists with ties to China. Read more.
UNITED STATES: A Canceled Lecture, Revived
Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed, 10/19
Dorian Abbot, an associate professor of geophysical sciences at the University of Chicago who has compared academe’s diversity “regime” to Nazism, has been invited to give a lecture at Princeton University after MIT canceled his guest lecture following the controversial statement. Read more.
SINGAPORE: Universities ‘at risk’ from Singapore’s foreign interference act
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 10/15
Critics of Singapore’s new foreign interference law warn that it will exacerbate the “pervasive culture of academic self-censorship.” The Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act allows the government to investigate and obstruct “hostile information campaigns” deemed to incite social discord in Singapore. Read more.
AFGHANISTAN: American University of Afghanistan shifts campus to Qatar
Shadi Khan Saif, University World News, 10/15
The American University of Afghanistan, currently unable to operate at its home campus in Kabul, will open a campus in Doha, Qatar after signing an agreement with the Doha Qatar Foundation and the Qatar Fund for Development. Read more.
HONG KONG: Statue removal ‘last straw’ for some Hong Kong academics
Pola Lem, Times Higher Education, 10/15
Academics in Hong Kong have warned that the University of Hong Kong’s recent announcement that it would remove the Tiananmen Square memorial from campus would be a “final straw” for university employees considering leaving the city given recent crackdowns on academic freedom. Read more.
BAHRAIN: Free Dr. Abdul Jalil Al-Singace on 100th Day of Hunger Strike
Scholars at Risk, 10/15
Imprisoned scholar Dr. Abdul Jalil Al-Singace began a hunger strike on July 9th to protest his ill-treatment and to demand the return of his academic research, which was confiscated by prison authorities. SAR calls on Bahraini authorities to return Dr. Al-Singace’s research and immediately secure his release so he can receive the medical care he desperately needs. Read more.
UNITED STATES / AFGHANISTAN: A UM teacher is working to find refuge for displaced Afghan scholars
Freddy Monares, Montana Public Radio, 10/14
University of Montana Geography instructor Kelly Franklin is trying to move up to 12 scholars and an education program she developed out of Afghanistan, as scholars’ lives have been upended after the Taliban took control of the country. Sarah Willcox tells Montana Public Radio that Scholars at Risk has received 1,250 requests for help from Afghans. Read more.
UNITED KINGDOM: Academic calls on universities minister to defend her freedom of speech
Richard Adams, The Guardian, 10/14
Cambridge University Professor Priyamvada Gopalhas, a respected author on British colonial history, called on the universities minister to defend her freedom of speech, after her invitation to speak to civil servants was withdrawn after a tweet resurfaced in which she criticized Priti Patel, Home Secretary of the United Kingdom. Read more.
AFGHANISTAN: Students in limbo as Taliban tighten grip on Afghanistan
Pola Lem, Times Higher Education, 10/14
Access to higher education in Afghanistan has suffered since the Taliban’s takeover of the country over a month ago. Some students and scholars have been able to flee the country, however, for those that remain, many universities have yet to resume classes. According to students whose classes have continued, turnout and engagement are low. Read more.
GLOBAL: Scholars at Risk awarded the 2021 International Science Council Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award
Scholars at Risk, 10/13
The International Science Council announced Scholars at Risk as the recipient of their Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award, in recognition of “outstanding contribution to defending and promoting the free and responsible practice of science.” Read more.
CHINA / UNITED STATES: Amid U.S.-China Chill, Harvard Moves a Top Language Program to Taiwan
Amy Qin, The New York Times, 10/13
Harvard University announced it is moving a Chinese-language program from Beijing, at the Beijing Language and Culture University, to Taipei. The move comes amid a broad chill in academic and cultural exchanges between the United States and China. Read more.
IRAN / SWEDEN: Ahmadreza Djalali – 2000 Days in the Iranian Prison
Committee of Concerned Scientists, 10/11
October 17 will mark 2,000 days since Swedish-Iranian Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali was imprisoned in Tehran. While on a research visit to Iran in 2016, Djalali was detained and tortured until confessing under duress to conspiring in the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists. In 2017, the Iranian Revolutionary Court sentenced Djalali to death. Read more.
TURKEY: Can Candan not let in Boğaziçi University, where he has been a lecturer for 14 years
Bianet, 10/11
After being dismissed as a lecturer from Boğaziçi University, where he had taught for 14 years, Can Candan was barred from entering the university’s campus following instructions from the rector, Naci İnci. Candan was dismissed from the university after taking part in student and faculty protests against the school’s presidentially appointed rector. Read more.
MEXICO: We Finally Know How 43 Students on a Bus Vanished Into Thin Air
Jeremy Kryt, The Daily Beast, 10/10
Text messages between a crime boss and a deputy police chief in Mexico indicated that the police and drug cartel worked together to capture 43 students who went missing from a bus in September 2014. The students had organized buses to take them to a protest in Mexico City when they went missing. Read more.
HONG KONG: University of Hong Kong wants Tiananmen ‘Pillar of Shame’ gone
Pola Lem, Times Higher Education, 10/8
The University of Hong Kong requested that the Pillar of Shame, a statue in memory of the Tiananmen Square victims, be removed from its campus. The removal of the statue, which has been on the campus for 24 years, comes amid Beijing’s crackdown on Hong Kong universities. Read more.
EGYPT: Drop charges and immediately release Patrick George Zaki
Scholars at Risk, 10/8
Scholars at Risk expresses concern over the recent indictment against Patrick George Zaki, a postgraduate student at the University of Bologna who is awaiting trial on a charge of “spreading false news inside and outside of the country.” Read more.
HONG KONG: University student union disbands amid civil society meltdown
Mimi Leung, University World News, 10/7
The Chinese University of Hong Kong Student Union announced that it was dissolving, citing increasing problems since the university administration cut ties with the student body in February 2021. The student union is the second to dissolve in Hong Kong following the implementation of China’s National Security Law. Read more.
AFGHANISTAN / UNITED STATES: They were hoping to win Fulbright scholarships. Then the Taliban took over, and the U.S. went silent
David Pierson and Marcus Yam, The Los Angeles Times, 10/5
Fulbright scholarship semifinalists in Afghanistan say they have been abandoned by the United States government-funded program after the Taliban returned to power in August. According to applicants, Fulbright officials have not provided updates on the interviews. Read more.
EGYPT: Under fire for abuses, Egypt releases human rights strategy to mixed reviews
Siobhán O’Grady, The Washington Post, 10/5
After years of pressure from Western governments and human rights groups on Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, he unveiled the country’s first-ever human rights strategy last month. Immediately following the strategy’s launch, Egyptian academic Patrick George Zaki was indicted on charges that he spread false news domestically and abroad in a 2019 article. Read more.
SINGAPORE: Foreign interference act is a risk for academic freedom
Cherian George, Chong Ja Ian, Linda Lim and Teo You Yenn, University World News, 10/2
Authors argue that Singapore’s recently proposed Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act (FICA) may be the single biggest threat to academia in the country. According to the authors, FICA threatens to limit activities that academics consider necessary, including cross-border collaboration, online dissemination of research, and strong social impact. Read more.
UNITED KINGDOM / BAHRAIN: 77 MPs, Trade Unions, NGOs, academics call on British government to save Bahraini hunger striker
Middle East Monitor, 10/2
Scholars at Risk Europe joined organizations in conveying concern over the condition of imprisoned Bahraini academic, Dr. Abduljalil Al-Singace. Al-Singace, who has been imprisoned in Bahrain since 2011, has been on hunger strike since July 8, 2021. Read more.
LATIN AMERICA-CARIBBEAN: Research growth high but regional collaboration very low
Brendan O’Malley, University World News, 10/1
The number of academic research papers has grown for Latin America and the Caribbean than for most of the rest of the world, according to a new Global Research Report from Clarivate. However, research collaboration within the region remains “extremely low.” Read more.
NORWAY: Universities press for more autonomy under the new government
Jan Petter Myklebust, University World News, 10/1
A left-leaning coalition will take power in Norway following a general election in which higher education and research were a prominent issue. Under the previous conservative-led government, several far-reaching reforms in higher education, including mergers of higher education institutions and increased monitoring of statistical indicators of institutions and staff performance, were severely criticized. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Leader of Prestigious Yale Program Resigns, Citing Donor Pressure
Jennifer Schuessler, The New York Times, 9/30
The historian Beverly Gage, who has run Yale’s prestigious Grand Strategy course since 2017, says the university failed to stand up for academic freedom amid inappropriate efforts to influence the curriculum. Read more.
PHILIPPINES: Bill to ban security forces from campus passes key hurdle
Elvira Ramirez-Cohn, University World News, 9/28
The House of Representatives of the Philippines approved a bill to ensure state security forces will not be allowed to enter University of the Philippines campuses without prior notice. The moves come after Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana ordered the cancellation of the University of the Philippines-Department of National Defense (UP-DND) accord, which prevented state forces from entering campus unannounced. Read more.
UNITED STATES / ISRAEL: Israeli Diplomat Pressured UNC to Remove Teacher Who Criticized Israel
Murtaza Hussain, The Intercept, 9/28
Israeli consular officials in the southeast U.S. arranged meetings with a dean at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to discuss a graduate student teaching a course on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. According to two UNC professors, the Israeli official accused the Ph.D. student of antisemitism and said she was unfit to teach the course. Read more.
GLOBAL: Opinion: Why authoritarian regimes attack independent universities
Ronald J. Daniels, The Washington Post, 9/28
President of Johns Hopkins University Ronald J. Daniels discusses the tendency of autocratic regimes to target universities, and the Taliban’s most recent actions commandeering Kabul University. Read more.
AFGHANISTAN: New Taliban Chancellor Bars Women From Kabul University
Cora Engelbrecht and Sharif Hassan, The New York Times, 9/27
The Taliban’s newly-appointed chancellor of Kabul University, Mohammad Ashraf Ghairat, said in a tweet that as long as an “Islamic environment” could not be provided at the university, it would not allow women instructors and students into the university. Read more.
CHINA: China takes on big publishers with ‘world-class’ journal drive
Jing Liu, Times Higher Education, 9/26
The Chinese government is increasing its funding of the country’s academic publishers in an effort to compete with and challenge Western publishers in the country. The five-year initiative, first launched in 2019, seeks to improve the competitiveness and global influence of science and technology journals in core subjects such as mathematics and physics. Read more.
AFGHANISTAN: What happens when your students join the Taliban? Afghan scientists in hiding
Natasha Mitchell, Science Friction on ABC’s Radio National, 9/26
Scholars at Risk’s Executive Director Robert Quinn spoke with Australia’s ABC Radio National about the humanitarian crisis facing higher education in Afghanistan, including threats to students and scholars. Listen here.
MEXICO: Mexican Government Seeks Arrest of Top Scientists in Funding Dispute
David Luhnow and Juan Montes, The Wall Street Journal, 9/25
Prosecutors in Mexico have asked a federal judge to jail 31 scientists on charges of organized crime and money laundering. The move appears to be part of a growing dispute between the Mexican government and the country’s academics and universities. Read more.
TURKEY: Torture, prison, dismissal used to silence academia
Brendan O’Malley, University World News, 9/25
A symbolic international tribunal met in Geneva to hear testimony from a number of victims of enforced disappearance in Turkey, allegedly perpetrated by agents of the state. Read more.
UNITED KINGDOM / AFGHANISTAN: UK universities step up efforts to help Afghan scholars
Matthew Reisz, Times Higher Education, 9/25
British universities have stepped up to assist at-risk students and scholars impacted by the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. Read more.
UNITED STATES / CHINA: Professor acquittal – Is China Initiative out of control?
Nathan M Greenfield, University World News, 9/25
Dr. Anming Hu, a nanotechnology researcher for NASA and professor at the University of Tennessee, was recently acquitted of six federal charges after being accused of having hidden his connection to Beijing University of Technology. He was the 12th professor of Chinese origin or descent to be charged under the US government’s China Initiative. Read more.
AUSTRALIA: New South Wales reopens to overseas students, but China excluded
Chris Havergal, Times Higher Education, 9/24
The New South Wales government announced that the central government approved plans to open the state up to international students, who will quarantine in a facility built for that purpose. Students from China are likely to be excluded. Read more.
CHINA / UNITED STATES: Termination of Scientists Sparks Concerns About Possible China-Related Probe
Mara Hvistendahl, The Intercept, 9/24
Two Chinese scientists, who are both naturalized US citizens, were terminated from their positions at Baylor College of Medicine on the same day in August. Colleagues are concerned that they were targeted in the Justice Department’s China Initiative. Read more.
BAHRAIN: US senators urge State Dept to confront Bahrain’s ‘repression’
Al Jazeera, 9/24
A bipartisan group of United States senators has called on Secretary of State Antony Blinken to press Bahrain to end the “violent, systemic repression” of its population. The call follows Scholars at Risk’s joint statement with Amnesty International and 14 other rights groups calling on Bahrain to release academic Abdul Jalil al-Singace who is serving a life sentence for his involvement in the 2011 uprising. Read more.
CHINA: Fears in China for missing #MeToo activist and labour rights campaigner
Guo Rui, South China Morning Post, 9/22
Two activists, women-rights activist Sophia Huang Xueqin and labor activist Wang Jianbing, have gone missing from China’s southern city of Guangzhou. Huang and Wang were planning to fly to London the following week, where Huang was going to pursue a master’s degree at the University of Sussex after receiving a scholarship. Read more.
POLAND: “Goebbels media” does not defame TVP. There is a judgment in the case of prof. Sadurski [POLISH]
Agnieszka Kublik, Wyborcza.pl, 9/23
A Polish court found that University of Sydney and University of Warsaw Professor Wojciech Sadurski did not defame Polish state-run TV, Telewizja Polska, in a tweet he published in 2019. TVP filed a civil suit against the professor for falsely accusing the station of playing a role in inciting the murder of a mayor in Poland. Read more.
CHINA / HONG KONG: Compulsory National Security Law courses begin across HE
Mimi Leung and Yojana Sharma, University World News, 9/22
At the start of the new academic year, at least half of Hong Kong’s public universities have implemented compulsory Beijing-imposed National Security Law education. The mandatory curriculum appears to be part of a wider attempt by Beijing to place controls on freedom of expression on campuses across Hong Kong. Read more.
UNITED STATES: With students back on campus, many faculty members are worried about covid — and pushing back
Susan Svrluga, The Washington Post, 9/22
University faculty members have felt an increasing sense of alarm as students have returned to in-person classes despite a third wave of coronavirus infections sweeping across the country. Faculty members have signed petitions, passed resolutions, protested, and written open letters calling for more precautions and more options. Read more.
INDONESIA: Taliban victory raises fears over campus radicalisation
Kafil Yamin, University World News, 9/22
Indonesia’s national counter-terrorism agency has reported a potential rise in terrorism, including from the country’s university campuses, following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan. Indonesia is concerned about radical Islamic ideologies growing in schools and universities as young people are increasingly targeted with extremist views online. Read more.
POLAND: TVP sued prof. Sadurski for “Goebbels media”. It was supposed to violate the “good name” of Jacek Kurski’s television
Ewa Ivanova, Wyborcza.pl, 9/22
University of Sydney and University of Warsaw Professor Wojciech Sadurski attended two hearings related to a lawsuit filed against him by Polish state-run TV, Telewizja Polska, in 2019. TVP filed a civil suit against the professor for falsely accusing the station of playing a role in inciting the murder of a mayor in Poland. Read more.
BAHRAIN: Continuing detention amid deteriorating health of professor Abduljalil Al-Singace
Committee on Academic Freedom, Middle East Studies Association, 9/21
The Committee on Academic Freedom submitted a letter to Bahrain’s Sheikh Hamad bin ‘Issa Al Khalifa expressing concern over the deteriorating health of imprisoned Bahraini academic, Dr. Abduljalil Al-Singace, and calling for his release. Dr. Al-Singace has been in detention since 2011 after he participated in a peaceful political protest. Read more.
AFGHANISTAN: Our Universities Can Save Afghanistan’s Best and Brightest | Opinion
Allida Black and Robert Quinn, Newsweek, 9/17
SAR Executive Director Robert Quinn discusses difficulties facing Afghan scholars, particularly women and minorities, following the Taliban’s takeover of the country. Universities, the authors argue, have an opportunity to bring Afghan scholars to US campuses, “where their insights could augment faculty research, stimulate student engagement and promote thoughtful, insightful civic dialogue.” Read more.
CANADA: Censure against U of T temporarily suspended after school reverses course in hiring controversy
Shanifa Nasser, CBC News, 9/17
Canadian Association of University Teachers has paused the censure on the University of Toronto after the school re-offered the position of director of the school’s International Human Rights Program to Valentina Azarova. The university had previously revoked its offer to Azarova after alleged outside pressure from a judge who disapproved of her writings on Israel-Palestine affairs. Read more.
SINGAPORE / UNITED STATES: Yale-NUS closure ‘nothing to do with academic freedom’
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 9/17
Following the announcement that the National University of Singapore would be ending its Yale-NUS program, Singapore’s education minister defended the move to parliament, calling it an “important step” in the university’s “road map” to develop a “common curriculum with more flexible pathways and more interdisciplinary learning”. Critics say the move will muzzle the student body, seen by the government as too argumentative. Read more.
AFGHANISTAN: Public universities closed, struggling to segregate genders
Shadi Khan Saif, University World News, 9/16
The Taliban is struggling to re-open public universities since it came to power in Afghanistan nearly a month ago. Given the Taliban’s new gender segregation policy, which states that female and male university students must be separated in the classroom, all of the country’s large public universities have yet to resume classes as they struggle to implement gender segregation. Read more.
SINGAPORE / UNITED STATES: Parliament scrutiny provides few clues to Yale-NUS shutdown
Yojana Sharma, University World News, 9/15
Singapore’s Education Minister Chan Chun Sing told parliament that the Yale-NUS College was shut down, without consulting staff or students, after not meeting its fundraising target. Transitioning to an independent liberal arts college, rather than in partnership with an American university, would help to cut costs, he said. Read more.
UNITED STATES: The Case for Reinstatement
Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed, 9/15
A federal appeals court said that Southeastern Oklahoma State University must reinstate, with tenure, former professor Rachel Tudor who says she was denied tenure for being transgender. Read more.
CHINA / AUSTRALIA: Chinese facial recognition scholar ‘ignored questions, went home’
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 9/15
A Chinese artificial intelligence expert, Liu Wan Quan, who taught at Australia’s Curtin University, has returned to China amid findings that he failed to obtain ethical approval for research into facial recognition of Chinese minorities. Liu’s research highlights concerns over Australian research contributions to China’s surveillance of Uyghurs. Read more.
AFGHANISTAN: Afghan scientists fear for the future in war-torn country
Martijn Boerkamp, Physics World, 9/15
Scientists in Afghanistan fear for themselves and the future of research in Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban, who have stated that their values do not lie with scientific advancement. In a recent letter, Scholars at Risk urged European governments to take “immediate action” to help scientists trapped in Afghanistan. Read more.
UNITED STATES: West, George defend academic freedom in Coors forum
James Dean, Cornell Chronicle, 9/14
Speaking at the Coors Conversation Series hosted by Cornell Law School, former Harvard Professor Cornel West and Robert P. George of Princeton University argued that colleges and universities should ensure faculty members who disagree on important issues engage with each other and be free to express perspectives students may find offensive, in a defense of academic freedom. Read more.
CHINA: Chinese universities ticked off for ideological education ‘gaps’
Jing Liu, Times Higher Education, 9/14
China’s Communist Party has openly criticized some of China’s leading universities, including Peking University and Fudan University, for insufficient efforts “or “weak links” in the universities’ ideological work. Read more.
SINGAPORE: Singapore submits bill to fight ‘foreign interference’
Chen Lin, Reuters, 9/13
Singapore’s government introduced a bill to prevent “foreign interference” in domestic politics, empowering authorities to issue take-down orders against “hostile information campaigns.” The ministry said the law would not apply to Singaporeans expressing political views or foreign individuals and publications “reporting or commenting on Singapore politics, in an open, transparent and attributable way.” Read more.
UNITED STATES / AFGHANISTAN: Brown, RISD join colleges vowing to help scholars from Afghanistan
Edward Fitzpatrick, The Boston Globe, 9/10
217 colleges and universities around the world have committed to hosting a scholar from Afghanistan at their institutions. Many scholars in Afghanistan, especially women and minorities, are facing threats from the Taliban. Read more.
AFGHANISTAN: HE aid programs and HE progress at risk under Taliban
Ameen Amjad Khan, University World News, 9/10
Following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, many donor-funded higher education support initiatives, bilateral support agreements for higher education, and international scholarships for university students are at risk. Many foreign aid payments have already been halted. Read more.
INDIA / UNITED STATES: US academic conference on ‘Hindutva’ targeted by Hindu groups
Raqib Hameed Naik, Al Jazeera, 9/7
Scholars and academics from American and international universities will gather for an online conference on Hindutva, a right-wing movement in India that aims to create an ethnic Hindu state. Organizers and speakers at the conference have been receiving harassment and intimidation by various Hindu right-wing groups, including death threats. Read more.
AFGHANISTAN: Plea to save the ‘lives and careers’ of Afghan academics
Brendan O’Malley, University World News, 8/25
Scholars at Risk, along with 50 higher education networks, associations, and organizations, have issued an appeal urging European governments and EU institutions to take practical steps in securing the lives of Afghanistan’s scholars, including by continuing evacuation flights, increasing resettlement quotas, and waiving visa and residency requirements. Read more.
UNITED STATES / CHINA: Biden vows clarity on foreign research ties for academics
Paul Basken, Times Higher Education, 8/25
The White House science adviser Eric Lander announced that, by November, guidance will be given to federal funding agencies for “researcher disclosures that encourage global scientific cooperation while guarding against national security threats.” The problem has become more discussed in recent years following the Trump administration’s investigations of researchers with ties to China. Read more.
EUROPE / AFGHANISTAN: ‘Over 100 European institutions ready to host Afghan scholars’
Ben Upton, Research Professional News, 8/24
Scholars at Risk has received over 100 inquiries from institutions in Europe interested in hosting academics and activists fleeing Afghanistan. On August 22, SAR published an urgent appeal to European governments and the EU calling for evacuation flights to continue as long as there are Afghans who wish to leave. Read more.
AFGHANISTAN / UNITED STATES: Flight From Afghanistan
Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Ed, 8/23
Governments and human rights organizations continue rescue efforts for Afghan scholars, students, and civil society actors following the country’s takeover by the Taliban. A letter organized by Scholars at Risk and signed by more than 2,800 people, and 115 higher education institutions and associations urge the U.S. government to take immediate action to help, including by continuing evacuation flights. Read more.
EGYPT / ITALY: Zaki’s custody extended again
ANSA, 8/23
An Egyptian court extended the pre-trial of Patrick George Zaki, an Egyptian master’s student at the University of Bologna who is awaiting trial on charges of sedition. Zaki has been imprisoned since February 2020. Read more.
TURKEY: Boğaziçi University: President Erdoğan appoints new rector opposed by 95 percent of academics
BIA News Desk, Bianet, 8/22
Turkey’s President Erdoğan has appointed a new rector of Boğaziçi University after dismissing former rector Professor Melih Bulu following months of student and faculty protest at the appointment. The new rector, Professor Mehmet Naci İnci, was appointed despite receiving a 95% dissenting vote from the university’s academics. Read more.
AFGHANISTAN: ‘I don’t want to die.’ Afghan researchers fear for their safety—and the future of science
Richard Stone, Science Magazine, 8/20
Khyber Mashal, a scientist in Afghanistan, told Science Magazine that, “Educated people are targeted [by the Taliban] because we have transformed the country.” Since the Taliban took back the country following US troop withdrawal, Scholars at Risk has received hundreds of pleas for assistance from Afghanistan. Read more.
AUSTRALIA: Academics under threat here too, Australians stress
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 8/19
Scholars at Risk inaugurated Australia, its latest national network, with remarks by University of Melbourne constitutional law expert Adrienne Stone and SAR Executive Director Robert Quinn. Stone, speaking on the subject of higher education in Australia, said, “We need to be very attentive to academic freedom in Australia as an element of our democracy. There are reasons to be quite concerned, given the stresses on democratic government at present.” Read more.
SINGAPORE: Local, foreign academics face pressure on ‘politically sensitive’ topics
Yojana Sharma, University World News, 8/19
More than 75% of respondents of a survey of 200 academics and researchers at Singaporean universities believe that their universities, at most, only exercise “some” institutional autonomy. The survey also found that respondents believe political pressure exists but is indirect, and often invisible. Read more.
SINGAPORE: Groundbreaking Singapore academic freedom survey finds constraints
Joyce Lau, Times Higher Education, 8/18
A majority of academics in Singapore acknowledge that scholars in the city-state are “subject to interference or incentivized to self-censor at least occasionally,” even if their own research is not affected, according to the Academic Freedom Survey 2021, published by scholars’ collective AcademiaSG. Read more.
HONG KONG: Hong Kong Police Arrest Students Over ‘Advocating Terrorism’
Tiffany May, The New York Times, 8/18
Four leaders of the University of Hong Kong Student Union have been arrested by Hong Kong police. The students were arrested on suspicion of “advocating terrorism,” after issuing a statement memorializing a man who stabbed a police officer, and then killed himself. The union has been de-recognized by the University of Hong Kong, and its leaders were barred from campus. Read more.
AFGHANISTAN: Fear for the Future
Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Ed, 8/17
The takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban has raised fears about access to education, especially for women and girls. SAR’s founding Executive Director, Robert Quinn, tells Inside Higher Ed of an urgent need to “press the U.S. government…to keep the evacuation window open as long as possible,” in order to evacuate at-risk Afghans, including scholars and civil society actors. Read more.
YEMEN / SAUDI ARABIA: Mass job terminations hit hundreds of Yemenis in Saudi Arabia
Mohammed Ghobari and Reyam Mokhashef, Reuters, 8/17
Yemeni academics, doctors, and other professionals working in Saudi Arabia’s southern region bordering Yemen have been terminated by their employers in recent weeks. Staff were given government orders not to renew contracts of Yemeni employees. Read more.
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Continuing detention of Ahmed Mansoor and Nasser bin Ghaith
Middle East Studies Association, 8/17
The Middle East Studies Association issued a letter to United Arab Emirates’ Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, calling for the release of imprisoned human rights activists, including Dr. Nasser bin Ghaith, a former lecturer at the University of Paris IV Abu Dhabi sentenced to ten years in prison related to his peaceful exercise of free expression and association. Read more.
KYRGYZSTAN / AFGHANISTAN: Kyrgyzstan to issue 500 student visas as humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan – national security chief
AKI Press, 8/16
Kyrgyzstan’s State National Security Committee Chairman Kamchibek Tashiev said that the country is concerned about the future of Afghan youth, in particular women, who wish to attend university and enter into demanded professions. The country announced it would issue 500 humanitarian student visas to young Afghans so they can access education in Kyrgyzstan. Read more.
UNITED KINGDOM / AFGHANISTAN: Boris Johnson intervenes over visas for Afghan students
Rowena Mason and Ben Doherty, The Guardian, 8/15
United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson has promised that the government will help get visas to 35 Afghan students after they were blocked by the Foreign Office. The Foreign Office indicated that it could not issue visas at its embassy in Kabul, but PM Johnson indicated that the government would intervene to accelerate the process. Read more.
CHINA / UNITED STATES: In China, the dream of an American education loses some of its gleam
Rebecca Tan, The Washington Post, 8/13
Only about 19,000 Chinese students submitted Common Applications required to attend most undergraduate schools in the United States, a 16 percent decrease from last cycle. The decrease is part of a seemingly larger trend in China away from educational tracks that prepare students for college in the United States. Read more.
IRAN / UNITED STATES: A Special Kind of Limbo: Iranian Students’ Troubles Getting to the U.S. Threaten STEM Pipeline
Karin Fischer, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 8/13
Iranian students seeking visas to study in the United States have found it particularly hard to secure a student visa given the lack of official ties between the two countries. Iranian students must travel to a third country for visa interviews, and US sanctions prohibit Iranian students from taking classes online while living in Iran. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Unions concerned as Georgia pushes post-tenure review
Paul Basken, Times Higher Education, 8/10
The governing board of Georgia’s state university system is taking steps towards allowing universities to fire tenured faculty who do not comply with statewide education standards. Faculty experts believe the move is part of a trend of political interference in higher education. Read more.
SAMOA / FIJI: University of the South Pacific v-c secures reappointment
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 8/9
After being deported from Fiji, home to the University of the South Pacific’s main campus, Vice-Chancellor and President of the USP system Pal Ahluwalia will run the multi-country university from the Samoa campus. Read more.
GLOBAL: Academics are among the alleged targets of Pegasus spy software
Wagdy Sawahel, University World News, 8/9
According to reports, the contact information for over a dozen academics from five countries are on a list of over 50,000 phone numbers targeted by governments using an Israeli company’s software, Pegasus, to spy. Read more.
YEMEN: Assassination of Prominent Academic and Internet Activist Dr. Mohammed Ali Naim
Gulf Centre for Human Rights, 8/6
Prominent Yemeni academic Dr. Mohammed Ali Naim, the Director of the Engineering Consulting Center at Sana’a University, was assassinated by unidentified gunmen on the evening of August 4. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Facebook Disables NYU Research Accounts
Emma Whitford, Inside Higher Ed, 8/6
Facebook disabled accounts connected to researchers at New York University’s Ad Observatory who were conducting a research project examining how political advertisements target specific audiences. Read more.
HONG KONG: 7 members of HKU ruling body urge reversal of student campus ban
Rhoda Kwan, Hong Kong Free Press, 8/6
University of Hong Kong’s governing council issued an open letter calling on the university’s ruling body to reverse a decision to ban members of the student union, which is currently under investigation by the authorities. Read more.
YEMEN / SAUDI ARABIA: Yemeni academics in Saudi Arabia face loss of jobs, homes
Abdulghani Muthanna, University World News, 8/5
Saudi Arabian universities in the country’s southern region have been instructed to terminate the contracts of Yemeni professors and employees. The ongoing war in Yemen has forced many people, including the country’s academics, to flee and find employment elsewhere. The development threatens to leave thousands of Yemeni academics unemployed. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Idaho education task force may threaten academic freedom
Aaron Terr, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, 8/5
This spring, Idaho’s Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin created a task force to “examine indoctrination in Idaho education…of critical race theory, socialism, communism, and Marxism.” The task force soon-to-be-proposed legislation may threaten academic freedom in the state. Read more.
RUSSIA / UNITED STATES: Russia Bans Bard College, and Other Universities Ask What’s Next
Stephanie Saul, The New York Times, 8/5
At one of the lowest points in United States-Russia relations since the Cold War, the Russian government recently placed New York’s Bard College on its list of undesirable foreign organizations, which effectively prevents the college from working with St. Petersburg State University, a university with which Bard maintains a dual-degree program. Read more.
GERMANY / BRAZIL: German intellectuals defend USP professor
Deutsche-Welle, 8/4
A group of academics from different universities in Germany sent a letter to Brazil’s Superior Federal Court (STF) defending Professor Conrado Hübner Mendes. Mendes has been targeted by lawsuits from Brazil’s STF Minister and attorney general for his columns in Brazil’s Folha de S. Paulo newspaper. Read more.
HONG KONG: University of Hong Kong chiefs ban from campus all student leaders involved in controversial motion mourning police attacker
Lilian Cheng, Ng Kang-chung, and Chan Ho-him, South China Morning Post, 8/4
The University of Hong Kong’s Governing Council has banned from campus all HKU student union leaders involved in the passing of a union resolution memorializing a Hong Kong man who attacked a police officer, then killed himself. The university stated that allowing students who potentially broke the law to be on campus could put the university at legal risk. Read more.
UNITED STATES / CHINA: US revives pursuit of academic in China spying case
Paul Basken, Times Higher Education, 8/3
The Biden administration is planning a new trial for University of Tennessee lecturer Anming Hu, who was accused of wire fraud and making false statements. The case against Dr. Hu extends the Trump-era crackdown on ties to China. Read more.
IRAN: Two More Female Political Prisoners Contract Covid In Iran Jail
Iran International, 8/1
Niloufar Bayani, a researcher and conservationist, recently contracted COVID-19 while serving a ten-year prison sentence in Iran’s Evin Prison. Bayani was arrested in 2018 on charges of espionage while conducting field research for the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation. Read more.
CHINA / HONG KONG: ‘It Feels Like We’re Just Waiting to Die’: Hong Kong Targets Student Unions
Vivian Wang, The New York Times, 8/1
Hong Kong authorities and university administrators have been coming down on student activists, wielding Beijing’s National Security Law to silence dissent on university campuses. Universities are also instituting mandatory national security education. Read more.
BAHRAIN: Rights groups, family sound alarm over prominent Bahraini hunger striker
Lisa Barrington, Reuters, 7/30
Scholars at Risk joined 15 other human rights organizations in calling for the release of Abduljalil al-Singace, a Bahrani academic and opposition figure who has been imprisoned in the country since 2011. Al-Singace began a hunger strike on July 8 to demand better treatment and to release research that was confiscated while he was imprisoned. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Inside the dramas at UNC-Chapel Hill: Boards, partisan politics and the flagship
Nick Anderson and Susan Svrluga, The Washington Post, 7/30
Debate over Republican-party influence in the University of North Carolina system has intensified following the controversy over a tenure vote for Nikole Hannah-Jones, who ultimately turned down a tenured position. Legislative leaders have a hand in higher education in the state through appointments made to UNC’s Board of Trustees and Board of Governors. Read more.
CHINA / UNITED STATES: Senior U.S. official visits China, in small thaw of relations with Beijing
Eva Dou, The Washington Post, 7/26
In a meeting between Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng, Xie urged the United States to lift its visa restrictions on Chinese students and to address rising anti-Chinese sentiment in the United States. Read more.
CHINA / HONG KONG: Hong Kong gets to grips with security law’s ‘invisible red line’
Joyce Lau, Times Higher Education, 7/28
Hong Kong experts told THE that the city was entering a “new era” of strains on academic freedom under Beijing’s National Security Law. Academics cite difficulty teaching, researching, and debating on controversial subjects under the law. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Nebraska’s Critical Race Theory Debate
Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed, 7/28
Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts publicly called on the state university system’s Board of Regents to pass a resolution against the teaching of critical race theory. The resolution the governor referenced on Twitter states that critical race theory doesn’t promote “inclusive and honest dialogue” and its proponents “disparage important American ideals.” Read more.
VENEZUELA: IACHR expressed concern about the situation of university autonomy in Venezuela [SPANISH]
El Nacional, 7/27
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) expressed concern about what it deemed a “deterioration of university autonomy” in Venezula. IACHR cited the payment of university employees through the government’s ‘Sistema Patria’ and significant budget reducations as undermining universities’ academic freedom. Read more.
UNITED STATES: ‘A Renewed U.S. Commitment to International Education’
Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Ed, 7/27
The U.S. Departments of Education and State issued a joint statement expressing a commitment and coordinated national approach to international education, including hosting international students in the United States, sending American students abroad, and participating in research collaboration. Read more.
TURKEY: Rare victory for Turkish scholars as protests force rector’s exit
David Matthews, Times Higher Education, 7/27
After six months of student and faculty protest, president-appointed Boğaziçi University rector Melih Bulu was fired, a rare victory for university autonomy. Boğaziçi campaigners hope that the victory against President Erdoğan’s increasingly autocratic government will inspire other universities across Turkey to stand up to infringements on university autonomy. Read more.
CHINA / HONG KONG: At least 3 Hong Kong universities make national security education compulsory for students
Chan Ho-him, South China Morning Post, 7/26
Hong Kong Baptist University, Polytechnic University, and Lingnan University have all announced plans for required seminars, talks, or courses in national security education. Baptist announced that international students will also be required to participate. Read more.
IRAN: Iranian State TV Re-Airs Jailed Scientist’s Forced Confession
Daniel Keyvanfer, IranWire, 7/26
On the evening of July 23, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting’s Channel 5 aired a documentary, The Spy Academy, which featured a previously-aired, forced confession of wrongfully imprisoned Swedish-Iranian scholar Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali, prompting concern over the scholar’s health and his status on death row. Read more.
CHINA / UNITED STATES: China Initiative Cases Dismissed
Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Ed, 7/26
The United States federal government dismissed five charges against Chinese researchers accused of lying about their affiliations or funding from China on federal grant applications, visa applications, and tax forms. The charges were brought as a part of the Trump administration’s “China Initiative” to investigate espionage and trade secret theft from China. Read more.
INDIA: Government attacks on academic freedom are mounting
Mukhtar Ahmad, University World News, 7/24
Academic freedom is being threatened in India, where the government has repeatedly taken actions that deny the institutional autonomy of the country’s higher education institutions through coercive measures. Read more.
MYANMAR: Exiled government establishes alternative HE programmes
Nilar Aung Myint, University World News, 7/24
The exiled National Unity Government in Myanmar has established an Interim Advanced Education initiative following the February military coup. The initiative, established in June, seeks to address the gaps in higher education resulting from 18-month university and college closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the unsafe conditions following the coup. Read more.
SWEDEN / IRAN: 14 organizations behind new call to release Djalali [SWEDISH]
Jesper Cederberg, Läkartidningen, 7/22
International organizations have come together to call on the US and EU to secure the release of Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali from Iranian prison. Scholars at Risk’s Advocacy Director Clare Robinson told Läkartidningen, “If the Iranian authorities continue to deny him access to medical care, we fear he will die in prison. Read more.
14 academic and human rights groups came together to call on national governments to secure the immediate release of Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali, a Swedish-Iranian disaster-medicine expert, from Iranian prison. Read more.
HONG KONG: Academics in Hong Kong suffer curbs on their freedoms
The Economist, 7/21
Hong Kong National Security Police raided the office of the Hong Kong University Student Union to investigate whether the organization had breached the national security law. Many Hong Kong students fear arrest under the law for getting involved in campus and national politics. Read more.
SWEDEN / IRAN: International community must save Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali before it’s too late
Scholars at Risk, 7/21
Scholars at Risk joins 14 human rights organizations and academic associations in calling on the European Union, European state governments, and the United States government to secure the release of Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali. Read more.
UNITED KINGDOM: The Guardian view on academic freedom: ministers’ claims don’t add up
Editorial, The Guardian, 7/18
The Guardian’s Editorial Board expressed worry over the UK government’s introduction of a free speech bill intended to address a “climate of intolerance,” that certain politicians view as a problem in the country’s higher education sector. In the statement, the Editorial Board criticized the restrictions placed on students under the bill, further stating that “academic freedom is too important to be turned into a point-scoring exercise.” Read more.
KENYA: Police tear gas university students protesting fees hike
News24 via University World News, 7/17
University of Nairobi students protesting an increase in tuition fees were met by Kenyan riot police, who fired tear gas at the protesters. Some students were arrested after blocking roads and throwing rocks at motorists. Read more.
AFGHANISTAN: Taliban advances shatter the dream of higher education
Shadi Khan Saif, University World News, 7/17
Afghan students are worried that the Taliban’s “Education Commission” will harm higher education in the country following their most recent capture of half of Afghanistan’s 400 districts. Students have been forced to flee areas where fighting has taken place. Read more.
HONG KONG: Hong Kong national security police raid student union office
Zen Soo, AP via The Washington Post, 7/16
Hong Kong National Security Police raided the office of the Hong Kong University Student Union following the union’s statement commemorating a Hong Kong man who stabbed a police officer and then killed himself. Read more.
TURKEY: Turkey university protests not over despite rector’s dismissal
Daren Butler and Ali Kucukgocmen, Reuters, 7/16
Students in Turkey have indicated that they will continue to protest against the government’s interference in higher education despite President Erdoğan’s recent announcement that he was ousting presidentially-appointed Boğaziçi University rector after months of student protests. Read more.
BELARUS: Belarus Jails 11 Students, Teacher Over Protests: Rights Group
Agence France Presse via Barron’s, 7/16
Eleven university students and a teacher, who were charged with violating a public order while participating in nationwide protests against the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko, were sentenced to two years and six months in prison. Read more.
UNITED KINGDOM / UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: University of Cambridge planning massive deal with the UAE, which jailed a UK doctoral student in 2018
Sarah McLaughlin, FIRE, 7/15
The University of Cambridge introduced plans for a £400m collaboration with the United Arab Emirates in an effort to “weather the challenges faced by universities as a result of Covid, Brexit and a constrained funding environment.” The collaboration raises concerns about human rights violations in the UAE, including the 2018 detention and prosecution of UK doctoral student Matthew Hedges. Read more.
HONG KONG: University heads decry alleged student support of violence
Mimi Leung, University World News, 7/15
The heads of all eight of Hong Kong’s public universities condemned the University of Hong Kong Student Union’s support of “terror and violence” following its commemoration of a Hong Kong man who attacked a police officer. Hong Kong University has indicated that it will derecognize the student union following the statement. Read more.
BRAZIL: Brazilian diaspora ‘will not return to universities under attack’
Jack Grove, Times Higher Education, 7/14
Senior Brazilian academics at Times Higher Education’s Latin America Summit said that many Brazilian researchers working under scholarships abroad are unwilling to return to Brazil given the strain on academic freedom, lack of research funding, and excessive state bureaucracy. Read more.
CANADA: Canada adds security checks to academic research grant bids
Paul Basken, Times Higher Education, 7/14
Academic researchers in Canada will face security reviews in their applications for research funding amid growing concerns about China’s meddling in foreign research. The move is aimed to enable Canadian researchers to advance Canadian interests through research. Read more.
TURKEY: Erdoğan removes Boğaziçi University rector after student protests
Ahval, 7/15
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan removed Melih Bulu, a loyalist of the ruling party, as the rector of Boğaziçi University. Erdoğan appointed Bulu by presidential decree in January 2021, triggering six months of student and faculty protest. Read more.
CHINA: Noted Uyghur Folklore Professor Serving Prison Term in China’s Xinjiang
Shohret Hoshur Gulchehra Hoja, and Roseanne Gerin, Radio Free Asia, 7/13
Uyghur scholar Rahile Dawut, who disappeared in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in 2017, was recently confirmed to have been imprisoned by Chinese authorities by her former co-workers at Xinjiang University. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Cornel West’s Resignation Letter Cites ‘Decline and Decay’ at Harvard Divinity School
Megan Zahneis, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 7/13
Cornel West, an American philosopher and social activist, resigned from Harvard Divinity School after an earlier public tenure dispute. In the letter, West states that Harvard is in “decline and decay.” Read more.
LATIN AMERICA: Is Latin American research on a path of decline?
Ellie Bothwell, Times Higher Education, 7/13
Higher education researchers and professors in Latin America cite lack of funding, brain drain, and high levels of bureaucracy as challenges currently facing higher education in the region. Federal funding for higher education has declined across the region in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more.
TURKEY: ‘We are accepted to universities abroad, unable to go because we protested Bulu’
Melisa Elçin Özçelikel, Bianet, 7/21
Two former Boğaziçi University students, who graduated in 2021, are unable to leave the country for international MA programs due to their previous detentions in widespread student protests at the university. Though the students were released from detention after their February 2 arrest, a judge imposed an international travel ban on the students. Read more.
CHINA / HONG KONG: Academic Freedom on The Wane in Hong Kong, One Year After Security Law
Luisetta Mudie, Lau Siu Fung and Cheng Yut Yiu, Radio Free Asia, 7/12
Students and faculty at Hong Kong’s universities told Radio Free Asia that academic freedom is on the decline. Over the first year of Beijing’s National Security Law, 260 malpractice complaints were filed against faculty members in Hong Kong’s universities. Read more.
UNITED KINGDOM: Labour: campus free speech bill ‘gives free rein to extremists’
Chris Havergal, Times Higher Education, 7/12
England’s Labour party opposes the new Higher Education Bill, intended to protect freedom of speech at universities, enabling individuals to sue universities if they feel the right has been violated. Labour politicians say the bill would give a platform for extremism on campuses. Read more.
FRANCE: Senate to probe foreign states’ meddling in universities
Jane Marshall, University World News, 7/10
French senators set up a parliamentary inquiry to look into foreign influences, specifically from countries such as China, Turkey, and several Gulf countries, in French higher education. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Trump bid to restrict international student visas dropped
Brendan O’Malley, University World News, 7/10
The US Department of Homeland Security announced it was suspending a Trump policy of visa restrictions for academic students, exchange visitors, and foreign media. The new policy will allow international students to stay in the United States provided as long as they remain enrolled. Read more.
CHINA: LGBT+ groups from Chinese universities silenced on social media
Joyce Lau and Jing Liu, Times Higher Education, 7/9
WeChat, a widely used Chinese messaging platform, shut down accounts associated with LGBTQI+ student organizations at 11 universities. When students attempted to enter the accounts, they received an error message stating that the account had “violated regulations.” Read more.
EGYPT / ITALY: House urges govt to grant Zaki citizenship
ANSA, 7/7
Italy’s Lower House of Parliament voted to grant citizenship to Egyptian University of Bologna student Patrick George Zaki, who has been detained in Egypt on charges of sedition since February 2020. Read more.
Al Arabiya, 7/8
Deputies of the European Parliament came together in a resolution calling for the release of Swedish-Iranian scholar, Ahmadreza Djalali. Additionally, the resolution calls for increasing pressure, including additional sanctions, on Iran in light of growing human rights abuses. Read more.
GERMANY / CHINA: Germany doubles funding for China studies, collaboration
Michael Gardner, University World News, 7/7
Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research is planning to boost funding for expertise in higher education and research on China. The plan is part of what the German government is referring to as a “systems competition with the People’s Republic [of China]”. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Hannah-Jones Turns Down UNC Offer
Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed, 7/6
UNC’s Board of Trustees voted 9-4 to approve tenure for the 1619 Project’s Nikole Hannah-Jones, after previously denying a vote of tenure following pressure against the hire. Hannah-Jones elected not to take the offer of tenure. She will be joining the faculty at Howard University with author and fellow journalist, Ta-Nehisi Coates. Read more.
TURKEY: Istanbul’s Boğaziçi University under siege, educators say
Ahval News, 7/5
Turkey’s University Faculty Members Association announced that over the weekend the Boğaziçi University administration restricted access to the campus, citing “health and safety concerns.” July marks the six-month anniversary of President Erdoğan’s appointment of the university’s rector, Melih Bulu, which spurred months of country-wide protests and a crackdown on student and faculty protesters. Read more.
UNITED STATES / CHINA: US academics tally damage of China crackdown as backlash grows
Paul Basken, Times Higher Education, 7/5
The University of Arizona is leading a survey of over 20,000 academics in the top 50 universities in the United States to quantify the effects of the Trump-era federal crackdown on research-ties to China. Read more.
MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA: Lacking Job Security and Benefits, Many Arab Professors Lose Interest in Academia
Rasha Faek, Al-Fanar Media, 7/4
Research and interviews of professors in the Arab region has found “widespread dissatisfaction” with working conditions in higher education, including not having access to basic benefits, such as health insurance, and lacking job security, allowing universities to terminate professors without notice or paying compensation. Read more.
CHINA: China studies scholars reluctant to return to China
Yojana Sharma, University World News, 7/3
ChinaFile, a US-based online magazine published by the Asia Society’s Center on US-China Relations, conducted a survey of its 120 contributors, all of whom are China specialists with professional ties to China. The survey found that many of its contributors were reluctant to return to China, for fear of restrictions on research and human rights concerns. Read more.
BELARUS: Detained Belarus dissident’s girlfriend graduates in absentia
Andrius Sytas, Reuters, 7/2
Sofia Sapega, a Russian citizen who was arrested by Belarusian authorities while traveling with Belarusian dissident Roman Protasevich, graduated in absentia from European Humanities University, where she was in her final year of law school at the time of her arrest. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Tenure for Hannah-Jones
Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed, 6/30
UNC’s Board of Trustees voted 9-4 to award Hannah-Jones, co-creator of The New York Times Magazine’s “1619 Project,” tenure after months of refusing a vote. Hannah-Jones accused the board of a First Amendment violation and discriminating against her as a Black woman. Read more.
HONG KONG / CHINA: Hong Kong Philosopher Taught Life’s Meaning. Now He Visits Students in Jail.
Li Yuan, The New York Times, 6/30
Chow Po Chung, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, has influenced many of Hong Kong’s young pro-democracy activists. Chow told the New York Times that Beijing’s national security law has “turned his life upside down,” and that he frequently visits friends and former students who have been jailed under the law. Read more.
AUSTRALIA / CHINA: Self-censorship on China ‘increasingly normalised’
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 6/29
A new report from Human Rights Watch reveals that Chinese students studying in Australia, along with their professors, regularly engage in self-censorship when discussing China in an academic setting, fearing repercussions from Beijing. Read more.
CHINA / HONG KONG: Crossing the Red Line: Behind China’s Takeover of Hong Kong
Chris Buckley, Vivian Wang and Austin Ramzy, The New York Times, 6/28
Since Beijing’s national security law came into force one year ago, the Chinese Communist Party has arrested activists, rewritten school curriculum, and taken other measures to quell free expression in Hong Kong. Read more.
GLOBAL: HE institutional autonomy is under siege across the world
Judith Eaton and Stamenka Uvalic-Trumbic, University World News, 6/26
A group of experts in international higher education met and discussed a disturbing, global trend: the strengthening of forces that constrain universities’ institutional autonomy. The group believes that the trend calls for a strong response from the global higher education community. Read more.
GLOBAL: The new geopolitics of international higher education
Emma Sabzalieva, Hannah Moscovitz and Lisa Brunner, University World News, 6/26
A Centre for Global Higher Education seminar on June 22 explored how the weaknesses in global governance, and the resurgence of political populism, nationalism and authoritarianism, have a direct impact on higher education as education and national systems become increasingly interconnected. Read more.
GLOBAL: A New Magna Charta
Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Ed, 6/25
University leaders gathered virtually to revisit the Magna Charta Universitatum, a 33-year-old document asserting fundamental university values of autonomy and academic freedom, and signed a new Magna Charta. The new document takes into account the globalization of higher education. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Florida mandates political viewpoint survey in universities
Paul Basken, Times Higher Education, 6/25
Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed bills into Florida state law that impose a politically conservative agenda on public higher education, including requiring annual surveys to assess the viewpoints of professors and students, and budget cuts to universities found to promote the “indoctrination” of students. Read more.
GREECE: Greek universities unite with Scholars at Risk
European University Association, 6/24
The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Scholars at Risk, aimed at enhancing their cooperation in the establishment of a SAR Greece section, which will officially launch in October 2021. Read more.
CHINA: Killing at Chinese university highlights tensions over tenure system
Smriti Mallapaty, Nature, 6/25
A researcher at Fudan University murdered a math faculty member, sending shockwaves through China’s higher education community. Researchers say the incident highlights the pressures involved in a stressful tenure process, requiring an examination of the system. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Florida Recording and Ideological Survey Bill Is Now Law
Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed, 6/24
Florida governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican who has expressed concerns about faculty members “indoctrinating” students, this week signed into law legislation requiring that public institutions survey students, faculty and staff members about their viewpoint diversity and sense of intellectual freedom. Read more.
MYANMAR: Humanities ‘decimated’ by Myanmar academic suspensions
Joyce Lau, Times Higher Education, 6/23
Fields essential to the country’s development could become ‘unviable’ as faculty are forced out, observers say. Read more.
BELARUS: Detention of Maria Rabkova extended for the fourth time
Front Line Defenders, 6/23
Maria Rabkova is now due to be detained until 17 September 2021, by which point she will have spent one year in pre-trial detention because of her peaceful activities in support of human rights. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Joint Statement on Legislative Efforts to Restrict Education About Racism and American History
Scholars at Risk, 6/23
Scholars at Risk has joined PEN America, the American Historical Association, and the American Association of University Professors, the Association of American Colleges and Universities, and other partners in endorsing the below statement regarding recent state legislative efforts throughout the United States. Read more.
RUSSIA / UNITED STATES: Bard President Is ‘Heartbroken’ About Russian Blacklisting
Karin Fischer, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 6/22
Bard College, which has worked to spread liberal-arts education around the globe, has been designated as an “undesirable” organization by the Russian government, prevented from all activity and operations in the country. Read more.
EGYPT: 4 years imprisonment and a fine of 500 EGP for Ahmed Samir Santawy
AFTE, 6/22
Egypt’s State Security Emergency Misdemeanour Court sentenced Ahmed Samir Santawy to four years in prison and a fine of 500 pounds. This court’s ruling cannot be appealed. Read more.
BRAZIL: Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science launches “Research, Science and Freedom Observatory” [PORTUGUESE]
SBPC, 6/21
The mission of the “Research, Science and Freedom Observatory” is to record, monitor, make public and forward to the competent authorities any attack on freedom of expression, on the freedom to learn, teach, research, and disseminate scientific thought. Read more.
CHINA: The scholar speaking out on China’s crackdown on intellectuals
France 24 via AFP, 6/20
Wu Qiang, former political science lecturer at Tsinghua University in China, refuses to be silenced by the ruling Communist Party’s relentless crackdown on intellectuals. Read more.
UNITED STATES / CHINA: Mistrial Renews Concerns About U.S. China Initiative
Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Ed, 6/18
A hung jury in the case of a researcher accused of concealing his China ties prompts renewed calls to reconsider the Department of Justice’s China Initiative. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Scholarly Groups Condemn Laws Limiting Teaching on Race
Jennifer Schuessler, The New York Times, 6/17
A coalition of more than six dozen scholarly and educational groups has signed onto a statement decrying the spread of proposed legislation limiting classroom discussion of race, racism and other so-called “divisive concepts,” calling such laws an infringement on “the right of faculty to teach and of students to learn” and a broader threat to civic life. Read more.
EUROPE: European Ombudsperson needed ‘to defend academic freedom’
Brendan O’Malley, University World News, 6/17
The Guild, a group of 21 research-intensive universities in Europe, has called for the creation of a European Ombudsperson to protect and defend academic freedom. A press statement said that protection of academic freedom is critical as scientific evidence and facts are increasingly denied and contested. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Black professors push a major university to diversify and confront racism
Nick Anderson, The Washington Post, 6/16
Academics at Penn State joined together to study why so few Black professors were hired, and the hardships faced by those who are. A March report details the “slights, indignities, microaggressions, systemic obstacles and overt racism” that Black professors face at the university and those across the state. Read more.
ITALY / EGYPT: Zaki citizenship urged on 30th birthday
Ansa, 6/16
Italian lawmakers asked the government to grant Patrick George Zaki Italian citizenship on his 30th birthday, and his second birthday spent in an Egyptian jail. Zaki, a master’s student at the University of Bologna, was detained in Egypt in retaliation for peaceful human rights research. Read more.
JAPAN / CHINA: Research security tightened with China threat in mind
Suvendrini Kakuchi and Yojana Sharma, University World News, 6/16
Japanese academics worry that new measures to prevent theft of advanced technologies and research will hamper their ability to collaborate with Chinese researchers and students. A new system will require government approval for access to any civil-military technologies. Read more.
UNITED STATES: US academia defends critical race theory amid political onslaught
Paul Basken, Times Higher Education, 6/16
The American Association of University Professors, which includes 1,200 member institutions, and over 60 more associations issued a joint statement expressing alarm over the recent political attacks of critical race theory, and the legislation limiting educators’ ability to make academic judgments. Read more.
CANADA / TURKEY: Carleton student Cihan Erdal freed from Turkish prison
Nil Köksal and Ryan Patrick Jones, CBC News, 6/15
Cihan Erdal, a Carleton University PhD student and Canadian resident, was released by Turkish authorities after spending 262 days in prison. Erdal was taken into custody during mass arrests related to anti-government protests which took place six years ago. Read more.
HUNGARY / CHINA: Hungary approves land donation for controversial Chinese university
Reuters, 6/15
Hungarian lawmakers approved the donation of state-owned land to Shanghai’s Fudan University for a satellite campus in Budapest. The move comes after widespread protests in Hungary against the campus. Read more.
COLOMBIA: In Colombia, protest leaders say they will suspend anti-government marches
Associated Press via NBC News, 6/15
The National Strike Committee, made up of unions and student organizations, announced that it was suspending weekly anti-government marches to prevent any more protester deaths and slow the spread of COVID-19. Read more.
CHINA / UNITED STATES: Chinese students accused of ‘military ties’ lobby to re-enter US
Joyce Lau, Times Higher Education, 6/14
A rule passed by the Trump administration in May 2020 has resulted in the “blanket visa rejection” of thousands of Chinese students enrolled in US universities. Students have launched the “Academics No Borders” movement to lobby for a September return. Read more.
BELARUS: ‘It’s All Ruined’: Young Woman Caught Up in Belarus Clampdown
Andrew E. Kramer, The New York Times, 6/11
European Humanities University student Sofia Sapega was traveling with her boyfriend and prominent Belarusian opposition voice, Roman Protasevich, when Belarusian authorities grounded the commercial plane they were on and arrested them. Authorities have not disclosed their charges. Read more.
DENMARK: Danish academics fear for freedom after MPs condemn ‘activism’
David Matthews, Times Higher Education, 6/11
Universities and academics believe lawmakers are conducting a “political campaign against certain areas of research” after the Danish parliament passed a statement condemning “excessive activism in certain areas of research.” Read more.
CHINA: Some Chinese Provinces Suspend College Mergers After Student Protests
VOA News, Voice of America, 6/11
Following a rare student protest which turned into a violent confrontation with police, several Chinese provinces have suspended plans to merge independent colleges with vocational institutes. Students of the independent colleges saw the merger as devaluing their degrees. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Legislating Against Critical Race Theory
Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed, 6/9
Sixteen states have introduced or passed bills limiting the ability to teach critical race theory in public institutions, including at the university level. University faculty members believe this is a form of state-sanctioned censorship. Read more.
IRELAND: Grade inflation undermining quality of university degrees, President Higgins warns
Carl O’Brien, The Irish Times, 6/8
In an online conference organized by Scholars at Risk Ireland and the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities, Ireland’s President Michael D. Higgins warned of grade inflation as a sign of pressure on universities to “report the achievement of continually higher ‘outputs’.” Read more.
UNITED STATES: Black female professors voice solidarity with journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones in UNC tenure showdown
Nick Anderson and Joe Heim, The Washington Post, 6/8
Trevy McDonald, the first and only Black woman with tenure at UNC’s Hussman School of Journalism and Media, has come out criticizing UNC for not awarding tenure to award-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, who is Black, and believes the decision is “very clearly…an equity issue.” Read more.
UNITED STATES / CHINA: Trial Begins for Professor Accused of Hiding Ties to China
Associated Press via Voice of America, 6/7
A jury trial began against Anming Hu, an associate professor in the department of mechanical, aerospace, and biomedical engineering at the University of Tennessee, who prosecutors accuse of defrauding the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for failing to disclose that he was also a professor at the Beijing University of Technology, among other charges. Read more.
CHINA / HONG KONG: How Academic Freedom Ends
Timothy McLaughlin, The Atlantic, 6/6
Beijing’s National Security Law has led to growing worries amongst Hong Kong’s higher education community, including those over academic freedom, self-censorship, staff recruitment, and students’ and faculties’ rights. University administrators have done little to support faculty and students when targeted by the law. Read more.
HUNGARY / CHINA: Hungarians protest against planned Chinese university campus
Anita Komuves, Reuters, 6/6
Hungarians gathered to protest the announcement of China’s Fudan University plans to open a campus in Budapest. Opponents fear that the move could help Beijing increase its influence in the country and degrade the quality of higher education. Read more.
FIJI: University of the South Pacific Resolution hits another snag
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 6/7
The University of the South Pacific has granted ousted vice-chancellor Pal Ahluwalia a new contract after he was deported from Fiji in February. Professor Ahluwalia is authorized to run the university from the Samoa campus. Read more.
EGYPT: Egypt Academics, Researchers Caught In State Crosshairs
Farid Farid, Barron’s, 6/5
Egypt’s academic freedom has narrowed significantly since 2014, when President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi took office, as the state attempts to stifle any research or academic speech contradictory to the state’s narrative. Several Egyptian academics have been detained in relation to their scholarly pursuits. Read more.
PAKISTAN: Outrage as police assault lecturers protesting against deep pay cuts
Ameen Amjad Khan, University World News, 6/4
Academics across the globe expressed outrage at the Pakistani police’s use of force, including beatings, against protesting university professors. Professors were protesting against government-imposed pay cuts related to COVID-19 shutdowns. Read more.
UNITED STATES / CHINA: Is a Partnership in China Consistent With Cornell’s Values?
Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Ed, 6/3
Cornell University approved plans for a partnership with Beijing’s Peking University despite a vote by Cornell’s Faculty Senate and Student Assembly opposing the partnership over academic freedom concerns. Read more.
BELARUS: Belarusian universities condemned for expelling protesters
David Matthews, Times Higher Education, 6/3
Amnesty International reported that over 150 Belarusian students have been expelled for taking part in protests against President Alexander Lukashenko. In response, European University Association, European Students’ Union, and Scholars at Risk have called on Belarus to end the “criminalisation of students and academics.” Read more.
GLOBAL: Universities ‘beacons of hope’ in ‘undiplomatic times’
Joyce Lau, Times Higher Education, 6/2
Safwan Masri, executive vice-president of global centers and global development for Columbia University, told THE that the rising atmosphere of xenophobia, polarization, and general mistrust creates challenges for educators and students. Masri believes that universities may be the “last hope” of living in a globalized world. Read more.
CHINA / EUROPE: Academics continue China research – while targeted by China sanctions
Yojana Sharma, University World News, 6/2
Several European academics and research institutions have continued their research on China, despite China’s imposition of sanctions in March for their work exposing human rights violations in the Xinjiang region. Academics fear that China will expand its sanctions, limiting the ability to conduct China-related research and engage in international research collaboration. Read more.
NIGERIA: Kidnappers free 14 Nigerian students abducted in Kaduna state
Al Jazeera, 5/29
Kidnappers released a remaining 14 students after abducting them from Nigeria’s Greenfield University in April. The gunmen killed one person in the initial raid of the university and killed five of those that they kidnapped in the first several days following the raid. Read more.
TURKEY: 21 NGOs protest Albayrak lawsuit to silence activist
Ahval, 5/29
21 international NGOs have issued a statement calling on Serhat Albayrak, owner of the pro-government Turkuvaz Media Group, to drop his case against academic and cyber-rights activist Professor Yaman Akdeniz. Akdeniz is being sued for tweets complaining about censorship of reporting on the Paradise Papers. Read more.
EGYPT: Human Rights Organizations Condemn the Rotation of Ahmed Samir Santawy in a New Case and Call for Releasing Him
Scholars at Risk, 5/28
Scholars at Risk joined four other human rights organizations in condemning the arbitrary detention of Central European University student Ahmed Samir Santway and calling on Egyptian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release him. Read more.
BELARUS: ‘Criminalisation’ of Belarus students, academics condemned
Brendan O’Malley, University World News, 5/28
Scholars at Risk joined the European University Association and European Students’ Union in issuing a statement condemning the criminalization of Belarusian students and scholars. The statement calls on Belarus protect academic freedom, and on European governments to support at-risk students and scholars in Belarus. Read more.
GLOBAL: Ignatieff: overseas students ‘under surveillance’ by home regimes
Simon Baker, Times Higher Education, 5/28
Michael Ignatieff, president of the Central European University, warns that some international students are under surveillance from regimes in their home countries and that it is having a “chilling effect” on students’ ability to freely engage in their coursework. Read more.
UNITED KINGDOM: Government to help protect research from security threats
Brendan O’Malley, University World News, 5/28
The United Kingdom is making plans to create a governmental unit to advise researchers on how to better protect their work from hostile foreign actors, in addition to how to safely engage in international research collaborations. Read more.
EGYPT: Doctoral student held by Egypt pleads for help from universities
Paul Basken, Times Higher Education, 5/20
Waleed Salem, a PhD candidate at the University of Washington, has been unable to return to his studies since 2018 when he was detained for his research while traveling home to Egypt. Salem is out of jail but still does not have permission to travel abroad. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Nikole Hannah-Jones Denied Tenure at University of North Carolina
Katie Robertson, The New York Times, 5/19
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, appointed to be the Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism at UNC’s Hussman School of Journalism and Media in April, was denied the tenured position after conservative backlash to her appointment. Read more.
PALESTINE (OPT) / ISRAEL: Palestine’s Education Institutions Are Victims of Conflict Again
Amr EL-Tohamy, Al-Fanar Media, 5/18
All seven universities in Gaza have been closed amid increased military attacks from Israeli forces, according to Al-Fanar Media. A fire broke out and severely damaged a building at Al-Quds University after Israeli forces fired tear gas and smoke bombs on campus. Read more.
HUNGARY / CHINA: Fudan Hungary campus branded geopolitical pawn as backlash grows
David Matthews, Times Higher Education, 5/18
Fudan University, a public university in Shanghai, plans to open a Hungary campus in 2024. Those opposing the campus say that it is part of a larger geopolitical play by Hungarian leadership to move away from the European Union and strengthen ties with China. Read more.
PHILIPPINES: UP backs bills putting UP-DND accord into law
Rambo Talabong, Rappler, 5/17
The Philippines’ House committee on technical and higher education is reviewing three bills that would institutionalize the University of the Philippines’ agreement with the country’s Department of National Defense, known as the UP-DND accord. The government unilaterally abrogated the accord, which protects UP campuses from government intrusion, earlier this year. Read more.
UNITED STATES / CHINA: Ohio State Researcher Sentenced to Prison for Secret China Ties
Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Ed, 5/17
Ohio State researcher and rheumatologist Song Guo Zheng was sentenced to 37-months in prison after admitting to lying on federal research grants about his ties to Chinese research institutions. In addition, he owes $4 million to the National Institute of Health and Ohio State University for falsifying grant applications. Read more.
CHINA: Only an international effort can put an end to China’s crimes in Xinjiang
Jewher Ilham and Sophie Richardson, The Guardian, 5/16
In 2013, Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti was sentenced to life in prison on charges of separatism as part of a more extensive campaign of repression against Uyghurs by the Chinese government. China has detained nearly one million Uyghurs and placed them in “political re-education” facilities. Read more.
TURKEY: Boğaziçi academics released ‘damage assessment report’
Ahval News, 5/15
Boğaziçi University faculty have released a list of forty damages to the university due to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan appointing the university’s rector, Melih Bulu. The damages include the closure of LGBTQI+ resources on campus and a loss of university autonomy. Read more.
CHINA / HONG KONG: Hong Kong polls: Nearly 60% of adults say National Security Law restricts academic freedom, scholars worry about fleeing [CHINESE]
Tang Huiyun, VOA China, 5/15
A public opinion survey conducted by the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute found that 60% of respondents think the National Security Law restricts academic freedom in Hong Kong, and 45% think that universities have not made an effort to protect it. Read more.
BELARUS: Trial in “student case” begins in Minsk [RUSSIAN]
Olga Demidova, Deutsche Welle, 5/14
Trials began for what has come to be known as the “student case,” involving the detention of 12 people, including 11 students and one teacher. The defendants, who have remained imprisoned since their arrests in November 2020, are charged with “organizing and preparing actions that grossly violate public order,” involving protest actions against President Alexander Lukashenko. Read more.
MYANMAR: Myanmar junta ‘suspends thousands of lecturers’
Joyce Lau, Times Higher Education, 5/14
Myanmar’s military regime has suspended thousands of striking university staff. Scholars at Risk’s senior advocacy officer, Daniel Munier, states that the suspensions are “flagrant attacks on academic freedom and institutional autonomy intended to assert control and promote a false sense of normalcy.” Read more.
SOUTH AFRICA: Institutional viability threatened by student debt crisis
Mark Paterson, University World News, 5/13
Universities are facing a shortfall of ZAR14 billion (US$1 billion) for 2019 due to outstanding student debt. Politicians and university leaders have called for fundamental reform of higher education funding amid a mounting student debt crisis. Read more.
ZAMBIA: Zambian columnist Sishuwa Sishuwa could face sedition charge for opinion piece on election
Committee to Protect Journalists, 5/12
Zambian columnist and University of Zambia lecturer Sishuwa Sishuwa faces calls by government leaders to charge him with sedition after he wrote an opinion piece titled “Zambia may burn after the August election.” Read more.
THAILAND: CMU students report to police on royal defamation charge
Prachatai, 5/12
Two Chang Mai University students were called to a police station to answer charges of lèse majesté for an art installation exhibited during a student protest at the university in March 2021. Read more.
DENMARK: Danish researchers under attack ‘withdrawing from public debate’
Ellie Bothwell, Times Higher Education, 5/13
Scholars in Denmark have described an erosion of academic freedom and withdrawn from public debate following repeated attacks from far-right Danish political party leaders and the public, who target experts in gender studies, migration studies, race theory and, post-colonialism. Read more.
UNITED KINGDOM: English universities fear legal minefield under free speech bill
John Morgan, Times Higher Education, 5/12
A Freedom of Speech bill will be introduced to Parliament and includes creating a “statutory tort,” which would allow individuals to sue universities and student unions if the individual suffers a personal “loss” at the institution’s failure to protect free speech. Observers say the bill will lead students to “risk-assess the life out of campus.” Read more.
THAILAND: Thai court grants bail to 2 protest leaders in jail for royal insults
Reuters, 5/11
Student protest leader Parit “Penguin” Chiwarak was released from pre-trial detention on bail following hospitalization for a 46-day hunger strike. Chiwarak’s release comes after the release on bail of another student protest leader, Panusaya “Rung” Sithijirawattanakul. Both were charged with lèse-majesté. Read more.
MYANMAR: Thousands suspended at Myanmar universities as junta targets education
Reuters, 5/11
An official of the Myanmar Teachers’ Federation told Reuters that over 11,000 academics and university staff had been suspended from their positions after going on strike in protest of military rule. Universities recently resumed in-person classes after being suspended amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more.
UNITED STATES / RWANDA: Espionage Suspected in Zoom Classroom Intrusion
Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Ed, 5/10
An anonymous “lurker” on a Zoom meeting of St. Mary’s University students was determined to be a Rwandan diplomat, Charles Ntageruka. Students were meeting to discuss a campaign to free Paul Rusesabagina, who is recognized for his heroism during the 1994 Rwandan genocide and is currently imprisoned in Rwanda, charged with terrorism, murder, and arson. Read more.
UNITED KINGDOM / CHINA / HONG KONG: UK university tells lecturers not to record classes about Hong Kong and China, citing security law risks
Hong Kong Free Press, 5/10
SOAS University of London’s administration urged academics not to record classes discussing China and Hong Kong over the risks to students and faculty under Beijing’s National Security Law. Read more.
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: 27 NGOs urge Sheikh Zayed Book Awards winners to reject prize
MENA Rights Group, 5/10
Scholars at Risk, along with 26 other organizations, jointly called on recipients of the Sheikh Zayed Book Award, awarded by UAE’s Department of Culture and Tourism, to reject the prize and not attend the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair. Organizations fear the UAE invests in cultural events, such as this, to hide the government’s repression of peaceful dissenting voices. Read more.
MOROCCO: Probe shows sexual harassment is widespread in universities
Hamza Guessous, Morocco World News via University World News, 5/8
A study of a hundred Moroccan universities, conducted by a member of the National Human Rights Council in Morocco, revealed that sexual harassment and gender-based violence, specifically towards female professors from male colleagues, is widespread. Read more.
CANADA: Did a University of Toronto Donor Block the Hiring of a Scholar for Her Writing on Palestine?
Masha Gessen, The New Yorker, 5/8
Controversy continues to surround the University of Toronto after Valentina Azarova was offered the position of director of its International Human Rights Program, only to have the offer rescinded. Some believe it was due to a conversation between a university administrator and a major donor, who disapproved of Azarova’s research on the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Read more.
UNITED STATES / CHINA: Fear and confusion continue over research interactions with China
Andrea Widener, Chemical & Engineering News, 5/7
Asian academics in the United States feel that the US federal government is “racial profiling” by targeting such academics through its China Initiative, created in 2018 to tackle “economic espionage” from China. Academics have been charged under the China Initiative for failing to report connections to Chinese institutions. Read more.
ARMENIA: Armenian Government Pressing Ahead With University Takeovers [ARMENIAN]
Satenik Hayrapetian, Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, 5/7
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s government issued an executive ordering the governing boards of three of the country’s leading universities, Yerevan State University, Armenian State Pedagogical University, and Gyumri State University, to have 13 of 20 of its members be appointed by the government’s Ministry of Education. Read more.
THAILAND: Thai student jailed for insulting king gets bail, others denied
Panarat Thepgumpanat, Reuters, 5/6
A Thai court granted student protest leader Panusaya “Rung” Sithijirawattanakul bail after spending eight weeks in pretrial detention on charges of lèse-majesté. Sithijirawattanakul and another jailed student protest leader, Parit “Penguin” Chiwarak, had been on hunger strike in protest. Read more.
GLOBAL: Researchers at Risk supported into skilled posts in industry
Maynooth University
The Inspireurope project explores opportunities across Europe to place highly-skilled researchers in industries with skill shortages. Read more.
HONG KONG: Universities’ silencing of the student voice gathers pace
Mimi Leung, University World News, 5/4
In another move to silence student voices in Hong Kong, Hong Kong University has derecognized its student union, HKUSU, after it issued an open letter to the university’s president questioning how China’s national security law would be implemented into university curricula. Read more.
CHINA: Revoke sanctions on international scholars and respect free and open scholarly inquiry
Scholars at Risk, 5/4
SAR issued a statement denouncing China’s sanctions on scholars in the European Union and United Kingdom in retaliation for their research and teaching on China. SAR urges the Chinese government to revoke the sanctions and respect and promote academic freedom. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Linfield University Fires Professor Who Spoke Out About Misconduct Cases
Michael Levenson, The New York Times, 5/1
Linfield University, a Baptist college in Oregon, has fired Professor Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, a tenured English professor, after he voiced concerns over accusations of sexual misconduct and anti-Semitism from university board members and President Miles K. Davis. People are now calling for Mr. Davis’s resignation from the university. Read more.
CHINA: Despite concerns, should universities engage with China?
Philip G Altbach and Hans de Wit, University World News, 5/1
Increasing geopolitical tensions with China have challenged universities’ ability in North America, Europe, and Australia to engage in academic collaboration with China. Engaging with China in global higher education remains important; however, Chinese government policies have raised academic freedom issues in the country. Read more.
JAPAN: Academics oppose ‘top down’ university governance reform
Suvendrini Kakuchi, University World News, 5/1
Japan’s House of Representatives passed an amendment strengthening the top-down management of universities. Academics in the country fear the amendment will reduce university autonomy and academic freedom. Read more.
UNITED STATES: HE leaders hail Biden plan to boost access and retention
Brendan O’Malley, University World News, 4/30
President Joe Biden proposed a $109 billion plan to provide two free years of community college to all Americans. He is also calling for an $80 billion investment in Pell Grants, which help economically disadvantaged families earn degrees. Read more.
NORTH AFRICA: North Africa hit by brain drain of ICT graduates
Wachira Kigotho, University World News, 4/29
Highly skilled information and technology professionals in Northern Africa migrate to the European Union for better work opportunities, leading to a brain drain in the region. Read more.
HUNGARY: Hungary Transfers 11 Universities to Foundations Led by Orban Allies
Benjamin Novak, The New York Times, 4/27
Prime Minister Viktor Orban transferred control over 11 of the country’s public universities to foundations led by his political allies. Critics believe the move will further erode university autonomy in the country as Orban and his allies will have significant influence over the universities. Read more.
EGYPT: A Student Researching Abortion Laws Is Now In One of the World’s Strictest Prisons
Anna Koslerova, Vice News, 4/29
Central European University master’s student Ahmed Samir Santawy has been imprisoned in Egypt since February 2021. His research in women’s reproductive rights made him the target of Egyptian authorities, who have charged him with membership of a terrorist group, spreading false information, and using social media to spread disinformation. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Linfield Cuts Off Mass Faculty Emails Amid Controversy
Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed, 4/27
Linfield University cancelled the faculty’s Listservs after several professors used mass emails to criticize the university for its handling of sexual misconduct allegations involving the Board of Trustees. Faculty members are complaining of censorship. Read more.
UNITED KINGDOM: Course closures ‘inevitable’ consequence of Westminster policy
Anna McKie, Times Higher Education, 4/27
Universities are closing humanities and social science courses, including those in history, language, and refugee studies following the government’s call for universities to focus “more heavily upon subjects which deliver strong graduate employment outcomes in areas of economic and societal importance, such as STEM, nursing and teaching.” Read more.
IRAN: Universities call for Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali’s release
Scholars at Risk, 4/26
To mark the fifth anniversary of Swedish-Iranian scholar Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali’s wrongful imprisonment in Iran, the Karolinska Institutet, Università del Piemonte Orientale, and Vrije Universiteit Brussel, where Dr. Djalali worked in higher education prior to his imprisonment, issued a joint statement calling for his release. Read more.
NIGERIA: Kidnappers kill two more captive students
Al Jazeera, 4/26
Gunmen attacked Greenfield University on April 20, abducting over twenty students and killing one university employee. Since the abductions, the bodies of five students have been discovered in nearby villages. Read more.
TURKEY: President appoints rectors to six universities
BIA News Desk, Bianet via University World News, 4/25
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has appointed six university rectors, who hold the position for four years. He recently extended the term of pro-government columnist and TV host Prof. Nihat Hatipoğlu as the rector of Gaziantep Islamic Science and Technology University. Read more.
EUROPE: EU backs EUA’s vision of ‘universities without walls’
Nic Mitchell, University World News, 4/23
A new 10-year vision of creating universities without walls, with a focus on openness and engagement with society – while defending academic freedom and democratic values – was welcomed by one of the heads of the European Union at the 2021 European University Association (EUA) annual conference on 22 April. Read more.
CHINA / HONG KONG: Will national security law force exodus of Hong Kong’s teachers, students over fears of shrinking academic freedom?
Chan Ho-him, South China Morning Post, 4/23
After China’s Education Bureau issued guidelines on implementing the national security law in schools and universities, teachers and professors have limited classroom autonomy and practice self-censorship. A number of universities have implemented mandatory national security law education. Read more.
MYANMAR: Junta announces a return to classes – but not normality
Naw Say Phaw Waa, University World News, 4/23
Myanmar’s military government announced a return of the country’s public universities for final-year undergraduate students and master’s students following closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many teachers have already indicated they will not return to universities, refusing to serve under the military government. Read more.
HUNGARY: Hungary walks back controversial laws after EU court rulings
Associated Press, 4/23
Hungary’s government submitted a draft bill this week walking back legislation that forced Central European University to leave the country after the European Court of Justice struck down the previous legislation. CEU has indicated it will remain in Austria, where the university relocated, so that it is no longer subject to the “political whims of one man and his regime,” referring to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Read more.
EUROPE: Thinktanks ‘have stolen universities’ clothes’
David Matthews, Times Higher Education, 4/23
European University Association president Michael Murphy told a conference that universities are forced to “compete” with policy bodies, such as think tanks, by better communicating with politicians and the media, including by being more active in public discourse and authoring more op-eds. Read more.
CANADA: Union censures Toronto after job ‘rescinded over Israel views’
Paul Basken, Times Higher Education, 4/23
The Canadian Association of University Teachers censured the University of Toronto, urging a boycott of the university, after it determined that the university chose not to hire an academic, Valentina Azarova, over her criticisms of Israel. Read more.
SYRIA: Syrian Universities Struggle to Survive After a Decade of War
Samar Kadi, Al-Fanar Media, 4/20
Syrian academics told of Syria’s broken higher education system struggling universities at a recent online workshop titled “Higher Education in Syria After a Decade of War.” After ten years of civil war, universities have outdated curricula, unqualified teachers, and an absence of research resources and academic freedom. Read more.
GLOBAL: The Academic Freedom Index: a powerful instrument for policy and practice
Ilyas Saliba and Janika Spannagel, European University Association, 4/21
Co-developers of the Academic Freedom Index Ilyas Saliba and Janika Spannagel propose five ways universities and civil society can use the index data to strengthen academic freedom, including by incorporating academic freedom into university excellence rankings. Read more.
CHINA / HONG KONG: China’s Communist Party targets HKU student union
Mimi Leung and Yojana Sharma, University World News, 4/20
People’s Daily, the official newspaper of China’s Communist Party, released an article attacking the student union at the University of Hong Kong after the students addressed an open letter to the university’s president, Xiang Zhang, asking how the national security law would be implemented into the curriculum. Read more.
INDIA: Indian scholars fear further squeeze on freedom as sector expands
Joyce Lau, Times Higher Education, 4/19
Indian scholars fear that the country’s National Education Policy (NEP) will further restrain academic freedom following the resignation of high-profile academic Pratap Bhanu Mehta from Ashoka University due to alleged political pressure. Read more.
MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA: Self-Censorship in Arab Higher Education: an Untold Problem
Rasha Fack, Al-Fanar Media, 4/18
A survey of academics at Arab universities, conducted by Scholars at Risk and Al-Fanar Media, found that 75% of respondents engage in academic self-censorship, or refraining from teaching, researching, or speaking about specific topics for fear of punishment from governments or universities. The response suggests that freedom of expression is at risk in the region. Read more.
MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA: Academic Self-Censorship Is a ‘Brain Drag’ on Arab Universities and Societies
Robert Quinn, Al-Fanar Media, 4/18
SAR Executive Director Robert Quinn suggests that the findings of the Scholars at Risk-Al-Fanar Media self-censorship survey indicate a ‘brain drag’ in the Arab region, or the loss of creative and professional productivity that would have been, but for the fear of retaliation. Read more.
GLOBAL: World university rankings are rewarding totalitarianism
Carsten A. Holz, University World News, 4/17
Carsten A. Holz draws attention to the absence of academic freedom from university rankings. Holz contends that if one adjusts the rankings to include academic freedom, universities under totalitarian regimes would drop to the bottom of rankings lists. Read more.
HUNGARY: Hungarian government in spotlight over academic freedom
Ben Upton, Research Professional News, 4/16
Scholars at Risk calls on the Hungarian government to “restore and protect” academic freedom in its recent submission to the United Nations’ Universal Periodic Review of Hungary. Read more.
CHINA: Historians concerned as China launches ‘distortion’ hotline
Joyce Lau, Times Higher Education, 4/16
The Cyberspace Administration of China announced the creation of a “hotline” where people are urged to report incidents of people distorting China’s history or defaming “national heroes.” Professors warn the hotline could place further restrictions on academic freedom in the country. Read more.
SOUTH AFRICA: Universities want to come together to tackle student challenges
Thami Magubane, The Mercury via University World News, 4/14
South African universities are seeking ways to form a structure to address student grievances following weeks of violent student protests calling for the cancellation of student debt. Chairpersons of the councils of ten universities met to develop a plan moving forward. Read more.
GLOBAL: Researchers at risk need dedicated support
Orla Duke and Beata Kowalska, Research Professional News, 4/14
SAR Europe Programme Manager Orla Duke warns of the increasing frequency of attacks on the global higher education community. Inspireurope, a joint effort between SAR Europe and funded by the EU’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, facilitates transnational cooperation in Europe to support scholars who are at risk. Read more.
TURKEY: Violations of students’ rights in Turkey: ‘23 students killed in 4 years’
Bianet, 4/12
The Human Rights Foundation of Turkey released a report revealing that 3,102 students were subjected to violations of rights while exercising freedom of expression, assembly, and association from the years 2015 to 2019. Read more.
ISRAEL: Israeli university presidents defend free speech in dispute over Israel Prize
Times of Israel Staff, The Times of Israel via University World News, 4/10
Israel’s Education Minister Yoav Gallant temporarily blocked scholar Oded Goldreich from receiving the Israel Prize for mathematics and computer science over political statements he made supporting the Palestinian-led international boycott of Israel. Read more.
GLOBAL: Universities without Academic Freedom Have No Place in Rankings
Carsten A. Holz, International Higher Education, Spring 2021
Carsten A. Holz, a professor of social science at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, calls for the adjustment of well-known university rankings to include academic freedom to account for regime-controlled higher education. Read more.
GLOBAL: Zoom pulls back from blocking controversial academic talks
Paul Basken, Times Higher Education, 4/15
After refusing its service as a platform for Palestinian activist Leila Khaled, Zoom has issued a statement indicating it will leave content moderation to universities. Last year, Zoom was criticized by academic groups for blocking Khaled’s speech after deeming it too politically sensitive. Read more.
GLOBAL: Universities brace for another wave of anti-Asian attacks
Joyce Lau, Times Higher Education, 4/14
Higher education institutions have set up hotlines amid an uptick of attacks on those of Asian descent on university campuses in western countries. Universities are addressing anti-Asian bias in their research and communications with students. Read more.
POLAND: Polish pressure forces Holocaust historian to self-censor
David Matthews, Times Higher Education, 4/14
Audrey Kichelewski, a professor at the University of Strasbourg currently writing a book on the post-World War II trials of Polish people, said that she would avoid naming defendants in cases amidst mounting pressure on scholars who implicate Poles in the Holocaust. Read more.
CHINA / HONG KONG: Hong Kong university’s guidelines on security law stoke fears over freedoms
Pak Yiu, Reuters, 4/14
The University of Hong Kong’s Vice President for Teaching and Learning, Ian Holliday, sent a letter to senior staff announcing the formation of a committee to protect academic freedom in conformity with China’s National Security Law. Read more.
EGYPT: 74 NGOs urge Egyptian authorities to release Ahmed Samir Santawy
Scholars at Risk, 4/14
Scholars at Risk joins 73 organizations in calling for the immediate release of Ahmed Samir Santawy. Mr. Santawy is a postgraduate student at Central European University in Vienna, Austria, detained in Egypt in apparent connection with his studies and alleged, nonviolent expressive activity. Read more.
UNITED KINGDOM: Brexit red tape endangering vital experiments, says UK laboratory
Jack Grove, Times Higher Education, 4/14
Though UK universities and research institutions had contingency plans before the country exited the European Union, several labs have severe difficulties importing chemical reagents and equipment materials necessary to complete vital experiments. Read more.
HUNGARY: SAR urges Hungary to restore and protect university autonomy
Scholars at Risk, 4/13
In a submission to the United Nations’ Universal Periodic Review of Hungary, Scholars at Risk, in collaboration with the Ghent University Human Rights Centre Legal Clinic, expresses concerns over mounting government pressures on Hungarian universities, in particular severe encroachments on university autonomy. Read more.
BELARUS / ITALY: Scholars At Risk Italia appeal to stop violence against the academic community [ITALIAN]
Università degli Studi di Parma, 4/12
Scholars at Risk’s Italy section (SAR Italy) signed a letter of petition to Belaus’ President Alexander Lukashenko expressing concern over the attacks on the country’s higher education community. Read more.
UNITED KINGDOM: Involve academics in confronting academic freedom issues
Christopher Hughes, University World News, 4/9
The Academic Freedom and Internationalisation Working Group offers solutions to the dilemmas faced by the academic community when it comes to dealing with the impact of the internationalization of higher education on academic freedom. Read more.
MYANMAR: Students join armed groups to fight military crackdown
UWN Myanmar Correspondent, University World News, 4/8
University students, who have been at the forefront of anti-coup protests in Myanmar, turn to ethnic armed groups to access training to defend themselves and other protesters from the military. Since the Febilitary forces have killed over 600 people in efforts to repress protest and dissent. Read more.
MOROCCO: Moroccan Academics Protest Plan to Give Ministry More Control
Amr EL-Tohamy, Al-Fanar Media, 4/7
Moroccan academics are protesting a draft law that gives the Ministry of Higher Education power to control public university lecturers’ wages, benefits, to intervene in research, and amend curricula. Read more.
CHINA: China researchers face abuse, sanctions as Beijing looks to silence critics
Lily Kuo and Gerry Shih, The Washington Post, 4/7
Attacks come as the Chinese government ramps up a campaign to defend its Xinjiang policies. Read more.
THE NETHERLANDS: ‘Anti-left’ group targets Dutch academics with home visits
David Matthews, Times Higher Education, 4/7
Anonymous, anti-left groups in the Netherlands have harassed prominent, Dutch academics, including leaving posters on the academics’ homes warning they are being watched, releasing photos of their homes online, and posting photos of their families online. Read more.
UNITED STATES / CHINA: Balking at an International Partnership
Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Ed, 4/7
Cornell’s Faculty Senate and Student Assembly separately voted down a proposed dual-degree partnership between Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration and Peking University’s Guanghua School of Management in Beijing. Faculty voiced concerns about restrictions on academic freedom in China. Read more.
THAILAND: International Scholars Appeal to Chulalongkorn University to Defend Academic Freedom
Prachatai, 4/5
Scholars are calling a Chulalongkorn University investigation into Dr Nattapoll Chaiching, a former student at the university, an attack on academic freedom. Dr. Chaiching is being investigated for comments made in his dissertation that allegedly affect the reputation of the royal family. Read more.
HONG KONG / MYANMAR: Hong Kong university ‘regrets’ lecturer’s refusal to bend exam rules for student in Myanmar
South China Morning Post, 4/4
A lecturer at Education University of Hong Kong refused to make flexible test-taking arrangements for a student in Myanmar, despite the recent military coup and internet blackout. The professor told the student that any special treatment would be unfair to other students. Read more.
CANADA: Frémont announces new committee amidst heavily mediatized controversy surrounding academic freedom at U of O
Bridget Coady & Charley Dutil, Fulcrum, 4/4
University of Ottawa president Jacques Frémont announced the creation of a committee to determine how the university can better serve the university community following several controversies surrounding academic freedom. Read more.
EUROPE / IRAN: German, Swedish universities demand release of scholar
University World News, 4/3
The chair of the board of the Association of Swedish Higher Education Institutions (SUHF) and president of the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK) issued a joint letter urgently calling for Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali’s release from Iranian prison, following the United Nations’ report of his worsening condition. Read more.
GLOBAL: Universities in repressive states ‘hollow copies’
Matthew Reisz, Times Higher Education, 4/2
Universities at Risk, an online conference organized by Academy Unchained, heard academics from Greece, Brazil, Hungary, Serbia, and Turkey discuss how universities have become “hollow copies” of academic institutions under repressive, authoritarian regimes in the countries. Read more.
THE NETHERLANDS: Dutch populists seek reports of ‘left indoctrination’ on campuses
John Morgan, Times Higher Education, 4/1
Dutch right-wing, populist party, Union Forum for Democracy, launched a “hotline” for reports of what it terms “left-wing indoctrination” by university lecturers. The launch follows the party’s election win, gaining more votes than any other party in provincial elections for the upper house of Dutch parliament. Read more.
MYANMAR: When teaching and learning turn into a political act
Margaryta Rymarenko and Daniela Craciun, University World News, 3/29
Following the recent military coup in Myanmar, and the leading role that university students and faculty are taking in protests against it, former CEU Global Teaching Fellows at the University of Yangon reflect on the history of the higher education sector in Myanmar, often treated as the political opposition by those in power. Read more.
CHINA: Solidarity statement on behalf of scholars sanctioned for their work on China
Members of the academic and research community are invited to express their solidarity with colleagues affected by the Chinese government’s recent sanctions by signing this statement. Learn more and take action.
THAILAND: Scholars at Risk highlights threats to freedom of thought in UPR report on Thailand
Prachatai, 3/31
Scholars at Risk submitted a report on attacks on the higher education community to the United Nation’s Universal Periodic Review of Thailand, which is set to take place in November 2021. The report expresses particular concern over lèse majesté law, which criminalizes defamation, insult, or threat to the monarchy. Read more.
AUSTRALIA: Australian campuses bid to save autonomy from Canberra meddling
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 3/29
Australian academics are worried that a new foreign relations law could impact universities’ ability to collaborate with foreign governments and, more broadly, maintain their institutional autonomy. The law comes on the heels of other interventions, including a free speech code, research grant vetoes, and enhanced security measures. Read more.
UNITED KINGDOM: To protect academic freedom from external ‘threats’, we must reverse the decline of academic participation in governance
John Heathershaw, Higher Education Policy Institute, 3/29
Higher Education Policy Institute has determined four ways UK universities’ academic freedom is put at risk by internationalization: in international partnerships, fieldwork abroad, surveillance of expatriate faculty students, and from overseas funding. Read more.
MYANMAR: Military occupies Myanmar campuses
Joyce Lau, Times Higher Education, 3/27
As of March 19, Myanmar’s military has occupied 60 school and university campuses across the country. In a letter to the United Nations Human Rights Council, Scholars at Risk describes how the recent coup could erase years of progress made in Myanmar’s higher education community. Read more.
EUROPE: Opening up education opportunities for refugee scholars
Chiara Finocchietti and Sjur Bergan, University World News, 3/27
In 2017 the Council of Europe launched the European Qualifications Passport for Refugees (EQPR) through a pilot project involving four countries and the UNHCR. The project’s current phase encompasses 11 countries, started in 2018 and will run through 2021, while a third phase is envisaged. Read more.
EUROPE: Democracy – and academic freedom – are under attack
Monika Steinel, University World News, 3/27
After a long period of stability, academic freedom and institutional autonomy of Europe’s universities appear to be on the decline following growing pressures on democratic values and human liberties, including in countries such as Turkey, Belarus, and Hungary. Read more.
TURKEY: Turkey detains 50 more people after university protests
Reuters Staff, Reuters, 3/26
Turkish police arrested over 50 people, many of them students, protesting in support of 20 students detained on Bogazici University’s campus the previous day. Read more.
MYANMAR: Violent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters and the higher education community in Myanmar
Scholars at Risk, 3/25
Scholars at Risk sent the United Nations Human Rights Council a letter raising concerns over the human rights violations, specifically those against the higher education community, in Myanmar following the February 1 military coup. Read more.
EUROPE: China fights back with sanctions on academics, institute
Yojana Sharma, University World News, 3/25
The imposition of tit-for-tat sanctions on researchers by China after the European Union imposed bans on Chinese officials has ratcheted pressure on academics, particularly those whose research involves topics deemed sensitive to China. Read more.
UNITED STATES / TURKEY: Pitt’s first formal Scholar at Risk reflects on year at Pitt
Kiera Ledermann, The Pitt News, 3/25
Feminist scholar Hatice Simten Coşar enrolled in Scholars at Risk in 2018, after it became evident she would be unable to pursue her research in Turkey fully. Professor Coşar is the first formal Scholar at Risk welcomed by the University of Pittsburgh’s Global Studies Center. Read more.
FRANCE: Academics under fire for studying race and racism in colour-blind France
Sarah Elzas, Radio France Internationale, 3/25
23,000 French researchers have signed a petition calling for the resignation of France’s Education Minister, Frédérique Vidal, following her call to investigate “islamo-leftism” at France’s universities. Read more.
MYANMAR: Student protesters released, but many remain behind bars
Naw Say Phaw Waa, University World News, 3/25
Myanmar’s military suddenly and without explanation released 628 students from Yangon’s Insein Prison. The students had been arrested for their participation in peaceful protests against Myanmar’s military coup. Read more.
CHINA / HONG KONG: Universities pressed to implement ‘security law’ education
Mimi Leung and Yojana Sharma, University World News, 3/24
Hong Kong’s University Grants Committee reportedly sent letters to public universities in Hong Kong, indicating that compulsory education on the National Security Law was necessary to secure funding. Read more.
BELARUS: Why some young people are fleeing Belarus
Elena Danilovich, Deutsche Welle, 3/24
Following nationwide protests against President Alexander Lukashenko’s re-election, 415 students have been arrested, 135 have been expelled from universities, and 27 have had charges against them. Some students have left the country to continue their studies. Read more.
INDIA: The Case for Professor Saibaba: Understanding the Effect of State of Exception Rules in India
Liam-Elio Colabuono-McDonagh and Busola Ajayi, Impact Nottingham, 3/22
Scholars at Risk at the University of Nottingham call attention to Indian Professor Gokarakonda Naga Saibaba, who was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to life in prison under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. Read more.
CANADA: UBC political science students advocate for imprisoned Uyghur academic
Sydney Cristall, The Ubyssey, 3/22
Scholars at Risk’s student advocacy seminar at the University of British Columbia is advocating on behalf of imprisoned Uyhghur scholar Dr. Ilham Tohti through a petition to the Canadian government to call for Dr. Tohti’s release and the hosting of a live webinar on the oppression of the Uyghur people. Read more.
UNITED KINGDOM: Non-EU scientists face exclusion from sensitive Horizon projects
David Matthews, Times Higher Education, 3/22
Non-EU scientists in the UK, Israel, and Switzerland face exclusion from research following a new strategic plan from Horizon Europe. The plan indicates that certain research projects will be kept private in order to protect the EU’s sovereignty over “strategic technology areas” and “critical infrastructures.” Read more.
MYANMAR / CANADA: Professor berates student in Myanmar for missing exam due to military-imposed internet blackout, viral screenshots show
Li Cohen, CBS News, 3/19
A York University professor was removed from a course after berating and threatening to fail a student living in Myanmar who could not take a midterm exam following a military-imposed internet blackout in the country. Read more.
INDIA: ‘It Is Dangerous To Speak Up In India Today.’ What the Resignations of 2 Academics Show About Freedom of Expression Under Modi
Billy Perrigo, Time, 3/19
Pratap Bhanu Mehta, a prominent academic and critic of India’s ruling party, resigned as a professor at Ashok University under alleged government pressure. Arvind Subramanian, an economics professor at the university, resigned in solidarity with Mehta. Read more.
MYANMAR: Military invades campuses, student leaders tortured
Naw Say Phaw Waa, University World News, 3/18
Following the military coup, Myanmar’s armed forces have violently stormed university campuses, arrested hundreds of students and teachers involved in anti-coup protests, and killed over 200 protesters, including students. Soldiers have begun to station themselves at university campuses, forcing many students to move out of campus accommodations. Read more.
UNITED STATES / CHINA: Tufts to close its China-funded Confucius Institute
Laura Krantz, The Boston Globe, 3/17
Tufts University will close its China-funded language and cultural center, the Confucius Institute. The institute, one of over 50 in the United States, has sparked concern over whether it promotes censorship and undermines human rights. Read more.
IRAN: Rights experts demand Iran release academic ‘nearing death’ in solitary confinement
United Nations, 3/18
United Nations independent human rights experts call on Iran to immediately release Iranian-Swedish academic Ahmadreza Djalali. It was reported that he is “near death” after spending over 100 days in solitary confinement. Read more.
IRAN: Academic brain drain raised by MPs after years of denial
Shadi Khan Saif, University World News, 3/17
After years of government denial, the Iranian parliament acknowledged a significant “brain drain” as many students and academics have fled the country. Lawmakers fear that the loss of talent could worsen the country’s economic crisis. Read more.
CHINA / HONG KONG: Hong Kong gets a ‘D’ in academic freedom index
AppleDaily, 3/16
Hong Kong earned a D rating in the Academic Freedom Index 2020, falling more than 0.15 points in the past five years. Beijing’s sweeping National Security Law has led to a deterioration of academic freedom in Hong Kong. Read more.
MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA: Arab Region Scores Lowest in the World for Academic Freedom
Burton Bollag, Al-Fanar Media, 3/16
The Academic Freedom Index 2020 revealed that the Arab region had the lowest academic freedom score of any region in the world. While Tunisia earned an A score, indicating the country enjoys complete freedom of research and teaching, most countries in the region scored in the D to E range, indicating severe or complete restrictions on higher education. Read more.
CHINA / UNITED STATES: American students say they were wrongfully detained and roughed up by plainclothes police in China
John Hudson, The Washington Post, 3/16
Chinese police detained six American students studying at New York University Shanghai in two separate incidents. Police apprehended two students in a bar, where police kicked one student in the head, and another group of students gathering for a birthday party. Read more.
AFGHANISTAN: Afghan official: Gunmen fire at university bus, killing 2
Rahim Faiez, Associated Press, 3/16
Unidentified gunmen opened fire on a minibus carrying university faculty and students in Northern Afghanistan. The bus driver and one student were killed, and several university lecturers were wounded. Read more.
SOUTH AFRICA: South Africa Students Plan to Shut Universities Over Funding
Monique Vanek, Bloomberg, 3/15
Following a student protest at the University of Witwatersrand that left one person dead, a South African student movement has resulted in protests across the country of students demanding the government clear student debt and allow free registration for the 2021 academic year. Read more.
AUSTRALIA: Scholars at Risk: how a network of academics and universities finds positions of ‘academic refuge’ for persecuted thinkers
Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 3/14
SAR Executive Director Robert Quinn spoke with ABC Radio about the history of Scholars at Risk and the Academic Freedom Index, an assessment of the level of academic freedom in 175 territories. Read more.
GLOBAL: New threats to academic freedom emerge from pandemic
Brendan O’Malley, University World News, 3/13
The Academic Freedom Index 2020 sheds light on the impact of COVID-19 on academic freedom amid the shift to physically distanced learning. New opportunities for surveillance of research, sanctions, restrictions, self-censorship, and isolation are among the threats. Read more.
GLOBAL: Only 20 per cent of world ‘has strong academic freedom’
Ellie Bothwell, Times Higher Education, 3/11
The Academic Freedom Index 2020, jointly developed by Scholars at Risk, the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, the Varieties of Democracy Institute, and the Global Public Policy Institute, found that only 20 percent of the world’s population lives where academic freedom is well protected. Read more.
INDIA: Imprisonment of GN Saibaba Is Tantamount to Torture
Brenden Rearick, Sampsonia Way, 3/11
Professor GN Saibaba, a wrongfully imprisoned Indian scholar, continues to sit in solitary confinement in Nagpur Central Prison despite recently testing positive for COVID-19. Saibaba suffers from numerous health conditions and has been consistently denied basic medical care while in prison. Read more.
SOUTH AFRICA: One person killed as police, students clash at South Africa’s Wits university
Reuters Staff, Reuters, 3/10
One person was killed during a student-led protest demanding that students who still owe tuition fees, viewed as prohibitive for Black students, still be allowed to register for classes. Police responded to the protest firing rubber bullets into the crowd. Read more.
IRELAND: 7 women crossing borders with their research
Elaine Burke, Silicon Republic, 3/9
In celebration of International Women’s Day, seven women researchers are featured who have benefitted from Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions funding. Sinead O’Gorman, Director of SAR Europe, is featured for her work on Inspireurope, which strengthens support for researchers in Europe who have had threats to their lives and work. Read more.
UNITED STATES: New Nonpartisan Faculty Group Will Promote and Defend Free Speech, Academic Freedom
Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed, 3/9
Two hundred professors have launched the Academic Freedom Alliance, to advocate for professors’ freedom of expression and to legally defend their academic freedom. Read more.
CHINA / HONG KONG: More funding but less freedom for Hong Kong universities
Joyce Lau, Times Higher Education, 3/8
Despite a government-led crackdown on campus political activities, including the firing of professors, arrest of students, and suppression of student expression, Hong Kong universities have seen increases in state and philanthropic funding. Read more.
MYANMAR: Myanmar Military Storms Universities and Hospitals and Revokes Press Licenses
Hannah Beech, The New York Times, 3/8
In Mandalay, military trucks and security forces stormed Mandalay Technological University, among others, where they released tear gas and rubber bullets on students and faculty. Read more.
CHINA / HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s public universities should reflect national security law in curricula by new academic year, be ready to ‘suppress’ acts that violate it: education minister
Chan Ho-him, South China Morning Post, 3/5
Education minister Kevin Yeung Yun-hung told lawmakers that Hong Kong universities will be expected to change curricula to reflect China’s new national security law by the upcoming academic year. He also states that universities should be prepared to “prevent and suppress” actions that violate the national security law. Read more.
POLAND: The Court acquits Professor Wojciech Sadurski in a criminal defamation case
Article19, 3/5
A District Court in Warsaw acquitted Professor Wojciech Sadurski in a lawsuit brought by Polish public broadcaster, Telewizja Polska SA (TVP). The case was brought after Professor Sadurski tweeted that TVP started a smear campaign that led to the assassination of Pawel Adamowicz, a mayor in Poland. Read more.
MYANMAR: Students, protesters undaunted despite deaths in crackdown
Naw Say Phaw Waa, University World News, 3/5
90% of students and faculty from 40 universities have joined protests against the military coup in Myanmar. Student protesters are among those killed, in addition to students and academics whose homes have been raided and been arrested. Read more.
AUSTRALIA: Academics warn Latham’s gender bill would force Shakespeare from the classroom
Jordan Baker, The Sydney Morning Herald, 3/5
One Nation, a far-right political party in Australia, proposed a ban on teaching gender fluidity at New South Wales universities, which would force Shakespearan plays and classic Australian novels to be cut from the curriculum. Over 100 academics have signed a letter in protest. Read more.
SINGAPORE: Drop police report against independent media outlet New Naratif [Updated Joint Statement]
Scholars at Risk, 3/4
Scholars at Risk reissued a joint statement with Amnesty International, Article 19, ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, CIVICUS, Forum Asia, and Human Rights Watch to reiterate the joint call for the Singapore government to drop an investigation of New Naratif, a Singapore-based movement for democracy and freedom of expression across Southeast Asia. Read more.
UNITED STATES / CHINA: Reconsidering the ‘China Initiative’
Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Ed, 3/2
The arrest and prosecution of MIT professor Gang Chen, a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from China, is troubling to many in the higher education community, who view the criminalization of academic ties to China as part of a larger pattern of the Department of Justice targeting Chinese and Chinese American scholars. Read more.
TURKEY: Boğaziçi rector dismisses election for institute head, appoints his deputy instead
BIA News Desk, Bianet, 3/2
Boğaziçi University Rector Melih Bulu, whose appointment by President Erdoğan led to mass student-led protests, bypassed a democratic election for the new head of the Graduate Studies in Social Sciences (SBE) institute and instead appointed his vice-rector, Professor Naci İnci, a physicist, to the post. Read more.
AUSTRALIA: ‘Top-down’ rules won’t solve free speech fears, legal experts say
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 3/1
Leading legal academics in Australia are wary of the government’s ‘top-down’ approach to protecting freedom of speech and academic freedom on Australian campuses. The better approach, they propose, is ‘bottom-up’, or beginning the work within individual university communities. Read more.
SWEDEN: Sweden mulls law change to fight online hate against researchers
David Matthews, Times Higher Education, 3/1
Swedish lawmakers are considering an amendment to the country’s higher education act that would guarantee academic freedom in research and instruction. The issue was raised after several academics and public health officials resigned from their COVID-19 research roles following online harassment and threats prompting police protection. Read more.
FRANCE: France’s elite universities face campus sexual assault reckoning
David Matthews, Times Higher Education, 2/26
Over the past month, hundreds of students in France have come forward on social media with stories of sexual harassment and assault taking place on campus at France’s top universities. Read more.
CHINA / HONG KONG: University ‘de-recognises’ student body over freedoms push
Mimi Leung, University World News, 2/26
The Chinese University of Hong Kong announced it was severing ties with the university’s student union on national security grounds, effectively ‘de-recognizing’ the body. The student union will no longer receive venues for events, administrative support, and must assume legal responsibility for itself. Read more.
CHINA / HONG KONG: Hong Kong University Scraps World Press Photo Exhibit Over ‘Safety’ Fears
Barron’s via AFP, 2/26
Hong Kong Baptist University canceled an exhibition of World Press Photo winners just days before it was to be open to the public. The cancellation comes amid a sweeping crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong. Read more.
KOREA / UNITED STATES: A Harvard Professor Called Wartime Sex Slaves ‘Prostitutes.’ One Pushed Back.
Youmi Kim and Mike Ives, The New York Times, 2/26
A recent academic journal article by Harvard professor J. Mark Ramseyer has caused an outcry in South Korea after describing Korean and other women forced to serve Japanese troops during World War II as “prostitutes.” Read more.
IRELAND / CHINA: Growing links between Irish and Chinese universities must be examined, Senator says
Marie O’Halloran, The Irish Times, 2/22
Senator Rónán Mullen said that Ireland’s education system could be further “contaminated” by increasing international links between Irish and Chinese universities. Senator Mullen is concerned that academic freedom and freedom of thought cannot be guaranteed to Irish university staff and students working with China. Read more.
CHINA / UNITED STATES: US-China academic relations ‘need strategic stabilisation’
Ellie Bothwell, Times Higher Ed, 2/24
Gerard Postiglione, coordinator of the Consortium for Higher Education Research in Asia at the University of Hong Kong, believes that despite China-US relations being at the lowest point in 40 years, relations can improve through strategic stabilization. Read more.
IRELAND / CHINA: Huawei chief criticises academic’s ‘false attack’ over 5G security risks
Jack Power, The Irish Times, 2/24
Tony Yangxu, the head of Huawei Ireland, claimed the company was victim to a “completely false attack” after an academic paper warning that giving the Chinese company access to Ireland’s 5G network posed serious security risks. Read more.
RUSSIA: Siberian Students Say They Were Offered Money, Benefits To Promote Ruling Party
Nadezhda Trubitsyna and Robert Coalson, RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty, 2/23
Nizhnevartovsk State University students anonymously came forward claiming that they have been offered money and academic benefits in exchange for circulating scripted social media posts which support the United Russia party. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Authorities Investigate Racist Attacks on CUNY Virtual Events
Lindsay McKenzie, Inside Higher Ed, 2/22
Anonymous, racist attacks on CUNY’s online diversity events have prompted a police investigation. Events celebrating Women in Business and the Muslim Business Association were attacked with derogatory language and imagery. Read more.
INDIA: Call for release of jailed professor ill with COVID-19
Shuriah Niazi, University World News, 2/22
Scholars at Risk and other human rights organizations have called on Indian authorities to release former Delhi University Professor G.N. Saibaba after testing positive for COVID-19. Read more.
GREECE: Out of chaos, a new era emerges for Greek universities
Theodoros Papaioannou, University World News, 2/20
An account of how Greece has met the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic efficiently by adapting to new models of online and blended provision. Read more.
FRANCE: France to investigate academics over ‘Islamo-leftism’
David Matthews, Times Higher Ed, 2/19
France’s science minister Frédérique Vidal announced an investigation into “Islamo-lefitism” within the country’s academy that will be carried out by distinguishing “academic research” from what she claims is political activism. Read more.
CANADA: In vow to protect campus free speech, Quebec premier joins ‘war on woke’
Jonathan Montpetit, CBC, 2/18
Quebec’s Premier François Legault declared his intention to protect free speech on university campuses from “anti-racism activists.” The declaration comes after several incidents in which University professors have been suspended or forced to apologize for their words in the classroom. Read more.
SWEDEN: New migration law set to ‘drive foreign researchers away’
Jan Petter Myklebust, University World News, 2/18
The Swedish Association of University Teachers and Researchers (SULF) has told the Swedish government that stricter requirements for permanent residence permits in the proposed new migration act may make it more difficult for Sweden to retain foreign researchers. This may be an unintentional consequence of the proposed law. Read more.
MYANMAR: Myanmar campuses in ‘distress’ since coup
Joyce Lau, Times Higher Education, 2/17
Myanmar’s higher education community has come under threat following the recent military coup. The threats to academic freedom include the arrests of students and scholars, the frequent use of violent force against peaceful protesters, and widespread internet shutdowns. Read more.
EUROPEAN UNION / CHINA: EU says it can exclude China from EU research projects
Yojana Sharma, University World News, 2/17
The European Commission says it can exclude Chinese participation in Horizon Europe and other sensitive research projects using new powers to exclude third countries that do not share ‘EU values’. Read more.
GLOBAL: Zoombombing Often an ‘Inside Job’
Lindsay Mckenzie, Inside Higher Ed, 2/17
A study conducted by researchers at Binghamton University and Boston University found that the majority of “Zoombombing” attacks begin with a legitimate attendee of a videoconference, suggesting these attacks are inside jobs rather than random targeting. Read more.
UNITED KINGDOM / CHINA: Reset of UK-China research relations ‘will harm global science’
Jack Grove, Times Higher Education, 2/17
The UK government is expected to introduce new security vetting measures involving students, researchers and academics engaged in national security research. Chinese researchers could be blocked from entering the UK to prevent intellectual property theft. Read more.
GREECE: Greek scholars hope new law ends student anarchy on campuses
Ellie Bothwell, Times Higher Education, 2/16
A controversial education bill establishing university campus police forces passed on February 11, despite weeks of widespread student protests held against the bill. Scholars hope that the new law will improve working conditions after “decades of anarchic student behavior.” Read more.
UNITED KINGDOM: UK plan for campus free speech champion draws praise, alarm
Jill Lawless, AP via The Washington Post, 2/16
UK Education Secretary Gavin Williamson announced that the British government would appoint a “free speech champion” for universities, so they may combat attempts to “deplatform” speakers or dismiss academics for their unpopular views. Read more.
FIJI: Foreign scholars ‘will avoid Pacific universities’ after Fiji row
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 2/15
Jonathan Pryke, director of the Lowy Institute’s Pacific Islands Programme, says that Pacific Island universities will have trouble attracting international leadership following the deportation of the University of the South Pacific’s vice-chancellor Pal Ahluwalia. Read more.
UNITED KINGDOM: English minister’s academic freedom broadside ‘confects conflict’
John Morgan, Times Higher Education, 2/15
UK Education Secretary Gavin Williamson’s recent letter to the Office for Students is concerning to universities, as it voices support for judging universities by a baseline number of students hired into “managerial and professional” positions. If universities do not meet this threshold, Williamson suggested the OfS imply monetary penalties and revoke degree awarding powers. Read more.
THE PHILIPPINES: Duterte’s Forces Have a New Target: University Students
Jason Gutierrez, The New York Times, 2/14
Students and professors have gathered in protest against the latest move to suppress criticisms of President Rodrigo Duterte — the abrogation of a 32-year treaty preventing government forces from entering university campuses. Read more.
MYANMAR: Students take a leading role in protests against the coup
Naw Say Phaw Waa, University World News, 2/12
Younger generations of students are leading the protests against the recent military coup in Myanmar. Young activists have used internet memes and eye-catching costumes during protests to garner international attention and support. Read more.
MYANMAR: Colleagues and family ‘distraught’ over academic’s Myanmar arrest
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 2/10
Fellow academics and the family of Macquarie University economist Sean Turnell have expressed concern over his arrest following the military coup in Myanmar. Professor Turnell was acting as an economic consultant to the ousted leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, prior to his arrest. Read more.
FRANCE: Will American Ideas Tear France Apart? Some of Its Leaders Think So
Norimitsu Onishi, The New York Times, 2/9
French politicians and prominent intellectuals condemn the progressive ideas on race, gender, and post-colonialism that are believed to be emanating from American campuses. American universities’ identity politics and cancel culture, they say, have led to “ideological excesses” at France’s universities. Read more.
IRAN: Iranian Professor Jailed After Attending Training Course In Prague
RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty, 2/9
Reza Eslami, a dual Iranian-Canadian national and professor at Tehran’s Shahid Beheshti University, was sentenced to seven years in prison by an Iranian Revolutionary Court for “cooperating with an enemy state.” Read more.
POLAND: Polish Court Orders Scholars to Apologize Over Holocaust Study
Andrew Higgins, The New York Times, 2/8
A judge ordered two Holocaust scholars to apologize for “inaccurate information” included in a study about Polish people’s role in the murder of Jews during World War II. The judge did not order the scholars to pay a demand for $27,000 in damages, stating that the court’s decision should not have a “cooling effect on scientific research.” Read more.
EUROPE: What does the future hold for Europe’s universities?
Thomas Jørgensen and Anna-Lena Claeys-Kulik, University World News, 2/6
Throughout 2020, the European University Association conducted a major consultation with more than 100 experts and visionaries. The result is Universities Without Walls: A vision for 2030, in which Europe’s universities look ahead to define their priorities for the next ten years. Read more.
CHINA / HONG KONG: As academic freedom fades, it’s time to offer refuge
Kevin Carrico, University World News, 2/6
Under the national security law enforced by Beijing, Hong Kong’s universities, which once enjoyed robust academic freedom, are facing an academic environment that will likely only get more repressive. Learn more about what can be done to help support Hong Kong scholars and students. Read more.
TURKEY: EU, international academics condemn detention of students
Brendan O’Malley, University World News, 2/5
More than 300 students and their supporters were reportedly detained in Istanbul and the capital Ankara in increasingly violent and politically charged altercations with the police this week. Read more.
UNITED STATES: A Messy Debate on Academic Freedom
Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed, 2/5
A University of Iowa dean apologized to a student after he was punished for expressing frustration at the university’s condemnation of President Trump’s Executive Order 13950, which banned federal funding for diversity programs on “divisive concepts.” Read more.
GERMANY: HE and research face ‘historic watershed’, says council
Michael Gardner, University World News, 2/4
Germany’s Wissenschaftsrat (Council of Science and Humanities) has issued a policy paper pointing to weaknesses in the country’s higher education and research system, which the coronavirus crisis has highlighted. Read more.
FIJI: Fijian officials deport Pacific university’s vice-chancellor
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 2/4
University of the South Pacific’s Vice-Chancellor Pal Ahluwalia was deported to Australia from Fiji after being told he posed a “public risk.” Professor Ahluwalia had previously alleged abuse against USP administrators. Read more.
MYANMAR: Myanmar coup ‘could stall decade of higher education development’
Joyce Lau, Times Higher Education, 2/3
After suffering through decades of political turmoil, Myanmar’s universities were poised for international collaboration and growth. The recent military coup and communications blackout threaten to reverse those developments. Read more.
INDIA: New ministry rules set curbs on academic freedom online
Shuriah Niazi, University World News, 2/3
Academics and institutions holding international, online webinars and seminars on topics concerning India’s security and other material the government deems sensitive must now gain clearance from the Ministry of External Affairs. Academics fear the move will limit academic freedom and prevent the subjects from being raised. Read more.
CHINA / HONG KONG: National security law: at least 5 out of 8 Hong Kong universities may have no elected student unions amid low participation rate over arrest fears
Chan Ho-him, South China Morning Post, 2/3
Five universities in Hong Kong do not have enough students running to fill cabinet positions for the popularly elected student unions. Students fear punishment for participating in the unions, known to be vocal about social and political issues, following China’s new national security law, and eroding freedom of expression on campus. Read more.
TURKEY: Police detain 159 people at protests over Erdogan-appointed university head
Reuters Staff, Reuters, 2/2
Turkish police arrested 159 people over protests taking place at Bogazici University in Istanbul. Protests began early last month when President Erdogan announced his appointment of a new university rector, Melih Bulu. Read more.
TURKEY: Prestigious Istanbul University Fights Erdogan’s Reach
Carlotta Gall, The New York Times, 2/1
A “famously freethinking campus,” Bogazici University has been home to a student rebellion over the past several weeks, following the government appointment of the university’s rector. Bogazici’s faculty and students say they knew a battle was looming. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Fired for Criticizing a Reopening Plan?
Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed, 1/29
Collin College revoked a three-year contract extension granted to a longtime education professor, Suzanne Stateler Jones, after voicing criticisms of the university in a private meeting. Read more.
GREECE: ‘We’re afraid’: Greek plan to police universities panics students
John Psaropoulos, Al Jazeera, 1/28
Higher education students in Greece are protesting a new education bill that they say will limit freedom of expression on campuses. The bill, proposed by the conservative New Democracy government, will create a police force and disciplinary board for universities. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Harvard Cancels Course Amid Petition Campaign
Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed, 1/27
Harvard University canceled a course on a controversial policing technique after student organizations expressed concern over the technique’s ethical implications for marginalized communities. Read more.
UNITED KINGDOM: Community statement on academic freedom from the University of Cambridge. In commemoration of Giulio Regeni, 25 January 2021
Stephen Toope and Susan Smith, University of Cambridge, 1/25
The University of Cambridge released a statement marking the fifth anniversary of the murder of one of its scholars, Giulio Regeni. Cambridge University invites readers to sign a statement in support of academic freedom without persecution. Read more.
CHINA / HONG KONG: Hong Kong university suspends student leaders over banned memorial for undergraduate who fell to his death near site of protest
Chan Ho-him, South China Morning Post, 1/25
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology suspended two student leaders for organizing a memorial service amid COVID-19 and refusing to remove protest materials on campus. The memorial was for a fellow student, Alex Chow Tsz-lok, who died after falling off a parking garage near an on-campus protest where students were clashing with Hong Kong police. Read more.
GERMANY / UNITED STATES: Experts predict a reset of transatlantic collaboration
Michael Gardner, University World News, 01/25
The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) expects academic collaboration with the United States to improve under the new presidency of Joe Biden. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Biden promises truth after Trump’s lies. How to hold leaders accountable for their words.
Robert Quinn, NBC THINK, 1/27
Scholars at Risk founding Executive Director Robert Quinn writes on the importance of demanding truth-telling from our leaders to maintain a healthy democracy. In the wake of a Trump presidency, and the rampant spread of misinformation, Mr. Quinn calls on each of us to protect the truth by countering lies when confronted by them. Read more.
UNITED KINGDOM: A mercantilist approach to higher education post-Brexit
Anne Corbett, University World News, 01/26
An overview of the impact of Brexit on the higher education sector in the UK, including an end to freedom of movement. Read more.
RUSSIA: Russian education clampdown ‘threatens international links’
David Matthews, Times Higher Education, 1/25
New amendments to Russia’s education law, intended to weed out “negative foreign influence” in higher education, is alarming to the country’s academics. Many fear that the change will prevent international collaboration, decrease public lectures and idea-sharing, and place the humanities under “ideological control.” Read more.
VENEZUELA: List of priority careers of the regime is exclusive and violates academic freedom
The Human Rights Observatory of the University of Los Andes, 1/25
The minister of the de facto regime for University Education, César Trómpiz, presented a plan to the country’s private universities to resize the university entrance system according to only 145 careers relating to a “productive economy, according to the training needs of the nation.” None of the 145 specified careers represent the arts, humanities, or political sciences. Read more.
UNITED STATES / CHINA: MIT funds defence of scientist accused of undisclosed China ties
Paul Basken, Times Higher Education, 1/25
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology will be funding the legal defense of Gang Chen, a professor of nanoengineering at the university. Professor Chen, a U.S. citizen born in China, was recently arrested on charges of failing to disclose various partnerships and funding from China and Chinese entities. Read more.
FRANCE: France’s president says he understands university students’ misery during the coronavirus pandemic. Students aren’t sure.
Rick Noack, The Washington Post, 1/24
University students in France have demanded and pleaded with government officials to resume in-person learning through open letters and protests. Confined to small dorm rooms and lacking income from on-campus employment, many students seek psychological support and student food banks to sustain themselves. Read more.
THE PHILIPPINES: Ban on military forces entering campuses rescinded
Rappler via University World News, 1/23
University of the Philippines (UP) President Danilo Concepcion responded to Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana after the recent unilateral abrogation of the UP’s agreement with the Department of National Defense. In the letter, President Concepcion rejects “any form or semblance of militarization” on UP campuses, saying it will have a “chilling effect deleterious to academic freedom.” Read more.
UNITED STATES: What Zoom Does to Campus Conflicts Over Israel and Free Speech
John Leland, The New York Times, 1/22
Amid the pandemic, students move conversations and debates regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict online, over Zoom, and online webinars. Read more.
THAILAND / SINGAPORE: Academic calls for press boycott over cancellation of Thai book
Joyce Lau, Times Higher Education, 1/22
An academic has urged researchers to avoid making submissions to the National University of Singapore Press after it cancelled his contract to publish a book that was critical of the Thai monarchy. Read more.
TURKEY: Turkey and university autonomy: criticism rises as government appoints new rector
European University Association, 1/22
European University Association expresses solidarity with the Turkish higher education community after President Erdoğan’s recent politically motivated appointments of university rectors. Read more.
RUSSIA: Russian universities urged students not to attend a rally for Navalny
Anastasia Golubeva, Oksana Chizh, BBC, 1/21
After Alexei Navalny’s recent arrest, Russian universities reportedly told students via official communications that they could face administrative liability or expulsion if they attended rallies in support of the opposition politician. Students from three Russian universities confirmed that universities hold talks with students to prevent them from attending such rallies. Read more.
UNITED STATES: ‘I did everything right.’ Despite following the rules, these students got deported
Ava Sasani, The Boston Globe, 1/18
Despite possessing student visas, several Iranian students arriving in the United States for higher education learning opportunities have been detained and deported within 24-hours of their arrival. Border Protection officers have used expedited removal, or ER, to deport Iranian students because they are “dangerous or a threat to stay permanently.” Read more
UNITED STATES: Snitch Switch
Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed, 1/21
The University of Florida has updated the course-concern reporting feature on its app to allow students to report professors who hold virtual classes. Professors reportedly see this feature as a “tattle button” and some professors are speaking out.
Read more.
TURKEY: Institutional Autonomy Under Threat
Scholars at Risk, 1/14
Scholars at Risk has joined international partners in endorsing a petition regarding recent events at Turkey’s Boğaziçi University. Read more.
CHINA: Hong Kong protests: about 10 Chinese University students disciplined, school heads pressed by lawmakers to get tough
Chan Ho-him, South China Morning Post, 1/19
Following a meeting of pro-establishment lawmakers and 11 Chinese university heads, ten students were punished for incidents related to the 2019 anti-government protests in Hong Kong. Read more.
THE PHILIPPINES: Philippine protest over permission for security forces to enter university
Neil Jerome Morales, Reuters, 1/19
President Rodrigo Duterte’s government scrapped a 1989 agreement between the University of the Philippines and the Department of National Defense, which prevented military and police forces from entering the University of the Philippines’ 17 campuses without consent. Read more.
CHINA / HUNGARY: Chinese university to open Budapest campus as Orban tilts to Beijing
Valerie Hopkins, Financial Times, 1/18
Hungary is to host the only Chinese university operating inside the EU in a sign of deepening ties between the government of Viktor Orban and Beijing. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Foreign Students Allege Forced Labor, Trafficking at College
Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Ed, 1/13
Foreign students at Western Iowa Tech Community College filed suit against the institution, alleging they came to the U.S. with promises of scholarships and professional internships only to be coerced into menial jobs with long hours and low pay. Read more.
TURKEY: Over 2,300 academics from 52 countries: We stand with Boğaziçi
Bianet, 1/18
Amid protests against the appointment of Bulu as the new president of Boğaziçi, 2,314 academics from 52 countries have signed a joint statement: “We stand with Boğaziçi University students and faculty in their struggle for academic freedom and autonomy.” Read more.
UNITED STATES: Conservative forces ‘limiting racial progress’ on US campuses
Ellie Bothwell, Times Higher Education, 1/17
Universities must fight claims that they are “liberal bastions” and anti-free speech to properly tackle racial diversity, according to an academic who said that institutions’ traditional views about disciplines and departments were hampering progress on equality. Read more.
EU: New EU law needed to protect universities from big tech
Jan Petter Myklebust, University World News, 1/16
Rector Magnificus of the University of Amsterdam, Professor Karen Maex, has called on European Commissioners to propose a ‘Digital University Act’ to secure universities’ status as independent education and research institutions and vital building blocks for the organisation of knowledge and to defend them against pressures from big tech companies. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Amid digital crackdown, Chinese Politics professor recommends students in China avoid his class
Marie-Rose Sheinerman, The Daily Princetonian, 1/15
Assistant professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University, Rory Truex, recommended that remote students currently residing in China not take his course on Chinese politics. In an email to students, Professor Truex said his course contains material the Chinese government would find sensitive and cited China’s new national security law as reasons to be “a little more cautious this year.” Read more.
BELARUS / LITHUANIA: Expelled and persecuted Belarusian students find refuge in Lithuanian universities
Ieva Žvinakytė, LRT, 1/11
Belarusian university students have been forced to flee after attending protests and being expelled, persecuted, and imprisoned. Some have found their way to Lithuania. Read more.
TURKEY: Academic Freedom as a Human Right; Final Declaration of the International Conference
İnsan Hakları Okulu (The School of Human Rights), 1/08
Following the School of Human Rights, Turkey, (İHO) international online conference of academic freedom as a human right, which took place on 14-16 December 2020, İHO released a Final Declaration concerning Academic Freedom as a Human Right. Read more.
EUROPE: EU human rights sanctions: Towards a European Magnitsky Act
European Parliamentary Research Service, Policy Podcasts for European Parliament, 1/15
The EU adopts restrictive measures – mostly in the form of travel bans and asset freezes – against individuals and organisations responsible for some of the worst human rights violations. Until now, the EU has mostly adopted sanctions targeted at individual countries. However, the EU is now shifting to a more thematic approach, under which sanctions focus on a particular type of problem rather than a country. Read more.
TURKEY: Institutional Autonomy Under Threat
Scholars at Risk, 1/14
Scholars at Risk has joined international partners in endorsing a petition regarding recent events at Turkey’s Boğaziçi University. Read more.
GREECE: Greek police clash with protesters over campus police plan
AP via The San Francisco Chronicle, 1/14
Police have used tear gas to disperse crowds at a rally in Athens organized to protest plans to set up a state security division at university campuses. Read more.
IRAN: Further Information: Execution Risk for Iranian-Swedeish Academic: Ahmadreza Djalali
Amnesty International, 1/13
Iranian-Swedish academic Ahmadreza Djalali has been held incommunicado in Tehran’s Evin prison since 24 November 2020, when he learned that his death sentence for “corruption on earth” (efsad-e fel-arz) was to be carried out imminently. In late December 2020, his family learned that Ahmadreza Djalali’s execution was halted for one month. He remains at risk of execution. Read more.
INDIA: Free Dr. GN Saibaba amidst growing concerns for his health
Scholars at Risk, 1/13
Scholars at Risk joins Freedom Now, PEN International, and International Solidarity for Academic Freedom in India in calling on Indian authorities to ensure the release of Professor Gokarakonda Naga Saibaba amidst growing concerns for his health and well-being. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Foreign Students Allege Forced Labor, Trafficking at College
Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Ed, 1/13
Foreign students at Western Iowa Tech Community College filed suit against the institution, alleging they came to the U.S. with promises of scholarships and professional internships only to be coerced into menial jobs with long hours and low pay. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Ole Miss Doubles Down on Professor’s Termination
Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed, 1/12
The University of Mississippi is moving ahead with its termination of Garrett Felber, assistant professor of history, its provost said in a formal response to the American Historical Association. The group inquired about Felber’s controversial termination, which many of his supporters have called politically motivated or retaliatory, given that his primary offense is insisting on emailing with his department chair during his research leave instead of videochatting with her. Read more.
TURKEY: Plagiarism questions swirl around controversial Turkish rector
David Matthews, Times Higher Education, 1/11
A Turkish rector with close ties to the country’s ruling party, whose appointment has sparked days of protest from staff and students, was under scrutiny from two journals after critics accused him of multiple counts of plagiarism. Read more.
CHINA / HONG KONG: Hong Kong university denies gutting China studies centre
South China Morning Post via University World News, 1/10
The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has denied that folding the Universities Service Centre for China Studies (USC) – established by one of the most respected China scholars in the West, Jerome Cohen – into the main library amounts to gutting the nearly 60-year-old institution, writes Phila Siu for the South China Morning Post. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Ed Secretary quits, HE leaders decry attack on US Capitol
Brendan O’Malley, University World News, 1/8
The United States Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has resigned and US higher education leaders have reacted with horror and condemnation to the mob riot on Wednesday 6 January which breached the US Capitol, where Congressmen were meeting to certify the presidential election results, forcing them to run to shelter in fear of their lives. Read more.
GLOBAL: Does WTO Law Protect Academic Freedom? It Depends on How You Use It
Csongor István Nagy, American Society of International Law, 1/6
An examination of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) landmark judgment in the history of European constitutionalism, Commission v. Hungary (CEU), and the utility of the World Trade Organization in the context of academic freedom. Read more.
GLOBAL: Politicised COVID-19 responses undermine trust in science
Mark Paterson, University World News, 1/6
Concerns have mounted across Africa, Europe and Asia that scientists advising on the spread of COVID-19 are being compromised by close relationships with their governments as second waves of the outbreak peak around the world – and death tolls keep rising as a result. Read more.
BOOK RELEASE: Researching Academic Freedom: Guidelines and Sample Case Studies
Katrin Kinzelbach (Editor), Erlangen, FAU University Press, 2020
Academic freedom is a prerequisite for research and innovation. A lively debate about this concept is taking place in the academic community, yet scholars have so far paid scant attention to the systematic study of its empirical manifestations. To facilitate in depth research on both the realization and the violation of academic freedom around the world, this book introduces case study guidelines as well as four sample studies that apply these guidelines to the country cases Brazil, Egypt, Ireland, and Russia. Read more.
UNITED STATES / IRAN: Harvard University awards Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali Scholars at Risk Fellowship
Scholars at Risk, 12/17
The Scholars at Risk Secretariat welcomes news that Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali, a Swedish-Iranian scholar at risk of execution, has been awarded a Scholars at Risk (SAR) Fellowship at Harvard University. SAR is grateful to Harvard University for offering this position to Dr. Djalali during this deeply worrying time for Dr. Djalali and his family. Read more.
GLOBAL: Taiwanese scholars slip through cracks of UN rules on China
Joyce Lau, Times Higher Education, 12/17
An ecology PhD candidate at Stanford University has become the latest scholar to fall between the cracks of tensions between mainland China and Taiwan. Read more.
IRAN: Swedish-Iranian researcher Djalali ‘still at high risk of execution’
Ben Upton, Research Professional News, 12/16
Ahmadreza Djalali, a Swedish-Iranian researcher of disaster medicine jailed and sentence to death in Iran, is still at “high risk” of his sentence being carried out, despite it not taking place when Djalali expected it to, his wife Vida Mehrannia has said. Read more.
UNITED STATES: UM Fires History Professor Who Criticizes ‘Powerful, Racist Donors’ And ‘Carceral State’
Christian Middleton, Mississippi Free Press, 12/15
During a period of what University of Mississippi faculty are calling a time of increasing paranoia, the university is set to terminate a celebrated professor of history. Today, sources provided the Mississippi Free Press with a copy of a termination letter sent to Dr. Garrett Felber, a tenure-track assistant professor in the Arch Dalrymple III Department of History. Dr. Felber has undertaken an intimate study of the American carceral state and dedicates much of his time to educating and empowering those who are imprisoned in the United States. Read more.
TURKEY: Dozens of Turkey’s pro-Erdoğan rectors have no research record
David Matthews, Times Higher Education, 12/15
Dozens of Turkish university rectors have no international research record but tweet prolifically in support of the Ankara government, scholars have warned, raising further concerns about academic independence as the country has moved towards autocracy. Read more.
EUROPE: All hands on deck: delivering academic freedom for Europe
Sinead O’Gorman, EUA’s Expert Voices, 12/14
The important upsurge in statements of support for academic freedom at the intergovernmental level in Europe points to the urgent need for meaningful implementation. Civil society and higher education institutions need to work with governments and intergovernmental organisations to intensify efforts to operationalise academic freedom in Europe and beyond. Read more.
IRAN: British-Iranian gender expert jailed for nine years in Iran
Joyce Lau, Times Higher Education, 12/14
Kameel Ahmady, a British-Iranian anthropologist who specialises in girls’ and women’s rights, has been sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment and fined $700,000 (£525,000) by an Iranian court, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency. Read more.
EUROPE: A milestone for refugee access to higher education
Sjur Bergan, Marina Malgina, and Andreas Snildal, Times Higher Education, 12/12
A major milestone was reached for the recognition of refugees’ qualifications when ministers of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) concluded the ministerial meeting of November 19, 2020, by adopting a communiqué welcoming the European Qualifications Passport for Refugees and supporting its use in their systems. Read more.
UNITED KINGDOM: Cambridge University votes to safeguard free speech
Sean Coughlan, BBC News, 12/12
A vote on free speech at Cambridge University has strongly rejected guidelines requiring opinions to be “respectful”, after warnings that it could limit freedom of expression and threaten academic freedom. Read more.
CHINA / UNITED STATES: US targets Chinese talent in drive to ‘decouple’ science
Yojana Sharma, University World News, 12/12
This month a United States Justice Department official revealed that more than a thousand visiting researchers from China working in US universities had left the country since the summer, amid a stepped-up investigation by the department of alleged espionage by scientists ‘secretly’ affiliated with the Chinese government or military. Read more.
NEW ZEALAND: Review clears New Zealand scholar over China criticism
Joyce Lau, Times Higher Education, 12/11
The University of Canterbury has concluded that Chinese politics scholar Anne-Marie Brady, plus her two co-authors, had “met the responsibilities” of the New Zealand institution’s policies and the country’s Education Act. Read more.
INDIA: Nandini Sundar: academic freedom is in peril if scholars don’t speak up’
Joyce Lau, Times Higher Education, 12/10
Sociologist who has shone light on some of India’s most oppressed people explains why she keeps up the good fight. Read more.
UNITED KINGDOM: Cambridge scholars force through free speech policy changes
Chris Havergal, Times Higher Education, 12/9
Academics at the University of Cambridge have overwhelmingly backed a series of amendments to a controversial free speech policy. Read more.
CHINA: Uyghur Scholar Rahile Dawut Named First OSUN Honorary Professor in the Humanities
Open Society University Network, 12/8
The Open Society University Network today named Rahile Dawut, the prominent Uyghur folklorist who has been missing since December 2017, the first OSUN Honorary Professor in the Humanities. Read more.
EUROPE: EU agrees its own ‘Magnitsky’ regime to sanction human rights abuses
Efi Koutsokosta, Euronews, 12/8
The European Union has agreed to establish a regime similar to the Magnitsky Act in America that will allow the 27 member bloc to sanction those responsible for human rights abuses. Read more.
JAPAN: Pressure piling up against PM’s Science Council decision
Suvendrini Kakuchi, University World News, 12/8
Academics and scholarly societies in Japan have stepped up pressure on Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to rescind his decision to reject six academics nominated to the respected Science Council of Japan (SCJ) as they joined a new national campaign to preserve the council’s independence. Read more.
IRAN / GLOBAL: Don’t Let Iran Get Away With Hostage-Taking
Wang Xiyue, Bloomberg, 12/7
One year ago today, I was released from Iran as an American hostage in a prisoner swap. I went to Tehran in 2016 with little knowledge of its contemporary political reality. After a 40-month ordeal in the notorious Evin Prison, I left the country with the hard-learned knowledge that the Iranian regime is obdurately hostile toward the West, especially the U.S., and loathes diplomacy.Read more.
HONG KONG: ‘National security’ arrests follow protest on campus
Mimi Leung, University World News, 12/7
Hong Kong’s newly established national security police today arrested eight people including newly graduated alumni in connection with a protest at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) last month, with at least three of them facing possible serious charges of ‘inciting secession’ under the national security law which came into force in July. Read more.
IRAN: Political hostage threatened with execution in Iran [GERMAN]
Shabnam von Hein, Deutsche Welle, 12/4
The Swedish-Iranian scientist Ahmadreza Jalali imprisoned in Iran faces execution. His wife thinks Iran wants to exchange him. An Iranian diplomat is in custody in Belgium. Read more.
SUDAN: Covid-19 – South Darfur Declares Emergency, More Universities Close in Sudan
Radio Dabanga via AllAfrica, 12/3
The government of South Darfur has announced the imposition of a State of Health Emergency to confront the spread of COVID-19. The decision requires government and private institutions to oblige their employees to wear masks and prevent gatherings. Read more.
EGYPT: Egypt Frees Human Rights Workers Amid Rising International Pressure
Vivian Yee, The New York Times, 12/3
Weeks after arresting three employees of one of Egypt’s last and best-known human rights groups, authorities have released the men, according to lawyers working with the group, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. Read more.
IRAN / AUSTRALIA: Kylie Moore-Gilbert is one of hundreds of victims of state attacks on academic freedom
Mubashar Hasan, The Conversation, 11/29
Australian academic Kylie-Moore Gilbert is finally free and back home. The Melbourne university academic was unjustly deprived of her liberties for 804 days for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. She was arbitrarily imprisoned on cooked-up espionage charges while visiting Iran for a conference. Read more.
HONG KONG: Hong Kong brain drain predicted as West launches ‘lifeboats’
Joyce Lau, Times Higher Education, 12/3
Hong Kong faces a brain drain of students and graduates who are expected to take advantage of “lifeboat” immigration schemes offered by the UK, Canada and Australia, it has been warned. Read more.
GLOBAL: Scholars at Risk Recognizes Imprisoned Uyghur Scholar Rahile Dawut and Releases New Report on Global Academic Freedom
AP / PR Newswire, 12/3
Scholars at Risk, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting academic freedom, celebrates its 20th anniversary with the announcement of its 2020 Courage to Think award and the release of its annual Free to Think report. Both debuted at the group’s virtual global conference, an event that has drawn 2,126 views from around the world, to date. Read more.
IRAN: Iran reprieves scientist facing execution for espionage
Patrick Wintour, The Guardian, 12/2
A Swedish-Iranian scientist facing execution in Iran for espionage on Wednesday has been granted a reprieve, his lawyer has said. Ahmadreza Djalali was not been transferred out of Evin prison in Tehran to Raja’i Shahr jail as expected on Tuesday night, his lawyer said, which would have been a prelude to his killing. Read more.
EGYPT: Action for Egyptian Human Rights Defenders
Scholars at Risk, 12/2
A coalition of organisations strongly condemns the persecution of employees of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights and Egyptian civil society by the Egyptian government. The organisations urge the global community and their respective governments to do the same and join in calling for the release of detained human rights defenders and a stop to the demonisation of civil society organisations and human rights defenders by government-owned or pro-government media. Read more.
IRAN / CANADA: UBC student group calls for release of scholar sentenced to death in Iran
Matthew Asuncion, The Ubyssey, 12/1
The UBC chapter of Students for Scholars at Risk (Students for SAR) is calling for the release of Iranian-Swedish researcher Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali. Read more.
JAPAN: Japan steps up protection of research from espionage
Suvendrini Kakuchi, University World News, 12/2
Against a backdrop of growing hostility between China and the United States, Japan is beefing up measures to protect university scientific research from foreign espionage. Experts say this also reflects Tokyo’s geopolitical interests in line with the US-Japan security partnership signed in 1960. Read more.
IRAN: Iran prepares to execute disaster medicine scholar
Brendan O’Malley, University World News, 12/1
Iranian authorities were preparing on Tuesday to transfer disaster medicine scholar Dr Ahmadreza Djalali to Raja’i Shahr Prison, where his death sentence would be carried out shortly thereafter, according to Amnesty International. Read more.
EUROPE: A call for action to combat SLAPPs
Article 19, 12/1
Ahead of the launch of the European Democracy Action Plan (EDAP), Article 19 and 60 partners today endorse the Model EU Anti-SLAPP Directive. Read more.
IRAN / AUSTRALIA: Kylie Moore-Gilbert thanks supporters after Iran prison release: ‘My freedom is your victory’
Ben Doherty, The Guardian, 12/1
Freed academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert has paid tribute to her family, friends and colleagues who campaigned for her release while she was held in Iranian prisons for more than two years. Read more.
YEMEN: In Yemen, academics are not paid, must sell things on the street [NORWEGIAN]
Solveig Mikkelsen, Universiteitsavisa, 11/30
Everything has been so tragic in my home country, says Abdulghani Muthanna from Yemen. Now he is where he wants to be, as a researcher at NTNU. Read more.
EUROPE: European Higher Education Area enters its second decade
Sjur Bergan, University World News, 11/28
Ministers of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) met on 19 November – the first time they had met online. They adopted the Rome Communiqué and three appendices: a statement on academic freedom, principles and guidelines for the social dimension of higher education and recommendations on learning and teaching. Read more.
UNITED KINGDOM: Cambridge academics oppose ‘freedom of speech’ rules
John Morgan, Times Higher Education, 11/27
The University of Cambridge’s plan for a free speech policy requiring staff and students to be “respectful” of each other’s “differing opinions” is being fought by some of its academics, who warn the policy could restrict their teaching, be “weaponised” in scholarly disputes and threaten their careers. Read more.
VENEZUELA: Academics at risk [SPANISH]
Gioconda Cunto de San Blas, Tal Cual, 11/26
The siege of universities and university students, the contempt for the intellectual, have been recurring events in history. Whether in the former Soviet Union or in the totalitarian governments of China and Cambodia, thousands of academics and intellectuals (scientists, professors, writers and others) topped the lists of people imprisoned or shot, as enemies of thought. Latin America could not exempt itself from this plague. Read more.
FRANCE: French academics fear for freedom amid Islamic terrorism row
David Matthews, Times Higher Education, 11/26
French academics fear being targeted by politicians from across the political spectrum in the run-up to the 2022 presidential election after the country’s education minister accused universities of creating an intellectual breeding ground for Islamic terrorism. Read more.
DENMARK: Scientists on the run: »They said that I was spreading propaganda and homosexuality at the department«
Johanne Nedergaard, University Post, 11/25
Freedom of research is under pressure in several countries, and it is forcing academics to flee. And the problem is moving closer to Denmark, according to two employees at the University of Copenhagen who help international academics who are in difficulties. Read more.
IRAN: Academic groups sound alarm over Djalali death sentence
Ben Upton, Research, 11/25
Academic organisations have sounded the alarm over reports that Ahmadreza Djalali, a Swedish-Iranian researcher sentenced to death in Iran, has contacted his wife and said he expects his sentence to be carried out imminently. Read more.
IRAN / AUSTRALIA: Tehran exchanges Kylie Moore-Gilbert for three Iranians jailed abroad
Patrick Wintour and Ben Doherty, The Guardian, 11/25
Kylie Moore-Gilbert, the Australian-British academic detained by Iran on espionage charges, has been released in a prisoner exchange for three Iranians. Read more.
INDIA: Scholars at Risk Report Details Bleak State of Academic Freedom in India
The Wire (India), 11/25
Scholars at Risk (SAR), an international network of higher education institutions that aims to defend academic freedom, in its Free to Think 2020 report, has called on authorities in India to “ensure the autonomy and functioning of higher education institutions”. Read more.
EGYPT: Letter protesting the arrest and detention of Professor Ahmad Al Tohamy
Committee on Academic Freedom of the Middle East Studies Association, 11/24
The Committee on Academic Freedom of the Middle East Studies Association of North America expressed deep concern regarding the detention of Dr. Ahmed Al Tohamy Abdel-Hay, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the Faculty of Economic Studies and Political Science at Alexandria University. Read more.
IRAN: Halt execution and release disaster medicine scholar Ahmadreza Djalali
Scholars at Risk, 11/24
Scholars at Risk (SAR) urges the Iranian authorities to suspend the capital sentence issued against Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali and to secure his immediate release. SAR understands that Iranian authorities recently put Dr. Djalali in solitary confinement and are preparing to carry out his death sentence at any moment. Read more.
CHINA: China Disappeared My Professor. It Can’t Silence His Poetry.
Joshua L. Freeman, The New York Times, 11/23
Against overwhelming state violence, poetry might appear to offer little recourse. But for many Uighurs, it’s a powerful form of resistance. Read more.
POLAND: Poland trying to destroy universities’ independence, warns rector
Ellie Bothwell, Times Higher Education, 11/23
Polish universities are on “a collision course” with the government, according to a university leader who has claimed that “the last fortress of democratic society” in the country was under attack. Read more.
CHINA: Where Is Uyghur Folklore Expert Rahile Dawut?
Ruth Ingram, The Diplomat, 11/23
Uyghur scholar Rahile Dawut, missing since 2017, was awarded the 2020 Scholars at Risk “Courage to Think” award. Read more.
HONG KONG: Interview: University of Hong Kong student union chief says academic freedom can’t survive without institutional autonomy
Rachel Wong, Hong Kong Free Press, 11/23
Student union chair Edy Jeh, who won a seat on HKU’s governing Council as an undergraduate representative earlier this month, fears several planned changes may erode academic freedom at Hong Kong’s oldest university. Read more.
YEMEN: Attacks on Yemeni Higher Education Highlighted in ‘Free to Think’ Report
Burton Bollag, Al-Fanar Media, 11/20
In the Arab region and elsewhere around the world, faculty members, students, and campuses have been the targets of numerous attacks over the past year—often for criticizing official policies—according to a new report. Read more.
CHINA: Malicious Tip-Offs Stifle Academic Freedom in China, Analysts Say
Dahai Han, Voice of America, 11/20
In recent years, a growing number of college professors in China have been dismissed, fired, even arrested and sentenced to prison terms after being turned in to authorities by classroom informants for “inappropriate speech.” Analysts say the worrying trend of what they call “malicious reporting” in China’s universities is becoming increasingly rampant. Read more.
CHINA: China’s threats to academic freedom rise at home, abroad
Yojana Sharma, University World News, 11/20
It has been a difficult year for academic freedom in China and Hong Kong alongside a general tightening of scrutiny of scholars in China as new issues emerged, including a clampdown on dissent related to the government’s coronavirus narrative, the expansion in the number of taboo topics to include Hong Kong and Xinjiang, and the new national security law in Hong Kong. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Students in Human Rights Advocacy Seminar fight for imprisoned scholars
Kyla Yates, The Hawks’ Herald, 11/19
The Human Rights Advocacy Seminar course allows students from Communications, Creative Writing and the Honors Program to come together to advocate for the release of wrongfully imprisoned scholars. The Advocacy Seminar works in collaboration with Scholars at Risk, a non-governmental organization that works to protect scholars and promote academic freedom. Read more.
HONG KONG: Police start ‘national security’ probe of campus protest
Mimi Leung and Yojana Sharma, University World News, 11/19
Chinese University of Hong Kong – scene of violent battles between student protesters and police a year ago this month – called the police to campus on Thursday over what it called an “unauthorised demonstration and procession” by graduating students. Read more.
GLOBAL: Pandemic used as ‘cover to punish free inquiry’
Pola Lem, Research, 11/19
The global network Scholars at Risk has said attacks on higher education have continued “unabated” during the global pandemic. Read more.
EGYPT: Rights group director latest in chain of Egypt arrests
AP / The San Francisco Chronicle, 11/19
An Egyptian rights group said Thursday that its director has been arrested days after two of its other employees were taken into custody. The arrests of the rights workers comes after they met with envoys from Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and other countries this month. In the meeting they discussed ways to improve Egypt’s human rights record, according to the group. Read more.
GLOBAL: Covid ‘reveals new vulnerabilities’ in academic freedom
Joyce Lau, Times Higher Education, 11/18
Covid’s global onset early this year caused a dramatic change in the “patterns of attacks” on academic freedom, according to a report. “The crisis revealed new vulnerabilities within higher education”, such as an increase in online disruptions, says the annual Free to Think report published by Scholars at Risk (SAR). Read more.
GLOBAL: Free to Think 2020: Attacks on higher education continue unabated in the COVID-19 era
Scholars at Risk, 11/18
Scholars at Risk (SAR) calls on the international community to take action to protect academic freedom in Free to Think 2020, a report released today. The report analyzes 341 attacks on higher education communities in 58 countries between September 1, 2019 and August 31, 2020. Read more.
BELARUS: Call to action in support of scholars and students in Belarus
Scholars at Risk, 11/16
Scholars at Risk is deeply concerned about the harassment, intimidation, detention, fines, arrest, and expulsion of students and scholars in Belarus, in apparent retaliation for the nonviolent exercise of the right to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, following peaceful protests in the aftermath of the country’s recent presidential elections. Read more.
BRAZIL: Rise in threats to university autonomy, academic freedom
Marcelo Knobel and Fernanda Leal, University World News, 11/14
This piece discusses “a chronology of tragedies”, a summary of events that have taken place in Brazilian higher education since September 2019. These events reveal the ways federal policies have continued to threaten university autonomy, even when the public higher education sector has proven to be fundamental to fighting the current COVID-19 pandemic. Read more.
UK: Academics back refusing funding over human rights concerns
Ellie Bothwell, Times Higher Education, 11/13
The majority of UK social scientists believe that academic freedom is under threat and are in favour of universities refusing funding from foreign organisations with a poor human rights record, according to a study. Read more.
SAUDI ARABIA: 20 Saudi Voices the Regime Has Attempted to Silence
PEN America, 11/11
This year’s G20 summit is hosted by Saudi Arabia, which has waged a vast campaign to gloss over its egregious human rights violations and attempts to silence and imprison writers, activists, and other dissidents who have spoken out against the government’s abuses. Read more.
CHINA: Jailed Uyghur Scholar Rahile Dawut to Receive ‘Courage to Think’ Award
Nuriman Abdureshit, Alim Seytoff, and Richard Finney, Radio Free Asia, 11/11
Jailed Uyghur scholar Rahile Dawut, who disappeared three years ago into Chinese custody and is believed held in an internment camp, will be honored on Thursday by New York-based rights group Scholars at Risk (SAR) with their Courage to Think Award 2020. Read more.
AFGHANISTAN: Kabul University reopens after carnage from IS attack
Shadi Khan Saif, University World News, 11/10
With beefed up campus security, students at Afghanistan’s Kabul University (KU) in the country’s capital have resumed classes after a major terrorist attack on 2 November that killed at least 22 – most of them students – and injured dozens more, according to official figures. Read more.
POLAND: Court of Appeal dismisses SLAPP lawsuit against Professor Wojciech Sadurski
Article 19, 11/10
ARTICLE 19 welcomes the verdict of the Court of Appeal in Warsaw on 6 November 2020 to dismiss the SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) lawsuit against Professor Wojciech Sadurski brought by the ruling party Law and Justice (PiS). Read more.
AUSTRALIA / HONG KONG: National security law: Australian universities move to protect Hong Kong students
John Power, South China Morning Post, 11/10
Teaching staff from at least five major universities in Australia are taking precautions to protect students from Hong Kong’s extraterritorial national security law, with one institution scrutinising courses where it fears Hong Kong students could be reported to authorities by their mainland Chinese classmates. Read more.
EGYPT: Mustafa Ali Hassanien, Student at the College of Staten Island, City University of New York, Arrested in Egypt
Committee of Concerned Scientists, 11/9
The Committee of Concerned Scientists expressed concern for Mustafa Ali Hassanien, a young filmmaker and Cinema Studies student at the College of Staten Island, City University of New York. He was arrested on May 14, 2020, and remains in pre-trial detention at Tora Prison, facing accusations such as “spreading false news,” “disturbing public security,” and “belonging to a terrorist organization” which appear to be based on his expression of opinions about the government. Read more.
EUROPE: Legislation on academic freedom set to be strengthened
Jan Petter Myklebust, University World News, 11/7
Leaders of universities and academic organisations in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland are pushing for either introducing or reintroducing academic freedom into academic legislation amid rising concern that academic freedom is being eroded around the world. Read more.
HONG KONG: As Hong Kong Law Goes After ‘Black Sheep,’ Fear Clouds Universities
Vivian Wang, The New York Times, 11/7
As China tries to quell the political upheaval in Hong Kong, the city’s universities — ranked among the best in Asia, if not the world — have become potent symbols of the shrinking space for dissent or even discussion. Read more.
EUROPE / CHINA: Europe sets out what are ‘safe’ research links with China
Yojana Sharma, University World News, 11/7
European governments and institutions are becoming more aware of challenges and pressures on continuing extensive research collaboration with China, with several countries and the European Union drawing up new guidelines to step up knowledge security and academic integrity, and for protection of academic freedom. Read more.
IRAN: Iran temporarily frees human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh
Reuters in Dubai, The Guardian, 11/7
Iran has temporarily released Nasrin Sotoudeh, a prominent lawyer who was jailed two years ago on spying and propaganda charges, the judiciary’s news agency reported. Read more.
JAPAN: Academic societies in Japan issue joint statement
NHK, 11/6
More than 220 Japanese academic societies of liberal arts have jointly demanded that the government explain why it refused to appoint six nominees for membership in the country’s top academic body. Read more.
THAILAND: Group of Thammasat Uni students demand the Rector’s resignation
Thai PBS World, 11/6
A group of alumni and current students of the Faculty of Sociology and Humanities of Thailand’s Thammasat University has demanded the resignation of the university’s Rector, for allegedly failing to protect students against, what they claim is, police harassment. Read more.
EGYPT: Letter regarding PhD student Walid Salem and denial of his right to travel
Committee on Academic Freedom of the Middle East Studies Association, 11/4
The Committee on Academic Freedom of the Middle East Studies Association expresses dismay at the ongoing constraints to which Walid Khalil el-Sayed Salem, a Ph.D. candidate in the department of Political Science at the University of Washington, has been subjected. Despite the cancellation last March of “probationary measures” imposed on him following his release from pre-trial detention in December 2018, Mr. Salem continues to be prevented from leaving Egypt. Read more.
THAILAND: Graduation attended by king raises student data fears
Prangtip Daorueng, University World News, 11/3
When it was reported that Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn would hand out graduation certificates to graduating students at Thammasat University on 30-31 October, the strict security screening process and the level of cooperation between university administration and security officers prompted questions on the university’s standards in protecting the rights and data of its students. Read more.
AFGHANISTAN: Country mourns victims of Kabul University carnage
Shadi Khan Saif, University World News, 11/3
Afghanistan’s President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has ordered the national flag at public offices all over the country and diplomatic missions abroad to be hoisted at half-mast as the country mourns the victims of a brazen attack on Kabul University on Monday, leaving 19 students and teachers dead and over 22 others wounded. Read more.
BELARUS: Statement of the European University Association (EUA) and the European Students’ Union (ESU)
EUA & ESU, 11/2
The European University Association (EUA) and the European Students’ Union (ESU) are concerned by the grave violations of democratic and human rights that continue to be witnessed in Belarus. The two organisations strongly condemn recent threats of expulsion, dismissal or conscription into the military directed against students and staff of Belarusian universities. Read more.
UNITED STATES: When Academic Freedom Depends on the Internet, Tech Infrastructure Companies Must Find the Courage to Remain Neutral
Corynne McSherry, Electronic Frontier Foundation, 11/2
And universities must stand up for the rights of their faculty and students. Read more.
NEW ZEALAND / CHINA: China influence case tests academic freedom in New Zealand
Joyce Lau & John Ross, Times Higher Education, 11/2
Global academics have rallied around Anne-Marie Brady, a professor at the University of Canterbury who has been under review by her institution since August and has been told not to speak publicly on her case, according to her lawyer. Read more.
AUSTRALIA / IRAN: Government looking into reports Australian academic has been moved from Iranian prison
Anthony Galloway, The Sydney Morning Herald, 10/26
Australian officials are looking into reports a Melbourne university lecturer jailed in Iran has been moved to a secret location, with Iranian officials yet to tell their Australian counterparts. Cambridge-educated Kylie Moore-Gilbert has been held in prison for more than two years after being detained in September 2018. Read more.
MOROCCO: Letter regarding ongoing harassment of Moroccan scholar, Dr. Maati Monjib
Committee on Academic Freedom of the Middle East Studies Association, 11/2
The Committee on Academic Freedom (CAF) of the Middle East Studies Association vehemently protests the ongoing and relentless harassment by the Moroccan authorities of Dr. Maati Monjib, professor of History at Mohamed V University (Rabat), founder and former director of the Ibn Rochd Center for Study and Communication, elected president of Freedom Now, an association that advocates for freedom of expression and the press in Morocco, and member and co-founder of the Moroccan Association for Investigative Journalism (MAIJ). Read more.
THAILAND: End crackdown on peaceful student protesters
Scholars at Risk, 11/2
Scholars at Risk issued a letter to Thai state authorities and international stakeholders in response to distressing reports of authorities using violent force, arrests, and other coercive legal actions against students and other civilians who have participated in peaceful protests and scholars whose publications displease the government. Read more.
BELARUS: Wave of expulsions as Belarusian universities punish protesters
David Matthews, Times Higher Education, 10/31
Belarusian universities are targeting protesting students with a wave of expulsions after the country’s president called on them to crack down on dissent. Read more.
GHANA: Parliament suspends passage of Public Universities Bill
Kojo Emmanuel, Pulse / University World News, 10/31
Ghana’s parliament has suspended the consideration of the passage of the Public Universities Bill in the face of opposition, especially from members of the university community, who described it as “dangerous and unnecessary.” Read more.
BELARUS: Islands of democracy
Ben Upton, Research Professional News, 10/29
Universities in Belarus are nurturing a democratic awakening, but authoritarian interference makes helping them hard. Read more.
AUSTRALIA / IRAN: Iran moves detained academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert back to Tehran prison
Saba Vasefi, Michael Safi, Ben Doherty, and Akhtar Mohammad Makoii, The Guardian, 10/29
The detained British-Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert has been moved back to Tehran’s Evin prison, sources with knowledge of her case have confirmed to the Guardian. Read more.
HONG KONG: Charges against student activist Tony Chung ‘expose Government’s disdain for freedom of expression’
Amnesty International, 10/29
Tony Chung, a former leader of student-led group Studentlocalism, was today charged under the Hong Kong national security law with secession, money laundering and conspiracy to publish seditious material. Read more.
AUSTRALIA: Australian government moves to legislate on academic freedom
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 10/28
Australia’s government has taken another step to enforce academic freedom in the nation’s universities, introducing legislation that defines the concept and requires institutions to embrace the new definition in their policy frameworks. Read more.
HUNGARY: MEPs hear clash over occupied Hungarian drama school
Eszter Zalan, EU Observer, 10/28
Representatives from Hungary’s top theatre and film school laid bare their conflict with Viktor Orban’s government over academic freedoms in the European parliament’s culture and education committee on Tuesday (27 October). Read more.
TURKEY / CANADA: Turkish academic in Canada caught up in Ankara’s anti-Kurdish sweep
Amberin Zaman, Al-Monitor, 10/28
Cihan Erdal, a Ph.D. candidate at Carleton University and permanent resident in Canada, has been held since late September on alleged terror links. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Human Rights Groups Call On The University Of Miami To Ban Facial Recognition
Rachel Sandler, Forbes, 10/27
More than 20 human rights organizations have called on the University of Miami to ban facial recognition, after students accused the school of using the technology to identify student protesters, which the university has denied. Read more.
TURKEY: Letter regarding Kurdish language rights and education in Turkey
Middle East Studies Association, 10/26
The Middle East Studies Association of North America and its Committee on Academic Freedom write to authorities in Turkey to express grave concern about the government’s policies on Kurdish language rights. Read more.
AUSTRALIA / IRAN: Government looking into reports Australian academic has been moved from Iranian prison
Anthony Galloway, The Sydney Morning Herald, 10/26
Australian officials are looking into reports a Melbourne university lecturer jailed in Iran has been moved to a secret location, with Iranian officials yet to tell their Australian counterparts. Cambridge-educated Kylie Moore-Gilbert has been held in prison for more than two years after being detained in September 2018. Read more.
AFGHANISTAN: Deadly Explosion Hits Kabul Tutoring Center
Mujib Mashal and Najim Rahim, The New York Times, 10/24
A deadly explosion struck a tutoring center in Kabul on Saturday, puncturing a relatively peaceful period in the Afghan capital even as violence has spiraled upward in the countryside. Read more.
EUROPE: European ministers adopt declaration on research freedom
Brendan O’Malley, University World News, 10/23
Ministers from the European Research Area have adopted a declaration asserting the “relevance of the freedom of scientific research for the progress of our societies”. Read more.
THAILAND: Crackdown on protesting students fuels public anger
Prangtip Daorueng, University World News, 10/23
Thailand’s political turmoil, which began with protests by young people and students in February and continued during the past weeks, escalated this month with daily demonstrations in the capital Bangkok and throughout the country against the government, amid calls by university students to hold Thailand’s monarchy to account, a taboo subject in the past. Read more.
RUSSIA: Authorities Targeting Free Speech at a University
Human Rights Watch, 10/23
Prosecutors have ordered a university in Moscow to submit detailed information on students and faculty who participated in mass protests and had contacts with foreign groups, Human Rights Watch said today. The order is part of an inspection of the university by a local prosecutor’s office. Read more.
CHINA: Chinese Scholars Call For Release of Former Tsinghua Professor Geng Xiaonan
Jane Tang, Ng Yik-tung, Sing Man & Luisetta Mudie, Radio Free Asia, 10/23
Former Tsinghua University professor Xu Zhangrun has called for the release of Geng Xiaonan, a former colleague detained after she spoke out in support of him, and who now faces trial on charges of alleged “illegal business operations.” Read more.
IRAN: Two Honor Students, Violently Arrested, Still Detained Without Charge Six Months Later
Center for Human Rights in Iran, 10/22
Two honor students at the Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, who were both violently arrested by the security forces on April 10, 2020, have been in detention ever since without any announced charges—and are reportedly under intense pressure to provide forced “confessions,” the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has learned. Read more.
EUROPE: Scientists welcome German push on academic freedom
Florin Zubașcu, Science Business, 10/22
The Bonn Declaration on Freedom of Scientific Research commits governments to an EU system for monitoring academic freedom. Along with safeguarding research from political intervention, the move aims to increase public trust in science. Read more.
POLAND: Polish academics protest ‘fundamentalist’ education minister
Vanessa Gera, The Washington Post / AP, 10/21
Activists dressed as security guards climbed onto a balcony of a Polish Education Ministry building early Wednesday and hung a banner protesting the appointment of a new minister whom they consider to be a religious fundamentalist and a danger to the nation’s youth and universities. Read more.
THAILAND: Thai authorities seek to censor coverage of student protests
Associated Press, Grant Peck and Chris Blake, 10/19
Thai authorities worked Monday to stem a growing tide of protests calling for the prime minister to resign by threatening to censor news coverage, raiding a publishing house and attempting to block the Telegram messaging app used by demonstrators. Read more.
CHINA: China Threatens to Detain Americans if U.S. Prosecutes Chinese Scholars
Edward Wong, The New York Times, 10/18
Chinese officials have told the Trump administration that security officers in China might detain American citizens if the Justice Department proceeds with prosecutions of arrested scholars who are members of the Chinese military, American officials said. Read more.
INDIA: Saibaba plans fast; at Covid risk, says wife
Soumitra Bose, Times of India, 10/17
Former Delhi University professor GN Saibaba’s wife, AS Vasantha Kumari, has written a letter stating that her husband’s plan to go on a hunger strike would put him at further risk of Covid-19. Read more.
JAPAN: Japanese scholars fear further assaults on academic freedom
Joyce Lau, Times Higher Education, 10/16
Yoshihide Suga’s rejection of appointees to the Science Council of Japan may be opening shot in ‘symbolic war’, says professor. Read more.
CHINA: Alarm over choice of new leader for Xinjiang University
Yojana Sharma, University World News, 10/15
A new non-Uyghur head of the top university in China’s troubled northwest Xinjiang province, home to China’s Uyghur Muslim Turkic minority, is seen as an erosion of autonomy for the region, greater central government control and a possible downgrading of Uyghur academics’ prospects. Read more.
UNITED KINGDOM: Protecting academic freedom in international partnerships
John Heathershaw and Eva Pils, University World News, 10/15
We live in an age of academic internationalisation, especially pronounced in the United Kingdom. This has in many ways been a good thing. But internationalisation has also produced new risks, especially in the context of engagement, exchange and collaboration with non-democratic countries. Read more.
GLOBAL: Are corporate overreach and political correctness really undermining academic freedom?
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 10/15
Neoliberal administrators’ policing of institutional reputations and academic colleagues’ condemnation of dissenting voices on issues such as race and gender have led to claims that scholars are losing their ability to engage in free enquiry and open debate. But is academic freedom really the operative concept in the controversies that arise? Read more.
CAMEROON: Mixed reaction to confirmation of life terms for academics
Tunde Fatunde, University World News, 10/15
There has been mixed reaction to last month’s decision by Cameroon’s Court of Appeal to confirm the life sentences handed down by a military tribunal to six Cameroonian lecturers convicted on charges of terrorism and secession. Read more.
HUNGARY: Hungary broke EU law by forcing out university, says European Court
Nick Thorpe, BBC, 10/7
Europe’s top court has ruled that Hungary broke EU law when education rules forced a university in Budapest to shift most activity abroad. The 2017 law focused on foreign universities but singled out the Central European University (CEU) founded by George Soros. The European Court of Justice said that conditions imposed by Viktor Orban’s government were incompatible with EU law. Read more.
HUNGARY: Scholars at Risk welcomes European Court of Justice ruling in Commission v Hungary (‘lex CEU’)
Scholars at Risk, 10/7
Scholars at Risk welcomes the decision of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) which ruled that requirements imposed by Hungary to enable foreign higher education institutions to carry out activities in the country are incompatible with EU law. Read more.
BELARUS: Academics mobilise support for Belarusian student protesters
Declan Butler, University World News, 10/6
The diaspora of Belarusian researchers and the international academic community are mobilising to draw attention to the cause of student and academic protesters in Belarus and the widespread violations of human rights by President Alexander Lukashenko, described as the last dictator in Europe. Read more.
JAPAN: Japan’s new prime minister picks fight with Science Council
Dennis Normile, Science, 10/5
Japan’s new prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, has disrupted the process by which scientists are appointed to serve on the governing body of the country’s leading academic society. Researchers see the move against the Science Council of Japan (SCJ) as a threat to academic freedom. Read more.
IRAN: Tehran: Franco-Iranian researcher Fariba Adelkhah released [Italian]
Farian Sabahi, Corriere Della Serra, 10/4
The Sciences Po anthropologist, detained for a year on charges of espionage, was released temporarily with a “medical permit” and an electronic bracelet. Read more.
HONG KONG: How Hong Kong’s student reporters fear being silenced under new police rules
Heidi Lee, Hong Kong Free Press, 10/2
Since pro-democracy protests erupted in Hong Kong last June, journalists have been on the front lines of civil unrest. Behind all the cameras and flash lights are not only the people from prominent news organisations, but also freelance and student journalists who insist on documenting the truth. Read more.
SINGAPORE: Drop police report against independent media outlet New Naratif [Joint Statement]
Scholars at Risk, 10/2
SAR joins civil society organizations in calling on Singapore to drop the police report against independent media outlet New Naratif, repeal or amend laws that restrict free expression, and end intimidation of human rights defenders. Read more.
UNITED STATES: 3 Universities Face U.S. Inquiries Into Free-Speech Controversies
Katherine Mangan, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 10/1
Responding to President Trump’s executive order on free speech, the Department of Education has put 3 universities on notice that they are under federal investigations. Read more.
EGYPT: Filmmaker, CUNY Student Detained Unjustly in Egypt
PEN America, 9/28
Mustafa Ali Hassanien, an Egyptian filmmaker and student at CUNY College of Staten Island, is currently being held in pretrial detention in Egypt and faces a number of charges that appear to be a politically motivated response to his criticism of the government. Read more.
JAPAN: Suga rejects 6 as new science council members
NHK World – Japan, 10/1
Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide has refused to appoint six nominees as new members of a leading organization of Japanese scientists, prompting a call for the move to be retracted. Read more.
CHINA / GLOBAL: Instruction Under Surveillance
Karin Fischer, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 9/30
Chinese students stuck overseas bring censorship concerns into newly global online classrooms. Read more.
TURKEY: HDP detentions: Hasankeyf Coordination calls for release of Prof. Beyza Üstün
Bianet, 9/30
The Hasankeyf Coordination, a group striving for the protection of the ancient city of Hasankeyf in southeastern Turkey, has demanded the release of Prof. Beyza Üstün, an academic who was detained on Friday (September 25) as part of an investigation against the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP). Read more.
UNITED STATES: New Push for a Shift in Promotion and Tenure
Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed, 9/30
Should innovation and entrepreneurial achievement be considered as part of teaching, research and service? Read more.
UNITED STATES: A Perception Problem About Free Speech
Greta Anderson, Inside Higher Ed, 9/29
A new report finds a majority of students feel they can’t express their opinions on campus, especially when they are in the ideological minority and even if they believe their college fosters a climate that supports free speech. Read more.
HONG KONG / UNITED KINGDOM: Oxford moves to protect students from China’s Hong Kong Security Law
Patrick Wintour, The Guardian, 9/28
Students at Oxford University specialising in the study of China are being asked to submit some papers anonymously to protect them from the possibility of retribution under the sweeping new security law introduced three months ago in Hong Kong.Read more.
TURKEY / CANADA: Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Carleton University statement condemning arrest of Cihan Erdal
Carleton University, 9/25
The Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Carleton University condemns in the strongest possible terms the detention of Carleton Sociology doctoral candidate, Cihan Erdal, in Turkey on September 25, 2020. Read more.
SINGAPORE: Why is Singapore falling behind in press freedom?
Emmy Sasipornkarn, DW, 9/25
Police in Singapore are investigating the New Naratif media outlet, founded by academic and athlete PJ Thum, for publishing unauthorized paid advertisements on Facebook during the July 2020 election campaign. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Zoom Draws a Line
Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed, 9/25
Videoconferencing provider refuses to stream a university event featuring a member of a terrorist organization. Academic freedom hawks see virtual teaching platforms as a new front in the fight for faculty rights. Read more.
AUSTRALIA / CHINA: High-profile Australian academic banned from entering China
Joyce Lau and John Ross, Times Higher Education, 09/24
Beijing has blocked Charles Sturt University professor Clive Hamilton and Alex Joske of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute thinktank from entering China, taking largely symbolic action against two of Australia’s highest-profile critics of the Chinese Communist Party. The state media announcement of the ban on 24 September called the researchers and their work “anti-China”. The report in the official Global Times also mentioned Australia’s decision earlier this month to revoke visas for two Chinese humanities scholars because of a security agency investigation. Read more.
THAILAND: Students defy Thammasat University campus protest ban
Prangtip Daorueng, University World News, 09/23
On Saturday 19 September students cut the small chain that locked the gate into Thammasat University’s Tha Prachan campus in Bangkok, after a short but unsuccessful negotiation with security guards, and led protesters in. A group of protesters brought down a sign that had been hung in front of the gate the night before that said: “The campus is temporarily closed between 18 and 20 September.” Read more.
EUROPEAN UNION / CHINA: EU-China research relationship ‘unbalanced’, policy head warns
David Matthews, Times Higher Education, 09/23
The European Union’s research relationship with China is “unbalanced”, according to one of the bloc’s policy chiefs, who has accused Beijing of failing to open up its scientific data or allow collaboration in fields where it is particularly strong. Jean-Eric Paquet, the European Commission’s director-general for research and innovation, also raised concerns about Chinese internet censorship. Read more.
UNITED STATES: AAUP launches a COVID-19 governance investigation
The American Association of University Professors, 09/21
The AAUP has authorized an investigation of the crisis in academic governance that has occurred in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on seven institutions. The report, to be released in early 2021, will reach findings on whether there have been departures from AAUP-supported principles and standards of academic governance, but it may explore other issues as well, such as the effects of unilaterally imposed mass layoffs on academic freedom and tenure, the enrollment and financial challenges facing many institutions, and the impact of these challenges on higher education, especially the humanities and liberal arts. Read more.
UNITED STATES: ‘Scared to death to teach’: Internal report cites ‘chilling effect’
Tom Bartlett, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 09/21
An anonymous survey of 105 professors at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business suggests that many of them have lost confidence in the dean, and that they feel “livid,” “betrayed,” and “scared of students” after a fellow faculty member was “thrown under the bus,” as several of them described it, following a controversy over his use of a Chinese word. Read more.
BRAZIL: Report points to serious risk to academic freedom in Brazil [Portguese]
Bruno Lupion, Deutsche Welle Brasil, 9/20
A study released by the Berlin Institute highlights offensives on several fronts against Brazilian teachers, researchers and institutions. Clear signs of corrosion of academic autonomy have come since the elections. The academic freedom to research and teach, in an environment with didactic and scientific autonomy in public universities, is guaranteed by the Constitution, but is under threat in Brazil. The conclusion is a report prepared by a group of Brazilian researchers and published this month by the GPPi (Global Public Policy Institute), based in Berlin. Read more.
GHANA: University reiterates opposition to ‘dangerous’ universities bill
Graphic Online via University World News, 09/20
The University of Ghana (UG) Legon branch of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) has reiterated its stance against the Public Universities Bill currently before parliament, describing it as “an imminent danger to our institutions of higher education”, writes Severious Kale-Dery for Graphic Online. It said the bill, if passed, would have the potential to irreparably damage the country’s global standing as a pillar of democratic governance in Africa. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Trump attacks teaching of racism across US history
Paul Basken, Times Higher Education, 09/18
Donald Trump has castigated US universities for teaching their students about the enduring role of racism in the nation’s history and has outlined new steps aimed at preventing them from doing so. The President demanded that students be given a “patriotic education” that does not cause them “to lose confidence in who we are”, promising a federal commission aimed at revising the teaching of US history and outlined a grant to a conservative advocacy group to sketch out details. The Trump administration also began threatening Princeton University with the loss of millions in federal dollars for having admitted publicly that it was trying to fight racism within its structures. Read more.
SINGAPORE: Singapore’s limits show a possible future for Hong Kong academic freedom
Philip Altbach and Gerard A. Postiglione, South China Morning Post, 09/17
Hong Kong faces an inflection point in its higher education future following the social unrest and imposition of the national security law. As such, it is worth looking at Singapore’s experience as a semi-democracy with limited university autonomy and its own restrictions on academic freedom to reflect on what this might mean for Hong Kong. Both places have had success building effective higher education systems during the past half a century. Hong Kong’s academic future now faces many questions in light of the new law and the prospect of restrictions on academia. Singapore, with restrictions in place, seems to be sailing along at the same time. Read more.
UNITED STATES: A grad strike, a court fight, a no-confidence vote: U. of Michigan struggles over its campus reopening
Vimal Patel, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 09/17/20
The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor faculty has flirted with voting no confidence in its president a few times in the institution’s 200-year history. In 1954, faculty members wrist-slapped President Harlan H. Hatcher’s handling of the dismissal of a trio of professors for their alleged Communist affiliations. Most recently, in 2002, they threatened a no-confidence vote over a faculty grievance process. But it appears they always stopped short of using the ultimate — albeit symbolic — faculty admonishment tool. That changed on Wednesday — well, maybe. Read more.
INDIA: Arrests of activists politically motivated
Human Rights Watch, 09/16/20
The Indian authorities are increasingly bringing politically motivated cases, including under severe sedition and terrorism laws, against critics of the government, Human Rights Watch said today. On September 13, 2020 Delhhi police arrested Umar Khalid, an activist, as one of the “main conspirators,” under India’s principal counterterrorism law for his alleged role in communal violence in February that killed at least 53 people and injured hundreds. Police in Delhi have also named academics, activists, and opposition leaders as suspects. Read more.
UNITED KINGDOM: Campus free speech legislation ‘to target students’ unions’
John Morgan, Times Higher Education, 09/16/20
Legislation on free speech in English universities being discussed by the Westminster government is expected to target students’ unions by putting them under extended statutory duties and threatening fines. Speaking in the House of Commons last week, Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, said the government was “exploring a range of legislative and non-legislative options” to protect free speech on campuses, following the Conservative manifesto pledge to “strengthen academic freedom and free speech in universities”. Read more.
GLOBAL: Sunetra Gupta: social media attacks ‘stifling coronavirus debate’
Jack Grove, Times Higher Education, 09/16/20
A leading epidemiologist has criticised the “nervousness” of scientists to discuss the idea that herd immunity may end the coronavirus epidemic, saying social media attacks on those raising the concept have chilled open scholarly debate. “We need a sensible debate on this issue,” Sunetra Gupta, professor of theoretical epidemiology at the University of Oxford, told Times Higher Education. Read more.
CHINA / UNITED STATES: U.S. cancels visas of more than 1,000 Chinese nationals deemed security risks
Humeyra Pamuk, David Brunnstrom, and Ryan Woo, Reuters, 09/15/20
The United States has revoked visas for more than 1,000 Chinese nationals under a presidential measure denying entry to students and researchers deemed security risks, the State Department said on Wednesday, a move China called a violation of human rights. The acting head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Chad Wolf, said earlier that Washington was blocking visas “for certain Chinese graduate students and researchers with ties to China’s military fusion strategy to prevent them from stealing and otherwise appropriating sensitive research.” Read more.
RUSSIA: Russia’s limits on critical thinking are hitting its academic performance
Katarzyna Kaczmarska and Dmitry Dubrovsky, Times Higher Education, 09/13/20
Recent months have seen heated debates in Russia about the limits of faculty and students’ rights to undertake public speaking and engage in political activism. Lecturers at the prestigious Higher School of Economics (HSE), once considered Russia’s most liberal university, have spent the summer worrying that their criticisms of the political status quo might put an end to their teaching careers. Read more.
GHANA: Police arrest four persons over Prof. Benneh’s murder
Justice Kofi Bimpeh, Prime News Ghana, 09/13/20
The Greater Regional Police Command has arrested four persons in connection with the murder of a senior lecturer of Law at the University of Ghana Prof Emmanuel Yaw Benneh. The four persons are Christian Kobi- 32, Isaac Botchway 41, James Nana 26 and Adams Mensah 52 who are workers in the house. Prof Emmanuel Yaw Benneh has been murdered at his residence in Accra. Read more.
AUSTRALIA: Australian academics muzzled and journal papers altered: survey
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 09/09
Almost one in 10 Australian ecology academics have been barred from speaking freely about their research and one in 20 have had their work “unduly modified” by employers, a study suggests. However, self-censorship is a bigger impediment to their public communication than active suppression by bosses or funders, with academics wary of being misrepresented by the media or drawn out of their areas of expertise. Read more.
EGYPT: Sentencing Bahey eldin Hassan, human rights advocate and founder of Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
Middle East Studies Association, 09/09
The Middle East Studies Association’s Committee on Academic Freedom submitted a letter to Egyptian authorities expressing deep concern regarding the verdict against Bahey eldin Hassan, in absentia, on 25 August 2020. Hassan is a leading human rights advocate in Egypt and founder of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS). CAF also urges the authorities to drop all charges against Hassan. Read more.
AUSTRALIA / CHINA: Australia revokes Chinese scholar visas and targets media officials, prompting furious China response
Sean Rubinsztein-Dunlop and Echo Hui, The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 09/09
Senior Chinese media officials in Australia have been targeted and the visas of two leading Chinese scholars have been revoked in an unprecedented foreign interference investigation into a NSW political staffer, provoking a furious response from the Chinese Government. The Chinese Government has sensationally used state media to accuse Australian authorities of secretly raiding the homes of four Chinese journalists in Australia in late June, after receiving questions from the ABC yesterday about the investigation. Read more.
UNITED STATES: U.S. turns up heat on colleges’ foreign ties
Karin Fischer, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 09/08
A letter notified Stanford University that it had joined an unpopular club: It was one of at least a dozen colleges under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education over foreign gifts and contracts. Sent in mid-August to President Marc Tessier-Lavigne of Stanford, the notice appears to have been prompted by the arrest of a visiting Chinese researcher on charges of hiding her ties to the Chinese military on her visa application. Read more.
INDIA: Elgar Parishad case: NIA summons two more academics, a journalist for questioning
Sukanya Shantha, The Wire, 09/07
Expanding its net further, the National Investigations Agency has now issued summons to academics and a journalist from Hyderabad and Kolkata for questioning in connection with the ongoing Elgar Parishad investigation. Among those summoned are 51-year-old professor at the English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) K. Satyanarayana, journalist with The Hindu K.V. Kurmanath and 42-year-old Kolkata-based molecular biologist and associate professor at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in Kolkata Partho Sarothi Ray. Read more.
HUNGARY: Protesters rally against university ‘takeover’ in Budapest
British Broadcasting Corporation, 09/07
Thousands of people have formed a chain in the streets of the Hungarian capital Budapest in protest at what they say is a takeover of a top arts university by the country’s nationalist government. Demonstrators fear a new board at the University of Theatre and Film Arts, led by an ally of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, will ruin its autonomy. Students have occupied the campus for the past week. Read more.
CHINA: Piketty blasts ‘academic freedom violation’ as book pulled in China
Joyce Lau, Times Higher Education, 09/05
French economist Thomas Piketty has said requests to remove sections from the Chinese translation of his latest book reflect “growing anxiety” about expressing “any kind of critique” of contemporary Chinese politics. Professor Piketty said that a Chinese publisher, Citic Press, requested to his French publisher, Le Seuil, that several sections be cut from Capital and Ideology. Read more.
CHINA / UNITED STATES: Universities fear online students face regime reprisals
Yojana Sharma, University World News, 09/03
As classes continue online due to the global coronavirus pandemic, universities in the United States and elsewhere have raised concerns about the risks of teaching topics deemed sensitive to China at a time when it is easier to ‘eavesdrop’ on online delivery, with possible consequences for students and teachers. Read more.
HUNGARY: Hungary continues attacks on academic freedom
Lydia Gall, Human Rights Watch, 09/03
In its latest attack on academic freedom and free expression, the Hungarian government has placed control of the University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest into the hands of Prime Minister Orban loyalists. The school’s entire administration and several teachers have resigned in protest. Since August 31, students have barricaded themselves inside the university and blocked the entrance. A new law, which came into effect September 1, transferred ownership of the state-run theater university to a private foundation whose members have close links to the Orban government. Read more.
HAITI: Hundreds of students in the streets to denounce the assassination of Me Monferrier Dorval [French]
Gazette Haiti, 09/01
Several hundred students from the Faculty of Law demonstrated again in the streets of the Haitian capital to denounce the execution of the President of the Bar of Port-au-Prince. These students were joined by comrades from other entities of the State University of Haiti on the tarmac. Protesters erected barricades of flaming tires all along their route. Law enforcement officers intervened by firing tear gas to disperse the angry crowd. A great panic ensued and a vehicle registered in the state service was set on fire by the students. They announce that they will continue their mobilization until the departure of President Jovenel Moïse. Read more.
ZIMBABWE: Series of student arrests ‘points to erosion of progressive rights’
Eve Ruwoko, University World News, 09/01
More than 30 Zimbabwean students protesting under the #ZimbabweanLivesMatter banner calling for freedom of expression, an end to corruption and better living conditions, have thus far been arrested and charged by the state for inciting violence, according to the Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU). In an interview with University World News in early August, President of ZINASU Takudzwa Ngadziore confirmed that many students were “facing unjustified arrests for claiming their space in the freedom arena. Read more.
BRAZIL: Academic freedom in Brazil
Conrado Hübner Mendes, Global Public Policy Institute, 09/01
Freedom of expression, freedom of thought, freedom to teach and to learn, and university autonomy are all rights protected by the constitution in Brazil. But a closer look at the state of academic freedom in the country reveals that these constitutional rights are under threat. In recent years, the political climate has strained ideas and ideologies, and Brazil’s deeply polarized politics have aggravated pre-existing problems in the regulation and governance of higher education. Read more.
CHINA: New online conference rules raise academic freedom fears
Mimi Leung, University World News, 09/01
Peking University, one of China’s top universities has announced new rules for attending online conferences organised overseas, including in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau. Applications by academics and researchers to take part will have to be vetted by university authorities in advance. According to the new rules published by the university’s International Cooperation Department on 19 August, “confidentiality requirements” must be “strictly” followed by Chinese academics attending webinars and other online events. Read more.
THAILAND: Thai protests raise academic freedom issues
Joyce Lau, Times Higher Education via Inside Higher Education, 08/28
Thai university campuses have become a key battleground in the largest antigovernment movement the country has seen since 2014, when a military junta overthrew the government. On Aug. 19, the authorities issued arrest warrants for participants in an earlier demonstration at Thammasat University. They also filed a complaint against Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a politics professor at Kyoto University in Japan, for opening a popular Facebook page with commentary on the monarchy. A Thai academic currently in exile, Pavin said he had previously been served an arrest warrant and had his passport revoked. Read more.
UNITED STATES: #ScholarStrike
Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Education, 08/28
Three headline-making images from the past week sparked an upcoming strike for racial justice — what could be the biggest collective action by academics in recent memory. Citing the Blake shooting and others by police, and the killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, also by police, the initial #ScholarStrike statement says, “We can no longer sit quietly amidst state violence against communities of color.” Read more.
AUSTRALIA: Canberra seeks veto over university links with foreign powers
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 08/27
Australia’s opposition has reacted non-committally to a government plan to assume veto powers over agreements between universities and foreign governments. Shadow education minister Tanya Plibersek said the Labor Party had not yet adopted a position on the legislation, which was expected to be introduced into parliament in late August or early September. Read more.
CHINA: HRIC comment on and translation of Peking University’s rules on participation in online conferences organized by foreign parties
Human Rights in China, 08/26
On August 20, 2020, Peking University issued a “Notice on Regulating the Declaration and Approval of Participation in Online International Conferences Organized by Foreign Parties.” The Notice requires all teachers and students planning to participate in online conferences (webinars) to declare their participation and seek approval by providing documentation and specifics at least 15 days prior to an event. In their scope and likely impact, the requirements raise serious concerns about restrictions on academic freedom and, more specifically, about noncompliance with a wide range of international human rights standards, including freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of association, and the right to access and disseminate information. Read more.
AUSTRALIA: How a fake ‘free speech crisis’ could imperil academic freedom
Hannah Forsyth, The Conversation, 08/25
Forceful suppression of political and scholarly views in universities has a long and shameful history. University of Cambridge Chancellor John Fisher was hanged, drawn and quartered for failing to support Henry VIII’s “great matter”. A few years later, John Hullier was burned at the stake on Cambridge’s Jesus Green for refusing to renounce Protestantism. We imagine our modern universities to be more civil. Read more.
PAKISTAN: Accusations of blasphemy continue to endanger lives
Amnesty International, 08/25
The alarming uptick in blasphemy accusations across Pakistan underscores the urgency with which the draconian laws that enable abuse and risk lives must be repealed, Amnesty International said today. The broad, vague and coercive nature of the blasphemy laws violate the rights to freedom of religion and belief and of opinion and expression. They have been used to target some of the most marginalized people in society, including children, individuals with mental disabilities, members of religious minorities, and poorer people. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Boulder won’t cancel scholar who wrote Harris op-ed
Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Education, 08/25
Philip P. DiStefano, chancellor of the University of Colorado at Boulder, doesn’t like a faculty member’s recent Newsweek op-ed questioning Senator Kamala Harris’s eligibility for the vice presidency based on her parents’ immigrant backgrounds. But Boulder won’t fire or otherwise punish the professor. Read more.
THAILAND: ‘We want a true democracy’: students lead Thailand’s protest movement
Rebecca Ratcliffe, The Guardian, 08/24
For more than a month there have been almost daily student-led rallies spreading across the country, including a demonstration in Bangkok last weekend attended by more than 10,000 people. Observers are astonished by how rapidly the protests have spread, by how young people are challenging traditional hierarchies, and by the boldness of their demands, some of which relate to the powerful royal family. Read more.
CHINA / HONG KONG: China is killing academic freedom in Hong Kong
The Economist, 08/23
A couple of months ago academics would have been desperate to have their names appear in The Economist, laughs a professor at one of Hong Kong’s foremost universities, as she talks during an encrypted phone call. Now she, like every professor from the territory’s universities interviewed for this article, will speak only on condition of anonymity. Such has been the extraordinary effect of China’s national-security law in a city that until recently prided itself on its vibrant seats of learning. Read more.
IRAN: British-Australian academic being held in virus-hit Iranian jail ‘without enough food, water’
Arab News, 08/21
A British-Australian academic being held in a notorious Iranian prison hit by a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak does not have enough food or water, a UK newspaper reported on Friday. Cambridge-educated Kylie Moore-Gilbert has been locked up in Tehran for nearly two years after being arrested at the capital’s main airport in September 2018 on accusations of espionage, “despite speaking little to no Farsi,” said The Times article. Read more.
GLOBAL: How to teach China this fall
Dimitar D. Gueorguiev, Xiaobo Lü, and Kerry Ratigan, ChinaFile, 08/20
The coming academic year presents unique challenges for university instructors teaching content related to China. The shift to online education, the souring of U.S.-China relations, and new national security legislation coming from Beijing have brought new sensitivities and new risks to our classrooms. And while the use of Zoom has facilitated remote teaching, it creates challenges to scholars who teach topics, narratives, and arguments China’s government deems “sensitive”—that is, out of bounds for debate. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Something’s got to give
Colleen Flaherty, Times Higher Education, 08/20
Women’s journal submission rates fell as their caring responsibilities jumped due to COVID-19. Without meaningful interventions, the trend is likely to continue. Female academics’ research productivity dropped off at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, which many experts have attributed to women’s outsize role in caregiving even before the pandemic. Read more.
INDIA: Bombay High Court rejects G. N. Saibaba’s plea for emergency parole
The Hindu, 08/18
The former Delhi University professor who has been convicted for Maoist links and is sentenced to life imprisonment had sought parole to attend his mother’s post-funeral rites at Hyderabad. Read more.
SOUTH AFRICA: Fears NSFAS defunding 5000 students will lead to financial exclusions
Sihle Mlambo, Independent Online, 08/18
The NSFAS decision to unfund 5000 students whose parents earned above the R350k threshold has been described as insensitive and brutal, with the EFF Students Command saying it will lead to the financial exclusion of most affected students. Read more.
HONG KONG: Hong Kong leader gives up Cambridge honorary fellowship
Joyce Lau, Times Higher Education, 08/17
Hong Kong’s embattled leader has rescinded her honorary fellowship from Wolfson College, Cambridge and hit back against criticism of her handling of academic freedom. Various groups had been petitioning Wolfson College to remove Carrie Lam’s title since late 2019, amid government crackdowns on pro-democracy demonstrations that included campus clashes and student arrests. Read more.
THAILAND: Universities tread fine line between student protests, state control
Prangtip Daorueng, University World News, 08/17
Political tensions in Thailand have escalated after student protesters demanded reforms to the monarchy at a rally on 10 August. The 10-point-demand read out in front of thousands of protesters on Thammasat University campus in Bangkok, touched upon one of the country’s most delicate issues, considered taboo by the public. Read more.
BRAZIL: Brazilian universities struggle to go online amid Covid denial
Anna McKie, Times Higher Education, 08/17
Brazilian universities are struggling to provide online teaching as they battle budget cuts and a government in denial about the scale of the coronavirus pandemic. According to the Ministry of Education, 38 of Brazil’s 69 state universities have suspended their activities entirely, while 21 are teaching remotely and 12 are partially open. Read more.
ITALY: Patrick Zaki, Milan also confers honorary citizenship on him. After Naples, another capital among the “100 cities for Patrick”
Il Fatto Quotidiano, 08/17
Patrick Zaki is an honorary citizen of Milan. The Lombard capital also joined the “100 cities for Patrick” campaign promoted on GoFair with the aim of increasing the weight of public opinion to request the release of the 29-year-old Egyptian researcher from the University of Bologna who has been detained in Egypt for over six months with several allegations including subversive propaganda on Facebook. Read more.
UNITED KINGDOM: How fake award for a tycoon left Oxford University open to Chinese influence
Emma Graham-Harrison, The Guardian, 08/16
An Oxford academic handed out a “meaningless” university qualification to a Hong Kong businessman with ties to the Chinese authorities at a high-profile ceremony in Shanghai last year, in the latest incident to raise concerns about Chinese influence on UK higher education. Alan Hudson awarded the title “Belt and Road Academician from Oxford University” to Chan King Wai, who is a member of an advisory body to China’s rubber-stamp parliament, at a ceremony attended by an official from the British consulate and dozens of other people. Read more.
HONG KONG: Academics, students sign petition calling for Hong Kong universities to reverse dismissals of Benny Tai, Shiu Ka-chun over Occupy protests
Gary Cheung, South China Morning Post, 08/15
More than 3,900 academics, students and members of the public have signed a petition calling on two Hong Kong universities to retract their decisions to sack a pair of academics over their involvement in the 2014 Occupy Central protests. Read more.
BELARUS: Doctoral student released from detainment in Belarus after being held for about 72 hours
Makena Roberts, The GW Hatchet, 08/14
A doctoral student in the political science department was released Friday after being detained in Minsk, Belarus for roughly three days. Stas Gorelik, a Belarusian citizen who has studied at GW since 2016, was detained Wednesday for allegedly participating in mass riots in the country, friends said. Read more.
BELARUS: Statement concerning the detention of academic researcher Stas Gorelik
ASEEES & ASN, 08/13
The Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) and the Association for the Study of Nationalities (ASN) express our strong concern over the August 12 detention of our fellow academic researcher Stas Gorelik. Read more.
GLOBAL: 26th Annual Report of the Network of Concerned Historians: Edition 2020
Network of Concerned Historians, 08/12
This twenty-sixth Annual Report of the Network of Concerned Historians contains news about the domain where history and human rights intersect, in particular about the censorship of history and the persecution of historians, archivists, and archaeologists around the globe, as reported by various human rights organizations and other sources.
Read more.
CHINA: Beijing Attempts To Remake Hong Kong In Its Image As National Security Law Takes Hold
Emily Feng, NPR, 08/12
Textbooks censored. Teachers investigated for improper speech. Students arrested and charged with secession for their social media posts. Just over a month after Beijing imposed a national security law in Hong Kong, authorities are targeting in rapid succession figures at all levels of Hong Kong’s civil society and education sectors, despite assurances from Beijing officials and Hong Kong’s top leader that the law would only be used to target a small minority of people. Read more.
UNITED KINGDOM: Academic freedom is precious – so why have UK universities sold out to China?
Peter Wilby, The Guardian, 08/11
In February 1970, students occupying the registry at Warwick University discovered dozens of incriminating documents. The university, at the behest of the business interests that dominated its governing council, was apparently spying on its lecturers and students and keeping files on their political activities. Among the targets was Prof David Montgomery, one of America’s most distinguished labour historians, then a visiting professor at Warwick. Read more.
THAILAND: The demonstration at Thammasat proposes monarchy reform
Prachatai, 8/11
The organizers of the demonstration at Thammasat University read their first declaration. It proposes that the monarchy should be reformed in line with democratic principles. Read more.
INDIA: HC notice to Uddhav government on former DU professor GN Saibaba’s parole plea
The New Indian Express, 8/11
The Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court on Tuesday sought Maharashtra government’s response to a petition filed by Delhi University’s former professor G N Saibaba for emergency parole to attend the post funeral rituals of his late mother in Hyderabad. Saibaba, who is serving a life sentence in the Nagpur Central Prison for links with Maoists, lost his 74-year-old ailing mother on August 1, even as his lawyers were seeking to arrange a video conference between the two. Read more.
AUSTRALIA : Australia is cracking down on foreign interference in research. Is the system working?
Dyani Lewis, Nature, 08/10
Almost a year after Australia introduced a pioneering system for minimizing the risk of foreign interference in research, in particular from overseas militaries, experts are divided about whether it is working. The new guidelines, which were introduced in November and are widely assumed to be a response to concerns about the Chinese military’s ties to universities, encourage institutions to perform risk assessments on potential collaborators, communicate the risk of foreign interference to staff and bolster cybersecurity. They also urge universities to ensure that they comply with laws that restrict exports of certain technologies, such as those that have military uses. Read more.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Pressure on Indonesian students speaking out on Papua
Johnny Blades, Radio New Zealand, 08/10
Indonesian students becoming engaged in the West Papuan human rights struggle are under pressure from authorities. Human rights advocates have called for the reinstatement of four Indonesian university students expelled for protesting against human rights abuses in Papua, including one young man charged and facing a lengthy prison term for his actions. Read more.
INDONESIA: Reinstate students expelled over Papua protest
Human Rights Watch, 08/06
Indonesia’s public Khairun University on Ternate Island should reinstate four students who were expelled after taking part in a peaceful protest, Human Rights Watch said today. A civil lawsuit brought by the four students, challenging their dismissal after the December 2019 protests, is underway in Ambon. On July 13, 2020, the Ternate police charged one of the four, Arbi M. Nur, with “treason” and “public provocation.” The Indonesian government should investigate the matter, as well as the alleged excessive use of force by police against students. Read more.
HONG KONG: In Hong Kong, some activists fear academic freedom will suffer under National Security Law
Voice of America, 08/05
When lecturer Shiu Ka-Chun received a letter from his university last week, he was shocked to find that he had been effectively fired. Shiu, also a legislator, has taught social work at the Baptist University of Hong Kong for 11 years, where his teaching had been consistently rated as excellent. He was jailed last year for “inciting public nuisance” in the 2014 civil disobedience Occupy Central movement and after his release, he was removed from teaching duties pending disciplinary proceedings linked to his conviction. Shiu said his effective dismissal amounted to “political persecution” but the university gave him no explanation. Read more.
UNITED STATES: House republicans examine foreign money to colleges
Kery Murakami, Inside Higher Education, 08/05
The top Republicans on three House committees, including one that has been investigating foreign influence on U.S. higher education, asked Harvard and Yale Universities and four other institutions that have received tens of millions of dollars from China and other countries for records of any contracts, agreements or gifts with those nations. However, Terry Hartle, the senior vice president for government and public affairs at the American Council on Education, quickly called it an “unwarranted partisan fishing expedition aimed solely at schools in blue states in an election year.” Read more.
AUSTRALIA: Critical test of academic freedom for Australian universities
Elaine Pearson, The Sydney Morning Herald, 08/04
The University of New South Wales (UNSW) boldly urges students to “bring your difference”. Unfortunately, my recent experience suggests that the university might be more interested in damage control than an open marketplace of ideas. But this is a test of academic freedom that UNSW can’t afford to fail. Read more.
AUSTRALIA / CHINA: ‘The fear is real’: Chinese students in Australia dread reprisal from Beijing
Eryk Bagshaw and Fergus Hunter, The Sydney Morning Herald, 08/04
Chinese students in Australia are scared of speaking out about Hong Kong as the Chinese Communist Party ramps up new online portals for reporting dissent and UNSW is engulfed in controversy over academic freedom. UNSW deleted social media posts over the weekend that raised concerns about the erosion of human rights in the Chinese territory after a campaign was launched by Huang Yuwen, a Sydney-based lawyer with links to the Chinese consulate. The university was subsequently inundated with social media posts and emails from Chinese nationals that said the posts severely offended students, and amounted to interference in China’s internal affairs. Read more.
UNITED KINGDOM: UK academics ‘discriminate against political opposites’ – survey
Anna McKie, Times Higher Education, 08/03
A survey has suggested that a third of academics who supported remain in the UK’s European Union referendum would seek to avoid hiring a known leave supporter, while nearly a quarter of right-wing academics would rate a paper lower if it had a left-wing perspective. The thinktank Policy Exchange commissioned a YouGov poll of 820 UK academics, of whom 484 were currently employed and 336 were retired staff, and found that academics on both sides of the political divide discriminated against each other when it came to decisions on grant applications, promotions and publications. Read more.
HONG KONG: More than 2,500 HKU students, staff and alumni sign petition against dismissal of Hong Kong legal scholar Benny Tai
Chan Ho-him, South China Morning Post, 08/03
More than 2,500 students, staff and alumni at the University of Hong Kong have signed a petition demanding its governing council withdraw the dismissal of legal scholar and Occupy movement co-founder Benny Tai Yiu-ting. In the petition, submitted to the university on Monday, the student union, which organised the campaign, also urged the council to make public the justifications for Tai’s dismissal within a week and amend the existing procedures of having government-appointed members sitting on the body, including the chairman. Read more.
UNITED KINGDOM: OfS plans new regulations on free speech and grade inflation
Anna McKie, Times Higher Education, 07/31
England’s regulator says it will implement new rules on free speech and wants to do the same for grade inflation. In a letter sent to universities, the Office for Students says it will issue regulatory guidance on “principles relating to academic freedom and free speech, because these principles underpin high-quality higher education”, in the autumn this year. The government has continued to emphasise how important it considers university commitment to academic freedom and free speech by including it in the conditions for emergency loan funding, which at the same time has raised concerns about university autonomy. Read more.
GERMANY / CHINA: Hamburg Confucius split latest sign of German caution over China
David Matthews, Times Higher Education, 07/30
The University of Hamburg has decided to cut ties with its Confucius Institute over fears that Beijing could use it as a “propaganda instrument”, in the latest sign of a more wary stance in Germany towards Chinese government influence on campus. Compared to the US, German institutions have up to now taken a more relaxed approach, but a number of scandals involving perceived threats to academic freedom appear to have changed the debate. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Report: College policies restrict press rights
Greta Anderson, Inside Higher Education, 07/30
Many private colleges, and even some public institutions, institute policies that violate the freedom of both student media organizations and professional publications, according to a new report by a fellow at the University of California National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement. The report by John Wilson, co-editor of the American Association of University Professors’ “Academe” blog and a 2019-20 fellow at the center, was published July 29. Wilson surveyed the top 25 American colleges ranked by U.S. News & World Report and found that multiple policies at these institutions and others restrict media access to campuses, directly censor student publications and forbid staff members from speaking to reporters without permission. Read more.
AUSTRALIA: Normal service resumes as Australia keeps researchers in the dark
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 07/29
A period of transparency in Australia appears to have ended, imposing more confusion on researchers at a time when Covid-19 has already turned their world upside down. Education minister Dan Tehran has stopped disclosing the grant recommendations he receives from the Australian Research Council (ARC) — a practice he started earlier this year after an order from the Senate. Read more.
SRI LANKA: Human rights under attack
Human Rights Watch, 07/29
The Sri Lankan government should end the targeted arrests, intimidation and threats against the lives and physical security of lawyers, activists, human rights defenders and journalists, 10 international human rights organizations said today. Lawyers taking on human rights cases have been targeted through legal and administrative processes and have faced smear campaigns in the media. Kumaravadivel Guruparan, a human rights lawyer, was a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Law at the University of Jaffna. Read more.
HONG KONG: Sacking of scholar ‘marks the end of academic freedom’
Mimi Leung and Yojana Sharma, University World News, 07/28
The governing council of Hong Kong’s top university has sacked a prominent law professor, Benny Tai, in a move that, though not unexpected, has sent shock waves through Hong Kong academia.Tai, a co-founder of the 2014-2016 Occupy Central movement which later morphed into the Umbrella Movement and a key target of pro-Beijing elements for his role in those protests, was sacked for ‘misconduct’ related to his conviction by a Hong Kong court for his role in those protests. Read more.
IRAN: Australian Kylie Moore-Gilbert moved to notoriously inhumane prison in Iran as “punishment”
Center for Human Rights in Iran, 07/28
The Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert, who has been imprisoned in Iran on spurious charges since October 2018, has been moved to the notoriously harsh Gharchak Prison, south of Tehran, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has learned, where she will be held alongside violent prisoners. Moore-Gilbert, a graduate of Australia’s Melbourne University and the UK’s Cambridge University, is a Middle East scholar and professor at Melbourne University. Agents of the IRGC’s Intelligence Organization first arrested her in September 2018 while she was visiting the Iranian city of Qom to attend an academic conference. Read more.
UNITED STATES: New international students barred from all-online classes
Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Education, 07/27
U.S. immigration officials have issued new guidance saying new international students — unlike current international students — cannot come to the U.S. to take an entirely online course of study. However, while one expert noted a lack of clarity on this point, the guidance issued Friday by the Student and Exchange Visitor Program seems to affirm that new international students may enroll in hybrid programs consisting of a mix of in-person and online courses, as long as their coursework is not “100 percent online.” It also says that students will not be at risk of deportation if their institutions switch from an in-person or hybrid mode to an online-only mode in the middle of the term due to the pandemic. Read more.
HONG KONG: Will new security law prove a turning point for HE?
Philip Altbach and Gerard A Postiglione, University of World News, 07/25
The past year has been one of unprecedented crisis for Hong Kong. Protracted and sometimes violent protests, with active student participation, concerning the extradition bill and the future of democracy, the COVID-19 pandemic and central government’s new national security law have created concern and uncertainty about the future of higher education. After months of disruption on several university campuses, many in the academic community, both in Hong Kong and around the world, have questions. Read more.
GLOBAL: AAS statement regarding remote teaching, online scholarship, safety, and academic freedom
The Association for Asian Studies, 07/23
The global coronavirus pandemic has made videoconferencing tools such as Zoom essential for teaching and other forms of academic communication. In-person academic exchange, like print-and-paper publishing, now has a major online complement, and just as we increasingly transmit information and access books and journals digitally, we will conduct more lectures and seminars online. However, a series of incidents involving Zoom and the People’s Republic of China has raised concerns about the potential for China or other governments to compromise the privacy, reliability, accessibility, and security of videoconferencing apps, and to use data gleaned through these apps for state purposes. Read more.
JAPAN: Government clamps down on foreign research ‘leaks’
Suvendrini Kakuchi, University World News, 07/23
PAgainst the backdrop of mounting tensions between Western nations and China, Japan is taking new steps to safeguard its own advanced research, including tightening the screening of foreign students and researchers to prevent leaks to foreign countries of advanced technologies, particularly those with possible military applications. Visas for foreign researchers will be more closely reviewed. The Japanese government has stated that financial aid will not be granted for university research if there are concerns or risks of technology outflow. Read more.
UNITED STATES: Canceling emeritus
Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Education, 07/23
Fewer institutions have clearly outlined processes for denuding emeritus professors of that honorary status. The University Senate at San Diego State University this week considered a proposal on adopting one. But the policy was sent back to the subcommittee that drafted it over academic freedom concerns. No one at San Diego State outwardly opposes the idea of taking back emeritus status when a professor is revealed to have, say, sexually harassed someone or committed some other serious crime. Instead, what rankled professors was proposed language on revoking emeritus status “when it is determined that an individual’s conduct, before or after emeritus status has been granted, causes harm to the university’s reputation.” Read more.
PAKISTAN: Pakistani academics leaving positions due to retribution for criticizing administration and religious philosophies
Committee of Concerned Scientists, 07/22
The Committee of Concerned Scientists submitted a letter to the Prime Minister of Pakistan regarding concern over a growing number of incidents of suppression of academic freedom in Lahore, Pakistan. The letter highlights the firing or forced resignation of Dr. Ammar Ali Jan, a professor of political science; the reduction of distinguished professorship term of Pervez Hoodbhoy, a physicist; and Zaigham Abbas, professor of political science, who suddenly found that his contract had not been renewed in February of this year, when he reportedly discovered a colleague teaching his class. These cases, and others, illustrate a disturbing crackdown on university professors who criticize the military or are perceived to be promoting secularism. Read more.
CHINA / UNITED KINGDOM: UK universities accused of overreliance on fees from Chinese students
Richard Adams, The Guardian, 07/22
Britain’s universities rely too heavily on tuition fees from Chinese students, according to a Conservative-backed thinktank that wants the government to replace them with increased funding for domestic students taking “high value” degrees. The report by Onward, a thinktank supported by Tory MPs and donors, claims there are “well-founded fears” that China’s Communist party and its satellites have sought to undermine academic freedom and research on UK campuses, at the same time as lucrative international student fees have distorted the priorities of universities. Read more.
UNITED STATES: New data on academic freedom and financial exigency policies
Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Education, 07/20
The American Association of University Professors today released a new kind of diagnostic tool for assessing institutions’ academic freedom. The report is based on an examination of 198 college and university faculty handbooks’ and collective bargaining agreements’ policies on academic freedom, dismissal for cause, financial exigency and program discontinuance. The investigation loosely tracks a similar study from 2000, revealing changes over time. The good news, from the AAUP’s point of view, is that many of its recommended policies and standards are still prevalent, or more prevalent, within these documents, than they were in 2000. The bad news is that some AAUP-backed policies concerning financial exigency, in particular, are lacking, especially in light of the coronavirus pandemic. Read more.
UNITED KINGDOM: DfE ‘manifesto’ for English sector ‘sets path to legislation’
John Morgan, Times Higher Education, 07/20
The Department for Education’s “restructuring regime” for the English sector may set a path towards legislation on tertiary education and raises major concerns around university autonomy, according to policy experts. On 16 July, the DfE outlined the conditions under which emergency loans could be granted to universities at risk of failure because of the pandemic. Universities seeking such a loan must look at “refocusing provision on high-quality courses, defined as courses with strong learner outcomes (eg, low dropout rates and large proportions of graduates finding highly skilled employment)”, as well as consider efficiency measures such as institutional mergers, including with further education colleges. Read more.
RUSSIA: Russian hackers attempted to steal coronavirus vaccine research
Kate Day, Politico, 07/16
Russian hackers are targeting organizations developing coronavirus vaccines, according to security officials from the U.K., United States and Canada. The U.K.’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) Thursday published details of attacks which it says are being carried out by a group known as APT29, also named “the Dukes” or “Cozy Bear,” that it alleges “almost certainly” operate as part of Russian intelligence services. The NCSC said in a statement that the attacks predominantly hit government departments, diplomatic missions, think tanks and health care and energy targets to steal valuable intellectual property. Read more.
UNITED KINGDOM: English universities must prove ‘commitment’ to free speech for bailouts
Richard Adams, The Guardian, 07/16
Universities in England needing bailouts to survive the impact of Covid-19 will have to “demonstrate their commitment” to free speech as well as closing courses with low graduate pay, Gavin Williamson has announced. The Department for Education’s guidance said it would “require assurance that providers are fully complying with their legal duties to secure freedom of speech” before granting emergency loans. However, the University and College Union (UCU) accused the government of using the pandemic to enforce political objectives taken from the Conservative party’s election manifesto. Read more.
UNITED STATES / CHINA: Trump targets Fulbright in China, Hong Kong
Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Education, 07/16
President Trump on Tuesday ordered his administration to take steps to end the U.S. government’s flagship Fulbright exchange program in China and Hong Kong. Trump stated his intent to end Fulbright exchanges with China and Hong Kong as part of an executive order directing the suspension or elimination of various policy exemptions in U.S. law that give Hong Kong preferential treatment in relation to mainland China. The order was prompted by the imposition by Beijing of a new national security law governing Hong Kong, a step that the executive order describes as “merely China’s latest salvo in a series of actions that have increasingly denied autonomy and freedoms” to Hong Kong, a semiautonomous region of China. Read more.
CHINA / UNITED KINGDOM: Scrutiny over Huawei university ties increases after ban
Yojana Sharma, University World News, 07/16
The British government’s decision this week to ban Chinese technology giant Huawei from its national telecommunications infrastructure has prompted renewed scrutiny over Huawei’s links with universities in the United Kingdom and renewed calls for transparency in university dealings with the Chinese company. The UK government announced on 14 July that the purchase of new Huawei equipment for high speed 5G networks will be banned at the end of 2020, and all Huawei equipment will be removed from UK 5G networks by 2027 following a review by the government’s National Cyber Security Centre. Read more.
HONG KONG / CHINA: Security law: Hong Kong scholars fear for academic freedom
Jerome Taylor and Su Xinqi, AFP via Hong Kong Free Press, 07/15
China’s new security law has sent a chill through Hong Kong’s schools and universities with many teachers fearful the city’s reputation for academic freedom and excellence is now at risk. Just a week after the sweeping legislation was imposed on the territory, staff at some institutions have already been warned by their administrators to be careful how they teach. “Remain neutral in your teaching and be mindful of the language you use,” read one email to staff of HKU SPACE, a college attached to the prestigious University of Hong Kong (HKU). Read more.
CHINA: Chinese professor fired by Tsinghua University after release from detention
Ching-Tse Cheng, Taiwan News, 07/14
Outspoken jurist and law professor at Beijing’s Tsinghua University, Xu Zhangrun (許章潤), said he has been stripped of his job at the institution shortly after being released from detention by the Beijing authorities on Sunday (July 12). On July 6, the 57-year-old professor was reportedly removed from his home in Beijing for soliciting prostitution. However, his wife and close friends have defended his reputation and referred to the detention as Beijing’s attempt to eradicate Chinese dissidents and stop their activism. Read more.
UNITED STATES: U.S. rescinds visa policy that could have forced colleges to hold some classes in person
Karin Fischer, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 07/14
In a startling reversal, the Trump administration agreed to rescind a visa policy that would have forced international students to enroll in in-person classes or leave the country. The repeal of the policy, which had been broadly seen as an attempt by the White House to pressure institutions to reopen with face-to-face instruction this fall, is an enormous victory for colleges and more than a million international students. Many students, especially those with health conditions, faced a near-impossible choice: return to their home countries in the middle of a global pandemic or risk their health returning to campus. Read more.
SINGAPORE: Government orders removal of critical comments on handling of COVID-19 pandemic
PEN International, 07/10
PEN International is concerned by reports that legislation ostensibly intended to counter ‘fake news’ is being applied to remove legitimate commentary on the Singapore government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Singapore Government has issued a Correction Direction to several organisations, including the web-based media organisations, New Naratif and The Online Citizen Asia, under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA). Both outlets have been forced to preface articles with a correction notice which links to a government statement. Read more.
GLOBAL: Academic freedom, boycott and the question of Palestine
Conor McCarthy, The Irish Times, 07/10
In September 2017, David Landy, Ronit Lentin and I held a conference at TCD, Freedom of Speech and Higher Education: The Case of the Academic Boycott of Israel. Our intention was to explore the idea of academic freedom in a context which presses that concept to its limits – the ongoing Israeli occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, and the international boycott campaign against it, including the academic boycott campaign. The conference was opened by Prof Steven Salaita, who had in 2014 suffered the withdrawal of an offer of a tenured position at the University of Illinois, in the wake of tweets critical of Israel which he posted during the Gaza bombardment of that year. Read more.
GLOBAL: Widespread attacks on education worldwide: More than 11,000 attacks in past 5 years
Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, 07/09
More than 22,000 students, teachers, and academics were injured, killed, or harmed in attacks on education during armed conflict or insecurity over the past five years, according to Education under Attack 2020,a new 300-page report published today by the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA). More than 11,000 separate attacks on education facilities, students and educators took place between 2015 and 2019. Education under Attack 2020 finds that the number of countries experiencing attacks on education has increased in recent years. Between 2015 and 2019, 93 countries experienced at least one reported attack on education, marking an increase of 19 affected countries, up from 74 countries in the previous reporting period of 2013-2017. Read more.
UNITED KINGDOM / CHINA: UK universities comply with China internet limits
Sean Coughlan, BBC News, 07/09
UK universities are testing a new online teaching link for students in China – which will require course materials to comply with Chinese restrictions on the internet. It enables students in China to keep studying UK degrees online, despite China’s limits on internet access. But it means students can only reach material on an “allowed” list. Universities UK said it was “not aware of any instances when course content has been altered”. Read more.
NIGERIA: North East universities press on in the shadow of Boko Haram
Samuel Okocha, University World News, 07/09
Universities and other tertiary education institutions in North East Nigeria are working to recover from severe disruptions to operations and academic life – in some cases, lengthy closures and falls in enrolments – caused by attacks from insurgent group Boko Haram. Its activity has become less intense in recent years following aggressive campaigns by the Nigerian military, although an attack in June 2020 on a village in North Eastern Borno State, where 81 people were killed, shows the group has yet to be defeated. Read more.
UNITED STATES: As MIT and Harvard sue, colleges scramble to respond to new federal policy on international students
Karin Fischer, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 07/08
Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology sued the Trump administration to stop a new policy that would block international students from coming to or remaining in the United States if their courses are taught entirely online. The policy — released with no notice on Monday, the same day Harvard announced it would hold all undergraduate classes online this fall — was viewed by many in higher education as a backdoor effort by the administration to force colleges to reopen to face-to-face instruction. Read more.
IRAQ: Leading Iraqi researcher assassinated outside his house in Baghdad
Mustafa Salim and Louisa Loveluck, The Washington Post, 07/06
A leading Iraqi researcher, Hisham al-Hashimi, was fatally shot late Monday outside his house in Baghdad, officials said. The gunmen had waited outside his home on a motorcycle, one security official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the media. The assailants then fled the scene, he said. No group claimed responsibility for the killing, but for many in Iraq, it underscored the reality of a slow-burn assassination campaign by militia groups against their critics. Hashimi, 47, was a frequent target of the propaganda of Iran-backed militia groups, and friends and colleagues said he had faced a rising tide of threats. Read more.
HONG KONG / CHINA: Hong Kong scholars may stay abroad to evade security law’s reach
Jack Grove, Times Higher Education, 07/06
The new security law imposed by Beijing on Hong Kong may prevent scholars and students based overseas from returning to the city if they have criticised China, experts have warned. Under the legislation, authorities have been given new powers to punish “offences of secession, subversion, organisation and perpetration of terrorist activities”. Within hours of its introduction, the law had been used to arrest hundreds of protesters – including some holding placards with pro-democracy slogans – for alleged violations. Read more.
CHINA: China detains law professor who took on party, friends say
Chris Buckley, The New York Times, 07/06
The police in Beijing on Monday detained Xu Zhangrun, a law professor and one of China’s most prominent and scathing critics of the Communist Party’s expanding control, his friends said. Professor Xu, 57, had long taught at Tsinghua University, a prestigious school in Beijing, but the university banned him from teaching and research in 2019 after he issued a series of essays that, in barbed, elegant Chinese, condemned and ridiculed the swelling dominance of the party under Xi Jinping. Police officers raided Professor Xu’s home in northern Beijing early in the morning, taking away a computer and papers, said his friend, Geng Xiaonan, who said she spoke to the scholar’s wife and students. Read more.
TURKEY: University falls victim to Erdogan’s battle with ex-PM
Arab News via University World News, 07/04
Istanbul Sehir University, founded by Ahmet Davutoglu, the former prime minister and ex-ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was shut down on Monday 29 June after an overnight presidential decree was issued, writes Menekse Tokyay for Arab News. “With this signature, President Erdogan has gone down in history as a politician who shut down a university,” Davutoglu said during a press conference on Tuesday 30 June. The move had been expected following the government seizure of the BISAV (Foundation for Sciences and Arts) organisation behind the university earlier this year over a failure to pay back loans. The university failed to pay staff salaries and utility bills. Read more.
Academic freedom crushed under new National Security Law
Mimi Leung and Yojana Sharma, University World News, 07/01
Jittery Hong Kong students, academic freedom groups, activists and many ordinary citizens were this week deleting their social media posts and shutting down Facebook and Twitter accounts as China on Tuesday promulgated its National Security Law for Hong Kong which prohibits “secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces” to endanger national security, which could lead to life in prison for “primary instigators”. It was only published in full after it was promulgated on Tuesday and came into force in Hong Kong before midnight the same day. Read more.
Uludağ University launches an investigation against Prof. Kayıhan Pala
Bianet, 07/01
Following a decision of non-jurisdiction given by the prosecutor’s office, Uludağ University administration has reportedly launched an investigation against public health specialist Prof. Kayıhan Pala over an interview published on a Bursa-based local news website. As reported by Serkan Alan from Gazete Duvar, Pala was first tipped off by the Provincial Administration Board of Bursa Governor’s Office after he gave an interview to “enBursa.com” website on April 20. The interview was about the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and it was entitled “The number of cases and fatalities in Bursa is higher than announced.” Read more.
University staff must find their voice, says Murdoch whistleblower
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 07/01
A “whole spectrum” of options confronts university staff concerned about their institutions’ activities, according to Murdoch University associate professor Gerd Schröder-Turk. “The first level might be finding the guts to say something in a meeting,” he said. “The next is to assert your opinion when others are trying to downplay it. The next is to put something in writing.” Read more.
NASA scientist, detained in Turkey for years, returns to U.S.
Carlotta Gall, The New York Times, 06/30
An American NASA scientist returned with his family to the United States early Tuesday morning after nearly four years of imprisonment and house arrest in Turkey, and more than seven months after President Trump said he had secured an agreement for his release. The scientist, Serkan Golge, arrived in Washington on a commercial flight shortly after midnight, ending a tortuous journey for him and his family, who had become caught up in increasingly fraught Turkish-American relations. Read more.
Mounting faculty concerns about the fall semester
Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Education, 06/30
Purdue University president Mitch Daniels, an early advocate of reopening campuses for the fall, has become a de facto spokesperson for the movement. The role comes with attendant criticism, including from within his institution. During an interview on CNN, for example, Daniels was asked about a previous comment Alice Pawley, associate professor of engineering education and president of the main Purdue campus’s American Association of University Professors chapter, made to Inside Higher Ed: “I don’t want to think about face-to-face teaching the hordes of students I usually teach until there is a vaccine.” Read more.
Spied on. Fired. Publicly shamed. China’s crackdown on professors reminds many of Mao era
Alice Su, The Los Angeles Times, 06/27
The professor was under surveillance. Cameras taped her every lecture. She couldn’t publish or give talks outside the university. She knew she had to be careful when she taught on one of China’s most sensitive and dangerous topics: the Cultural Revolution. To preempt accusations of straying beyond academia, all discussion was based on archives, books and articles. Classes were kept small; heavy reading lists filtered out potential student-informants. She made seating charts with photos, making sure no stranger could wander in unnoticed. Read more.
Students arrested in protests over online classes fees
Ameen Amjad Khan, University World News, 06/26
Police arrested over 80 students of different universities in Pakistan’s Balochistan province when they staged a rally this week against online classes, which they see as a way for universities to ‘extort’ fees from students while campuses are shut due to coronavirus. Over 300 students from the province’s universities and colleges gathered in Quetta, the Balochistan provincial capital, on 24 June chanting slogans against the Higher Education Commission (HEC), the country’s regulatory body, and against management of universities for charging what they said was unfair fees. Police beat them and arrested over 80, including female students. Read more.
Academic ‘solidarity’ needed to save gender studies from populism
David Matthews, Times Higher Education, 06/26
Academics need to show far more “solidarity” towards colleagues in subjects such as gender studies that are under fire from far-right populists, one of Germany’s constitutional court judges has warned, arguing that such attacks are only the first step in a broader assault on academia. Speaking at an event on freedom of expression at universities, Susanne Baer, herself a professor of public law and gender studies at the Humboldt University of Berlin, said that some scholars had “underestimated” the threat. Read more.
Professor could face death penalty for ‘blasphemy’
Ameen Amjad Khan, University World News, 06/24
This month over two dozen police officers including commandos raided the home of Sajid Soomro, a professor of Sindhi literature, to arrest him on charges of blasphemy, a serious charge in Pakistan that can lead to the death penalty if proven. “Why are you arresting me? I am a professor. I am a Muslim and I have not committed any blasphemy; this is injustice, this is grave injustice,” Soomro reportedly pleaded. But he was ordered to “get inside the van” and driven away to Khairpur city police station in Sindh province where he was put behind bars on 10 June. Read more.
Facial recognition to ‘predict criminals’ sparks row over AI bias
BBC, 06/24
Harrisburg University researchers said their software “can predict if someone is a criminal, based solely on a picture of their face”. The software “is intended to help law enforcement prevent crime”, it said. But 1,700 academics have signed an open letter demanding the research remains unpublished. One Harrisburg research member, a former police officer, wrote: “Identifying the criminality of [a] person from their facial image will enable a significant advantage for law-enforcement agencies and other intelligence agencies to prevent crime from occurring.” Read more.
When free speech and racist speech collide
Greta Anderson, Inside Higher Education, 06/23
As a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, Emerson Sykes has focused on the intersection of racial justice and free speech and how it plays out on college campuses. Sykes is a strong proponent of the First Amendment and said he’s aware of and “frustrated” by the many examples of public and private universities invoking free speech rights in response to incidents of racism or hateful speech from students. He believes it’s a way for administrators to say “our hands are tied” and sometimes shirk their responsibility to meaningfully respond to such incidents, which can leave students of color, in particular, feeling hurt and unsafe, Sykes said. Read more.
Pakistan: Smear campaign against Dr. Arfana Mallah
International Federation for Human Rights, 06/23
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders has been informed by reliable sources about the smear campaign against Dr. Arfana Mallah, a professor of chemistry at the University of Sindh Jamshoro, a prominent women’s rights activist, and a member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), based in Hyderabad, Sindh Province. According to the information received, on June 10, 2020, Dr. Arfana Mallah expressed her dismay on Twitter when a colleague at Shah Abdul Latif University in Khairpur, Sindh Province, was arrested on charges of blasphemy and sedition. Within hours, Dr. Mallah was subjected to a vicious campaign led by clerics with the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party and, subsequently, the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, who sought to have Dr. Mallah charged with blasphemy. Read more.
Trump expands immigration restrictions
Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Education, 06/23
President Trump signed an executive order Monday suspending entry to the U.S. by foreign nationals through a number of nonimmigrant work visa programs, including the H-1B program for skilled workers, which many colleges use to hire faculty and postdoctoral scholars. The order, which extends through Dec. 31, also suspends certain subcategories of J-exchange visitor visas by denying entry to those wanting to participate in internship, trainee, teacher, camp counselor, au pair and summer work travel programs. It does not affect visa holders coming to the U.S. as college students, professors and research scholars through the same program. Read more.
‘Botched’
Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Education, 06/22
No one is guaranteed tenure. But two black scholars at the University of Virginia who are appealing negative tenure decisions say their processes were significantly flawed, and that the work they were hired to do appears to have counted against them in the end. Beyond flawed processes, the accounts raise questions about possible racial bias on the part of all-white tenure committees and other key evaluators. In this way, the cases echo the recent #BlackintheIvory Twitter campaign, in which black academics recalled having their work questioned and their contributions undercut more than their white colleagues’. Read more.
Hungarian protesters fear govt control in arts university’s overhaul
Anita Komuves, Krisztina Fenyo and Balazs Kaufmann, Reuters, 06/21
Hundreds of Hungarians protested on Sunday against the planned reform of the prestigious University of Theatre and Film Arts which they fear will bring the school further under government control.The protesters, many of them university students and staff, actors and writers, carried placards and made speeches in front of the main building denouncing the planned changes. “The government has already damaged Hungarian culture a great deal and we have to raise our voice against what they are planning to do now,” said Jozsef Mate, a theatre fan at the protest. A bill introduced in parliament on May 26 would transfer the ownership of the state-run institution, which goes back 155 years, to a private foundation. Read more.
Chinese professor banned from teaching over Hong Kong protest comments
Zhuang Pinghui, South China Morning Post, 06/20
A university in central China has banned one of its professors from teaching after she expressed sympathies online for Hong Kong’s anti-government protesters and the country’s official position on Japan’s wartime activities. Hubei University’s Communist Party committee announced on Saturday that Liang Yanping, a professor of literary criticism at the university’s school of Chinese language and literature, had been expelled from the party for publishing “wrong remarks concerning Hong Kong and Japan”. Read more.
DACA lives
Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Education, 06/18
The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Trump administration’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program was “arbitrary and capricious” under the Administrative Procedure Act, and that the decision to end it must be vacated. The decision returns the issue to the Department of Homeland Security and means the Trump administration cannot immediately end the DACA program, which provides protection against deportation and work authorization for hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children. An estimated 454,000 undocumented immigrant college students comprise roughly 2 percent of the U.S. higher education system. About half — 216,000 — are eligible for the DACA program. Read more.
Bolsonaro’s “anti-intellectualist policy” compromises academic freedom, writes researcher [Portugese]
Jorge Barcellos, Zero Hora, 06/18
Jair Bolsonaro’s attempt to intervene in the appointment of deans for universities was rejected by Congress on the 12th, which forced the president to back down from his position, but this initiative should not go unnoticed. It is not the first time that the federal government has attacked higher education institutions (HEIs). In 2019, Education Minister Abraham Weintraub, accused the universities of making a “mess”, blocked 30% of the budget allocations and, a year later, excluded the humanities area from federal scientific initiation grants. To imagine the most recent government intervention as an isolated act, which will end with the Legislative’s refusal, is a mistake. It is part of a project to repress academic freedom. Committed to science, the university has become an enemy of the president – a community whose freedom needs to be curtailed. Read more.
Romania gender studies ban: Students slam new law as going ‘back to the Middle Ages’
Alice Tidey, Euro News, 06/17
Romanian academics, students and human rights groups have condemned a new law banning gender identity studies in schools and universities and accused lawmakers of wanting to send the country’s education “back to the Middle Ages”. The law approved on Tuesday by Romanian lawmakers would ban all educational institutions from “propagating theories and opinion on gender identity according to which gender is a separate concept from biological sex”. Several higher education institutions have harshly condemned the legislation, including the University of Bucharest, which said in a statement that “it contradicts fundamental rights guaranteed by the Romania Constitution and international conventions of which Romania is a party to”. Read more.
China: Scrap national security law to save Hong Kong freedoms
Human Rights Watch, 06/17
China’s proposed national security law for Hong Kong is a devastating assault on human rights and should be abandoned, more than 86 civil society organizations groups said today in a letter to Li Zhanshu, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPCSC). The proposed national security legislation is likely to be discussed at the NPCSC session from June 18 to 20, 2020, or at a special session by the end of June. The proposed law could come into force soon afterward, and quickly be used to crack down on Hong Kong’s freedoms. Read more.
Sajid Soomro: Another Pakistani academic falls victims to blasphemy law
S. Khan, Deutsche Welle, 06/16
Sajid Soomro, a Pakistani professor of Sindhi literature at Khairpur’s Shah Abdul Latif University in Sindh province, was arrested on June 10. Police filed a blasphemy case against Soomro under the Pakistan Penal Code. He has since been detained and is awaiting trial. The professor is known to Pakistani authorities for his dissenting views and criticisms of the country’s most powerful clerics. Read more.
India: Human rights defenders targeted by a coordinated spyware operation
Amnesty International, 06/15
Amnesty International and the Citizen Lab have uncovered a coordinated spyware campaign targeting at least nine human rights defenders (HRDs) in India. These targets include activists, lawyers, academics, and journalists. Between January and October 2019, each of the targets were sent spearphishing emails containing malicious links that, if opened, would have installed NetWire, a commercially available spyware. A spearphishing attack is a targeted attempt to install a spyware (a malicious software) on the victim’s computer or smartphone. Spearphishing is generally performed by sending very carefully crafted and personalized emails to the target, often impersonating colleagues or loved ones. Read more.
Is Zoom safe for Chinese students?
Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Education, 06/12
China studies scholars say they are worried about teaching on the online meeting platform Zoom after multiple news outlets reported that the company temporarily shut down the account of a U.S.-based dissident after he organized a commemoration of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre on Zoom. The company confirmed that it ended three Zoom meetings commemorating the Tiananmen Square massacre and terminated the host accounts associated with those meetings — one in Hong Kong and two in the U.S. — after the Chinese government informed Zoom the gatherings were illegal in China. Zoom said the accounts have been reinstated. Read more.
Released from Iranian prison, U.S. student Xiyue Wang says he was held as a ‘hostage’
Colin Dwyer, NPR Morning Edition, 06/11
Until his release in December, American student Xiyue Wang spent more than three years behind bars in Iran — not because Iranian authorities hoped to glean any information from him, he says, but because they believed he would be useful in their negotiations with the U.S. Wang, a U.S. citizen and graduate student at Princeton University, was released in a prisoner exchange between the two countries. Read more.
#ShutDownSTEM
Lilah Burke, Inside Higher Education, 06/11
Only 3 percent of bachelor’s degrees in physics go to black students. In 2017 some fields, such as structural engineering and atmospheric physics, graduated not a single black Ph.D. On Wednesday, over 4,500 STEM faculty and students pledged to forgo research and meetings to instead focus on a day of action dedicated to protecting black lives and dismantling antiblack systems in academe and STEM. Read more.
No NLRB jurisdiction at religious colleges
Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Education, 06/11
Reversing a precedent set by the Obama-era National Labor Relations Board, President Trump’s appointed board on Wednesday said it doesn’t have jurisdiction over faculty members at religious colleges and universities. The decision, concerning Bethany College, a Lutheran liberal arts institution in Kansas, heartened some religious education groups and First Amendment hawks who believe that the NLRB, a government entity, should have no say in how religiously affiliated campuses are run. Read more.
University professor arrested under blasphemy charges
Sameer Mandhro, The Express Tribune, 06/10
A professor of Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur, was arrested by the local police under blasphemy charges on Wednesday. Prof Sajid Soomro, who is also a writer known for his books on Sindhi-Mohajir unity, was arrested from his house in Ali Murad Mohalla, Khairpur city. Condemning Soomro’s arrest and the charges against him, activists, writers and members of civil society demanded that the Sindh government initiate an inquiry into the registration for such a case against a university teacher. Read more.
Provisional measure empowers MEC to appoint university presidents during pandemic
Abraham Weintraub, Sul21, 06/10
President Jair Bolsonaro published on Tuesday (9) a Provisional Measure (MP) that empowers the Ministry of Education to appoint pro tempore rectors to federal universities, federal institutes and to Colégio Pedro II during the new coronavirus pandemic. Currently, the choice of the directors of the institutions is made in consultation with the academic community. In the case of universities, although the custom is to nominate the candidate with the most votes in the consultation, the president can choose the nominee from a triple list sent by each institution. In the case of institutes, the one chosen by the community is endorsed by the president. Read more.
What does the future hold for Hong Kong’s universities?
Futao Huang, University World News, 06/09
Since late May, the proposed National People’s Congress’ national security law on Hong Kong has been the subject of controversy. Although full details of the law or its effect in Hong Kong are not known yet, some mainly pro-China celebrities and social media posts and some major businesses who may be worried about repercussions have claimed that the law will not threaten Hong Kong’s autonomy or violate international agreements. In contrast, Western countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and the European Union have criticised it on the grounds that it goes against China’s ‘one country, two systems’ principle and violates or diminishes Hong Kong’s autonomy and freedom as set out in the Sino-British Joint Declaration. Read more.
Ghana is considering a new law to govern universities. Why it’s a bad idea
Kwadwo Appiagyei-Atua, The Conversation, 06/08
Academic freedom is supposed to enable academics to conduct scientific enquiry and produce knowledge to be used for the public good. Academics need it so that they can meet their obligation to society. And the state has a corresponding duty to respect this freedom and protect it from abuse. Read more.
Macron demands Iran release French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah
AFP via France 24, 06/05
France on Friday urged Iran to release French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah as she marked one year behind bars, with supporters charging she is being used as a bargaining chip by Tehran in a political game.Adelkhah, an anthropologist specialising in Shia Islam, was arrested on June 5, 2019, and has been in prison ever since. Last month she was given a five-year sentence after being convicted on national security charges. She is one of several foreigners and dual nationals being held by Iran in what activists condemn as a policy of hostage-taking aimed at pressuring the West. Read more.
University to investigate professor who tweeted about ‘Black privilege’
Michael Levenson, The New York Times, 06/05
The University of Central Florida said on Thursday that it had opened an investigation into complaints of bias against a professor who made comments on Twitter this week that were roundly condemned as racist. The professor, Charles Negy, is a prolific commentator on Twitter and the author of a book titled “White Shaming: Bullying Based on Prejudice, Virtue-Signaling, and Ignorance.” The university said on Thursday it was investigating his Twitter posts as well as accusations of bias in Dr. Negy’s classroom. Read more.
Academic freedom is under pressure in Irish universities
William Reville, The Irish Times, 06/04
Academic freedom is essential to the university’s mission of discovering new knowledge and teaching existing knowledge to students. It is unfortunately under threat worldwide from pressures both internal and external to the academy. Read more.
Police fired for injuring Spelman and Morehouse students
Greta Anderson, Inside Higher Education, 06/03
The mayor of Atlanta fired two city police officers over the weekend who forcibly removed two black college students from their car, tased and arrested them without explanation on May 30. Four other officers also involved in the incident have been charged with assorted counts of aggravated assault and battery, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and several national media outlets reported Tuesday. Taniyah Pilgrim, a 20-year-old Spelman College student, and Messiah Young, 22, who attends Morehouse College, were stuck in traffic in the city on the second night of public unrest over the death of George Floyd after the city’s newly instated 9 p.m. curfew, when officers shattered Young’s car windows and aggressively took both students into custody, according to news reports. Read more.
Hong Kong campuses ‘could be the target’ for China’s security law
Joyce Lau, Times Higher Education, 06/03
Demonstrations have erupted in Hong Kong again after a period of relative calm, just as schools are reopening and universities are preparing for in-person summer courses after four months of Covid-19 closures. In late May, the Hong Kong police arrested nearly 400 protesters, about half of whom were students, prompting fears of both political repression and a potential resumption of demonstrations. Universities in the region are still reeling from damage caused by clashes between students and the police last November. Read more.
Students demand that more colleges break ties with the local police
Katherine Mangan, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 06/02
Calls to limit ties between colleges and local police forces grew stronger this week as student leaders from at least three more universities demanded that they follow the University of Minnesota’s lead and take strong stands against police violence and institutional racism. In a letter to Ohio State University officials on Monday, leaders of three student organizations called on the university’s police department to cut its contractual ties to the Columbus Police Department for all on-campus investigations, services, and events. They criticized the city police department’s decision to use wooden bullets, tear gas, and pepper spray to disperse protesters last week after largely peaceful protests became heated. Read more.
Academic freedom for American college’s China program
Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Education, 06/02
Faculty at Franklin & Marshall College, a liberal arts college in Pennsylvania, have raised academic freedom concerns about a planned F&M semester program in Shanghai designed to teach first-year Chinese students who may not be able to make it to campus due to the pandemic. Students in the Shanghai program will take online classes with professors at F&M, a college with an especially international student body: between 20 and 25 percent of its students are from overseas, with most coming from China. Read more.
Scientists rush to defend Venezuelan colleagues threatened over coronavirus study
Rodrigo Pérez Ortega, Science Magazine, 06/02
Scientific and human rights groups in Venezuela and abroad have rushed to defend the Venezuelan Academy of Physical, Mathematical and Natural Sciences (ACFIMAN) after a high-level government official suggested raids or arrests to punish the academy for “causing alarm” in a report that suggested the country’s coronavirus epidemic is far worse than official numbers show. In the unsigned 18-page report, released on 8 May, scientists at ACFIMAN used mathematical models to estimate the current and future size of the epidemic in the country. Read more.
Alarm over universities’ backing of national security law
Yojana Sharma, University World News, 06/02
The heads of the governing councils of Hong Kong’s eight publicly funded universities have backed a plan announced by Beijing last month to impose a national security law on the city, in an act that many academics see as ‘doing Beijing’s bidding’. Some fear such statements on policies from Beijing emanating from universities could lead to the politicisation of institutions in Hong Kong, which are already polarised between pro-democracy and pro-Beijing groups. Read more.
New restrictions for Chinese students with military university ties
Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Education, 05/29
The Trump administration plans to cancel the visas of Chinese graduate students and researchers who have direct ties to universities in China affiliated with the People’s Liberation Army, a decision that will only affect a small percentage of the approximately 370,000 Chinese students studying in the U.S. The move was praised by some as a smart approach to mitigating the risk of theft of sensitive research and criticized by others as an overly blunt and likely ineffective measure that could open the door for further restrictions on Chinese students. Read more.
U.S. to expel Chinese graduate students with ties to China’s military schools
Edward Wong and Julian Barnes, The New York Times, 05/28
The Trump administration plans to cancel the visas of thousands of Chinese graduate students and researchers in the United States who have direct ties to universities affiliated with the People’s Liberation Army, according to American officials with knowledge of the discussions. The plan would be the first designed to bar the access of a category of Chinese students, who, over all, form the single largest foreign student population in the United States. Read more.
Minister denies threat to academic freedom of medical scientist
Sharon Dell, University World News, 05/27
South Africa’s Minister of Health Zweli Mkhize this week denied there had been any interference with academic freedom in the case of Professor Glenda Gray, head of the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC), whose critical public comments about the government’s lockdown regulations drew calls from a government bureaucrat for an investigation. Read more.
Law lecturer’s dismissal over exam question raises concerns
Tunde Fatunde, University World News, 05/26
Dr Nkongho Felix Agbor Balla, formerly a lecturer in the faculty of law at the University of Buea, an English-speaking university in a predominantly French-speaking region, was suspended by his university following a complaint by the Minister of Higher Education Professor Jacques Fame Ndongo to the university’s vice-chancellor, Professor Ngomo Horace Manga, about a question he set in a law paper. Read more.
Over 600 citizens call for temporary release of Sudha Bharadwaj, Shoma Sen from Byculla jail
The Wire, 05/25
In a memorandum to the high powered committee headed by Justice AA Sayed, a statement endorsed by over 600 civil society members, comprising of activists, lawyers and academicians, has called for the release of lawyer and activist Sudha Bharadwaj and academic Shoma Sen, both of whom are currently lodged at the Byculla Jail in Mumbai. Read more.
Nigeria-based students cut off as universities resume work
Samuel Okocha, University World News, 05/25
While the higher education system in Benin is getting back to work, after the government said the ban on classes to fight the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic would end on 11 May, the ongoing closure of the border with Nigeria is creating problems for private institutions and their students. While the public higher education sector has quickly returned to teaching, partly leveraging a new remote learning system, private universities in the francophone West African country have struggled to return to normal, with one major obstacle being cross-border movement controls imposed on international students from Nigeria, who have been a key component of their classes. Read more.
US scrutiny of Israel’s China ties extends to universities
Bloomberg News via University World News, 05/23
Israeli academics’ ties with China are on the United States’ radar, according to two people familiar with the matter, adding new pressure on its Middle Eastern ally to cool relations with Beijing, writes Ivan Levingston for Bloomberg News. Academic projects involving technology research and development are a focus, one of the people said. While there has been no discussion of possible penalties or incentives to get Israel to dial down relations with Chinese universities, the person said, the US is Israel’s top benefactor and cannot be ignored. Read more.
Chinese scholars pressured over criticism of state on Covid-19
Joyce Lau, Times Higher Education, 05/22
Concerns have been raised about the treatment of Chinese academics deemed to have strayed from official narratives about the Covid-19 pandemic. According to news reports and testimony from some of those involved, there has been an increase in online harassment and censorship, and in some cases interventions by universities and the police, as Beijing bristles against international criticism. Read more.
University of Queensland to ban foreign diplomats from gaining honorary positions
Ben Smee, The Guardian, 05/22
The University of Queensland has banned foreign diplomats from being awarded honorary academic positions, after comments by a senior Chinese official who praised the “spontaneous patriotic behaviour” of pro-Beijing protesters involved in a campus brawl last year. The university’s chancellor, Peter Varghese, told Guardian Australia the controversial statement released in June last year by China’s consul-general in Brisbane, Xu Jie, was “unacceptable” and would have breached its code of conduct. Read more.
Recent developments in Turkey targeting Istanbul Şehir University
Middle East Studies Association, 05/20
The Middle East Studies Association’s Committee on Academic Freedom issued a letter regarding recent developments affecting Istanbul Şehir University that have compromised the university’s governance and autonomy and now threaten it with closure as a result of an apparently politically motivated campaign by the Turkish government. Read more.
University of Queensland holds hearing behind closed doors to consider expulsion of student involved in China protest actions
George Roberts and Holly Richardson, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 05/20
The Australia director at Human Rights Watch, Elaine Pearson, said the perceived persecution of a student activist by a university could have lasting effects on student activism. “I think students might then have to think long and hard about the heavy price that they might pay for holding protests on campus,” she said. Read more.
Exigency outlook uncertain
Rick Seltzer, Inside Higher Education, 05/19
So far, only a few institutions have taken the step of declaring financial exigency, which enables institutions to lay off tenured faculty members under American Association of University Professors guidelines. Still, colleges and universities have signaled that they’re willing to take other steps to make deep cuts without a formal exigency declaration. That’s sparking concern from the AAUP, which argues exigency rules exist in part to protect academic freedom. Read more.
Fears raised over scope of OfS’ crisis regulatory powers
Anna McKie, Times Higher Education, 05/19
University leaders and experts in higher education policy and law have warned that the proposals put forward by England’s regulator to stabilise the sector during the coronavirus pandemic are “alarmingly broad” and threaten the autonomy of institutions. On 4 May, the Office for Students (OfS) announced that it was consulting on a new regulatory condition, allowing it to intervene where universities “act in ways that undermine students’ interests or threaten the stability of England’s higher education sector during the crisis”. Read more.
At least 238 writers and intellectuals were detained for their work last year, advocacy group says
Siobhán O’Grady, The Washington Post, 05/19
At least 238 writers, academics and intellectuals around the world were detained in connection to their work last year, according to a report released Tuesday by PEN America, a freedom of expression advocacy group. The imprisonments and detentions occurred in 34 countries, although the majority took place in just three — China, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Those same countries are also among the top jailers of journalists worldwide, according to the 2019 Committee to Protect Journalists prison census. Read more.
Trump drags US universities into virus battle with China
Paul Basken, Times Higher Education, 05/18
The Trump administration is pulling US universities into its coronavirus-driven excoriation of China, warning of Chinese attempts to steal research findings that could help the country reap the political reward of being first to find a vaccine. US university leaders have long agreed that Chinese espionage represents a threat. But they have warned the administration and its congressional allies that the methods and tone they adopt in addressing the threat could harm the far greater contributions of Chinese nationals to the overall US scientific enterprise − in terms of international collaboration on vital coronavirus research and potential damage to Chinese enrolments at US universities. Read more.
Iran sentences French academic to 6 years in prison
Arab News, 05/16
An Iranian court has sentenced a prominent researcher with dual French-Iranian citizenship to six years in prison on security charges, her lawyer said on Saturday. Fariba Adelkhah was sentenced to five years for “gathering and collusion” against the country’s security and one year for “spreading propaganda” against the Islamic system, her lawyer, Saeed Dehghan, told the AP. Dehghan said Adelkhah will appeal the ruling. Read more.
Historian complies with Pofma order but says he will challenge it
Tham Yuen-C, The Straits Times, 05/15
Historian Thum Ping Tjin has put up a correction notice on his Facebook page alongside his online video on Singapore’s fake news laws, complying with correction directions he received on Wednesday, but only after receiving a warning. While he had put up a notice on the New Naratif website he founded, he had not done so on his Facebook page by the deadline set by the Pofma (Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act) Office until he received a warning from the office. Read more.
Science ‘risks coronavirus backlash’ as it is drawn into politics
David Matthews, Times Higher Education, 05/14
Trust in science could sour in the pandemic crisis, especially if politicians try to pin blame for policy mistakes and the downsides of lockdowns on their scientific advisers, international science policy experts have warned. Although initial surveys in the UK and Germany suggest that trust in science has jumped, scientists advising governments on their response to the coronavirus have also been subject to death threats, newspaper exposés and online hate across a number of countries, leading some to fear that they could be held responsible for the economic and social damage wrought by national lockdowns that seek to halt the disease’s spread. Read more.
Recent amendments to law on higher education threaten academic freedom
Bianet, 05/14
Turkey: The University Faculty Members Association (ÜNİVDER) has shared its opinions as to the recently amended law on higher education in a statement. “The Law Foreseeing Amendments to the Law on Higher Education and Some Laws” was drafted by the Council of Higher Education (YÖK), passed by the Parliament and published on the Official Gazette on April 17. In its nine-page statement shared with the public yesterday (May 13), the Association has noted that “the law on higher education does not comply with the mindset of universities and restricts academic autonomy as well as freedom of expression and freedom of thought.” Read more.
Was this professor dangerous?
Emma Pettit, Chronicle of Higher Education, 05/13
At Utah Valley, Shively’s case became a Rorschach test. With little detail into the initial allegations, a group of faculty members saw the shape of something that seemed wrong: a protracted investigation of a tenured professor without due process. They questioned why suspension was warranted and why Shively’s classroom practices were under scrutiny. Academic freedom is an ideal treasured by professors, and universities vow to protect it. The classroom is the instructor’s domain. But that freedom doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Read more.
Government targets academic critics of COVID-19 response
Yojana Sharma, University World News, 05/12
Two Chinese academics are under investigation by their universities and a third has been arrested in recent weeks for criticising the handling of the coronavirus outbreak and lockdown in China. COVID-19 originated in Wuhan, in China’s central Hubei province, at the end of last year. Read more.
Cameroon pressures university to fire anglophone-rights advocate and lecturer
Human Rights Foundation, 05/12
The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) condemns the regime of Cameroon’s dictator Paul Biya for orchestrating last week’s dismissal of human rights lawyer Felix Agbor Nkongho from the University of Buea, in retaliation for his activism in defense of the rights of Cameroon’s Anglophone minority. Read more.
Big proctor
Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Education, 05/11
Online proctoring has surged during the coronavirus pandemic, and so too have concerns about the practice, in which students take exams under the watchful eyes (human or automated) of third-party programs.Chief among faculty and student concerns are student privacy and increasing test anxiety via a sense of being surveilled. Read more.
Mergers and ‘FE future’ predicted for some English universities
Jack Grove, Times Higher Education, 05/11
English universities at risk of financial collapse will receive significant government assistance only if they agree to merge or to accept a “further education future”, vice-chancellors have predicted.Some fear that the reintroduction of student number controls − which allow universities to recruit 5 per cent more this autumn than they did last year − signals the Treasury’s intention to intervene far more in higher education, which might include denying some institutions access to research funding. Read more.
Racist attack disrupts virtual graduation
Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Education, 05/11
Oklahoma City University’s virtual graduation ceremony on Saturday was disrupted by a “hate-filled attack” from an unknown person who displayed racist and offensive language, the Methodist university reported. KFOR, an Oklahoma City-based television station affiliated with NBC, reported that someone broadcast a racial slur and swastika as a student gave a blessing at the virtual ceremony, which was hosted via the online meeting platform Zoom. Read more.
Contradictions on free speech
Greta Anderson, Inside Higher Education, 05/05
Students continue to have a conflicting view of how speech should be managed on college campuses. A majority of them say certain offensive language should be restricted, but they also agree it is important to be exposed to all types of speech during college, according to a new survey report. The report, released Tuesday and based on a survey conducted in 2019 by the Knight Foundation and Gallup, is the third in a series of reports that measures students’ knowledge of and value for the First Amendment. Read more.
EU lawmakers call for online exam proctoring privacy probe
David Matthews, Times Higher Education, 05/05
European lawmakers have demanded an investigation into whether online proctoring software violates student privacy rights, arguing that it is unfair for universities to force students to use exam monitoring tools that capture their personal biometric data. The coronavirus pandemic has spurred many universities to turn to software such as Proctorio, used by about 500 institutions globally, mainly in the US, to stop students cheating when sitting online exams at home. Read more.
MMfD submits response to UNSR on Academic Freedom and the Freedom of Opinion and Expression in Pakistan
Zoya Rehman, Digital Rights Monitor, 05/04
Media Matters for Democracy (MMfD) submitted its response to the UN Special Rapporteur on the protection and promotion of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, David Kaye, regarding the threats to and scope, promotion and enforcement of academic freedom in Pakistan. The concerned Special Rapporteur is currently studying the scope and protection of academic freedom as a component of the right to freedom of opinion and expression. Read more.
Opinion: Iran is using the pandemic as cover for cracking down on intellectuals
Eugene Chudnovsky, The Washington Examiner, 05/04
Poor management of the COVID-19 pandemic (that Iran has blamed on the United States and Israel) has led to sharp criticism of the country’s leaders by Iran’s intellectual elite. On March 29, 100 Iranian academics signed a letter to the supreme leader, accusing him of being “the No. 1 culprit in the COVID-19 pandemic becoming a national disaster.” Overcrowded Iranian prisons, with their unsanitary conditions, have become the breeding grounds for the coronavirus. Read more.
Iran sentences student to six years in prison, 74 lashes for joining protests
Yaghoub Fazeli, Al Arabiya English, 05/02
An Iranian student has been sentenced to six years in prison and 74 lashes for taking part in Iran’s January protests after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) admitted to shooting down a Ukrainian passenger plane. Iranians took to the streets in early 2020 to protest the regime after it admitted to shooting down a Ukrainian airliner, killing all 176 people, having denied responsibility for several days. Read more.
Europe: Universities beyond the coronavirus crisis – What awaits?
Michael Murphy, University World News, 05/02
The coronavirus crisis has challenged universities in many new ways; being places that gather many people, they cannot open their doors to students, but this does not mean that they are closed. In a short time, many have moved their learning and teaching online. For a sector serving more than 20 million students in Europe, this is no small feat. Read more.
Opinion: Universities run on disposable scholars
Musa al-Gharbi, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 05/01
Crises like the continuing Covid-19 pandemic often serve to clarify the state of the societies and institutions they impact, highlighting dynamics that have long been present but have gone unnoticed or underdiscussed. Higher ed is no exception. At colleges nationwide, institutional responses to the pandemic underscore just how much the ordinary lifestyles of tenured faculty are premised on the production and exploitation of “disposable scholars.” Read more.
An incentive for more freedom [German]
German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), 04/30
Prof. Dr. Katrin Kinzelbach from FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg and an international team of researchers collected the most comprehensive data set on freedom of science worldwide to date. In the Free Universities report , she and the team also launched a new academic freedom index, the Academic Freedom Index (AFi). In an interview, the political scientist explains how the investigation came about, what results surprised her and how the findings can be used. Read more.
University expels hundreds of students during lockdown
Nick Holdsworth, University World News, 04/30
A Russian university has been criticised for expelling and evicting students from campus dormitories during the coronavirus pandemic lockdown. Moscow’s Russian State Social University expelled and evicted at least 200 of its 1,568 students in mid-April, according to a report in the student newspaper Doxa. The university claimed the students were expelled for failing their exams and therefore were asked to leave their university-owned accommodation. Read more.
When knowledge is banned
Linda Marie Rustad and Sunniva Folgen Høiskar, Kilden, 04/28
Today we see that gender researchers’ freedom to research, study and teach gender and sexuality is under pressure in several places in the world. Amongst other things, the pressure comes from ‘anti-gender’ movements. According to Andrea Pëto, researcher at Central European University, the resistance towards gender is a unifying factor for right wing populists and conservative religious movements in their common opposition towards gender equality and sexual minority rights. Read more.
Prominent scholars threaten to boycott colleges that don’t support contingent faculty during pandemic
Megan Zahneis, Chronicle of Higher Education, 04/28
To account for the effects of the pandemic on scholars’ professional and personal lives, hundreds of institutions have extended their tenure clocks, giving junior faculty members extra time to prepare their dossiers. A similar courtesy ought to be afforded to their non-tenure-track and graduate-student colleagues, say a group of prominent academics. More than 70 scholars are among the initial signatories to an academic-solidarity statement that promises not to accept invitations — for speaking engagements, conferences, and workshops — at institutions that do not “include non-tenure-track faculty and graduate workers in extensions of fixed-term contracts.” Read more.
University professor criticized the regime on his social networks and was arrested by Conas
El Nacionale, 04/28
A university professor was arrested for criticizing the Nicolás Maduro regime on social media. In the publications, he referred to the lack of fuel and the food shortages that occur in Nueva Esparta and throughout Venezuela. Fernando Antonio Marcano Ferrer was detained by the National Anti-Extortion and Kidnapping Command of the Venezuelan National Guard. The crime he is charged with is that of instigating hatred. Read more.
China warns Australia of student boycott
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 04/28
China has flagged a possible boycott of Australian universities, as bilateral tensions rise over Australia’s call for an independent inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus. China’s ambassador to Australia, Cheng Jingye, said Australia risked inflaming resentment among Chinese parents by “teaming up with…forces in Washington to launch a kind of political campaign against China”. The remarks suggest that geopolitical tensions, long considered the factor most likely to undermine Chinese enrolments in Australia, could stifle the resurgence of student flows after travel bans are lifted. Read more.
Hong Kong police chief tells university to look into lecturer’s televised comments slamming force’s protest performance
Phila Siu and Chan Ho-him, South China Morning Post, 04/27
Hong Kong police chief Chris Tang Ping-keung has written to the Education University demanding the institution “seriously follow up” on televised comments by a lecturer, who argued the force had caused a “humanitarian crisis” with its handling of the anti-government protests last year. The letter, sent to university president Stephen Cheung Yan-leung on Friday, followed the Communications Authority watchdog ruling earlier that week, that lecturer Sam Choi Chun-wai’s remarks on a November RTHK programme were unfair to police and could be considered hate speech. Read more.
Organizations call for release of Iran’s female prisoners of conscience and political prisoners
Ewelina U. Ochab, Forbes, 04/27
On April 22, 2020, a broad coalition of international human rights organizations and the Vice President of the European Parliament published an open letter calling for the immediate release of Iran’s female prisoners of conscience and political prisoners, who have been left out of the recent mass furloughs during the Covid19 pandemic. Over the recent weeks, the Iranian authorities reportedly temporarily released close to 100,000 prisoners of conscience to mitigate the spread of Covid19. However, many high-profile prisoners of conscience continue to be imprisoned. Read more.
The end of the Harvard century
Matteo N. Wong, The Harvard Crimson, 04/23
Teng Biao, who has cropped black hair and rectangular, wire-framed glasses, was preparing to drive to Logan International Airport on March 10, 2015, when he received a phone call from a “powerful person” at Harvard. Teng was then a visiting fellow at Harvard Law School. A Chinese dissident and human rights lawyer, he has criticized the Chinese Communist Party for human rights violations since the early 2000s. Read more.
New report exposes arbitrary detention and torture of university student activists
Fortify Rights, 04/23/20
The new joint report, “Our Demands are for All Students”: Violations of Students’ Rights in Mandalay, Myanmar, documents how Myanmar authorities arbitrarily arrested university students, tortured students in detention, and prevented students from exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. The government has failed to provide remedies to affected students as well as hundreds of other former political prisoners freed or released since 2015, including those freed last week. Read more.
Is pass-fail an equity issue?
Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Education, 04/22
Students at Georgia’s public colleges and universities are petitioning for a pass-fail grading policy at their institutions this semester, arguing it is a matter of equity given the starkly different living and working situations students find themselves in following the suspension of in-person classes due to the coronavirus pandemic. Many colleges have moved to mandatory or optional pass-fail policies for the spring semester, but the University System of Georgia has resisted appeals for a pass-fail option, saying it trusts faculty to grade students effectively and that maintaining high academic standards matters. Read more.
Report: Public universities censor social media speech
Greta Anderson, Inside Higher Education, 04/22
A majority of public colleges and universities filter language in posts on their Facebook pages, and some ban specific words to limit public criticism, according to a new survey of about 200 public institutions released by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, or FIRE, a civil liberties watchdog group. Read more.
Lawyer of Iranian-French academic being tried in Tehran raises hopes for her freedom
Radio Free Europe, 04/19
The lawyer of an Iranian-French academic being tried in Tehran on security charges says he expects the court in charge of the case to issue its ruling in the coming days. Fariba Adelkhah’s lawyer told AFP by telephone that Branch 15 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court held a session in her trial on April 19 — the second since her trial began last month. Describing the hearing as “satisfactory,” the lawyer, Said Dehghan, raised hopes for Adelkhah’s freedom and said he expected the court’s decision within a week. Read more.
Universities must help shape the post-COVID-19 world
Ira Harkavy, Sjur Bergan, Tony Gallagher and Hilligje van’t Land, University World News, 04/18
The post-COVID-19 world must be based on the values we cherish: democracy, human rights and the rule of law as well as social justice, inclusion and equity. Higher education can add momentum by renewing our commitment to our core values of academic freedom, institutional autonomy and engagement by students, faculty and staff, and re-emphasising the role of higher education institutions as societal actors for the public good. Read more.
Amid pandemic, Hong Kong arrests major pro-democracy figures
Elaine Yu and Austin Ramzy, New York Times, 04/18
The arrests signaled a broader crackdown on the antigovernment movement that roiled the semiautonomous city last year, one of the most significant challenges to Communist Party rule in decades. Beijing and pro-government supporters in the city have called for lawmakers to pass national security laws that residents worry would allow the mainland authorities to further encroach upon the territory’s civic freedoms. Read more.
UN urges Iran to “immediately release” political prisoners and dual, foreign nationals
Center for Human Rights in Iran, 04/17
UN human rights experts* today called on Iran to expand its temporary release of thousands of detainees to include prisoners of conscience and dual and foreign nationals still being held despite serious risk of COVID-19 infection. The country has been hit hard by COVID-19, with Health Ministry officials reporting one person dies every 10 minutes from the virus. Read more.
University of Queensland takes disciplinary action against pro-Hong Kong student activist
Ben Smee, The Guardian, 04/16
The University of Queensland has taken disciplinary action against a prominent pro-Hong Kong student activist, who faces expulsion in relation to a series of satirical stunts, social media posts and criticisms of the vice-chancellor. Drew Pavlou, a member of the UQ senate, was this week sent a series of misconduct allegations against him and told to attend a disciplinary board hearing, where a decision maker would have the ability to terminate his enrolment. Read more.
University shutdowns bring new challenges to academic freedom
Wagdy Sawahel, University World News, 04/16
The range of containment measures imposed by national governments to counter the spread of the coronavirus pandemic has dramatically affected research, teaching and learning in African universities – in some cases leading to their suspension. In these unusual circumstances, what are the implications for academic freedom? Read more.
Online learning in universities – A missed opportunity?
Florence Mayega Nakayiwa, University World News, 04/16
The Universities and other Tertiary Institutions Act 2001 as amended was intended to establish and develop a system governing institutions of higher education, while respecting the autonomy and academic freedom of the institutions, and widen the accessibility of high quality institutions to students wishing to pursue higher education. The act states that the minister may issue directives of a policy nature to all institutions of higher education, whether public or private. But where is the distinction between policy and the limitations to autonomy and academic freedom? Read more.
Online learning shift contends with Chinese internet restrictions
Joyce Lau, Times Higher Education, 04/15
The world’s mass shift to online learning is shining a more intense light on the Chinese government’s tight internet controls and is spurring new efforts by academics to provide students with unimpeded access to course materials. Some foreign universities now find themselves unable to engage fully with students who have returned to mainland China during the coronavirus pandemic. Read more.
India: Activists detained for peaceful dissent
Human Rights Watch, 04/15
Indian authorities on April 14, 2020 detained two rights activists who have been critics of government policies, Human Rights Watch said today. The government should immediately drop all charges under a counterterrorism law against Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha for allegedly inciting caste-based violence along with other activists during a demonstration in Maharashtra state in 2017. Read more.
Will the pandemic usher in an era of mass surveillance in higher education?
Alexander C. Kafka, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 04/14
Online learning and meeting apps are just one aspect of privacy in higher education brought to the fore by the Covid-19 pandemic. Some academics fear the spreading crisis will be used to justify accelerated growth in intrusive observation of faculty members and students, further eroding individual rights in the name of education and public health. Read more.
Turkey: Prison release law leaves innocent and vulnerable prisoners at risk of COVID-19
Amnesty International, 04/13
Responding to the passing of a new law which is expected to allow for the early release of up to 100,000 prisoners in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, but fails to cover many others who should be considered for release. These include those held in pretrial detention, i.e. those yet to be convicted of any crime; people convicted under overly broad anti-terrorism laws including journalists, lawyers, political and human rights activists who have been imprisoned merely for speaking out; and even those at heightened risk including older prisoners and those with underlying health conditions convicted under anti-terrorism laws. Read more.
Next-level precarity
Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Education, 04/10
Non-tenure-track professors are used to uncertainty about contract renewals. But the coronavirus and related hiring freezes represent an unprecedented threat to their careers. They’re increasingly refusing to quietly bear the brunt of the disruption. COVID-19 poses the greatest health risks to the most vulnerable. New petitions are asking institutions to stretch current appointments and renewal limits for all instructors teaching off the tenure track by at least a year. Read more.
We need to rethink what counts for tenure now
Joy Connolly, Inside Higher Education, 04/09
The evaluation process for faculty members coming up for tenure or reappointment is a murkier area. The Twitterverse came alive several weeks ago with calls to extend tenure clocks, and some universities, including Ohio State, rapidly announced yearlong extensions. Recently, 34 learned societies endorsed a strong statement by the American Sociological Association calling for the review and adjustment of faculty evaluation practices in light of the disruptions caused by COVID-19. The Modern Language Association has called for institutions to “pause the tenure clocks of junior faculty members” during this unprecedented crisis. Read more.
Concern over proposed changes to UCD’s academic freedom
Jack Power, The Irish Times, 04/09
University College Dublin (UCD) has dropped proposed changes to its academic freedom policy to allow for “different interpretations” of the concept due to the university’s expanding links to China and other countries, following a significant backlash from academics. The draft policy, seen by The Irish Times, states UCD must consider “the risk of tension” between its obligations to uphold academic freedom and “the strategic imperative to internationalise higher education”. Read more.
French academic Roland Marchal speaks out after nine months of detention in Iran
Christophe Boisbouvier and Franck Mathevon, France 24, 04/08
In an emotional interview with FRANCE 24’s partner radio stations RFI and Radio France, Roland Marchal, the French academic released last month after more than nine months in an Iranian jail, spoke out about his time in detention. Marchal’s partner, Fariba Adelkhah, who was arrested at the same time as him, remains in prison in Tehran. Read more.
Top economist calls for overhaul of India’s ‘Inspector Raj’ regime
Joyce Lau, Times Higher Education, 04/07
India’s powerful University Grants Commission (UGC), which controls funding and standards for the country’s nearly 1,000 higher education institutions, should be closed and replaced with a new Higher Education Promotion Commission (HEPC), a top Indian economist has proposed. Read more.
UK government to tackle foreign interference at universities
Will Nott, The PIE News, 04/07
The UK government will tackle foreign interference at British universities by working with Universities UK and by promoting the diversification of international students, according to a document obtained by The PIE News. In November 2019, a Foreign Affairs Committee inquiry found “alarming evidence” of Chinese interference on UK campuses, and that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office was failing to protect academic freedom in the country. Read more.
Fake news laws may ‘catch on’ during coronavirus
Ellie Bothwell, Times Higher Education, 04/06
The prevalence of fake news related to the coronavirus could be used by countries to justify new misinformation legislation that could harm academic freedom, scholars have warned. Earlier this month, Singapore’s communications and information minister S. Iswaran said that the use of fake news during the pandemic strengthened the government’s decision last year to introduce the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma). Read more.
College professors say ‘Zoombombing’ is the latest weapon in attacks against higher education
Kate McGee, WBEZ Chicago, 04/03
As various aspects of society have shifted to online video platforms like Zoom for meetings and school during the COVID-19 shutdown, racist trolls have followed. While Zoombombing is widespread, college professors like Ahad feel it’s just the latest iteration of an effort by far right activists and trolls to dismantle higher education and attack professors of color. Read more.
When populism makes you sick [German]
Jörg Heeren, Informationsdienst Wissenschaft, 04/03
World Health Day on April 7th aims to draw attention to the importance of health care and disease prevention. But these goals are endangered in many countries, scientists from Bielefeld University state in a contribution in the scientific journal Science. According to the research team, the corona crisis shows how important fact-based research is and how dangerous it is for public health if indications by researchers and doctors about illnesses are politically suppressed. Read more.
‘Heaviness in the stomach’: A Uyghur daughter alone in America on her birthday during a pandemic
Darren Byler, Sup China, 04/01
Last month, Akida Pulat celebrated her birthday alone. It was her third birthday since her mother, Uyghur anthropologist Rahile Dawut, had disappeared in Northwest China. Akida worried that during the pandemic, her birthday would be especially hard for her mother. Read more.
World-renowned scientists express support for Bülent Şık
Bianet, 04/02
Over 600 world-renowned scientists, including Nobel laureates, have condemned the 15-month prison sentence given to bianet columnist, food engineer Asst. Prof. Bülent Şık for sharing the results of cancer research with the public. Read more.
US war on science ‘undermining war on coronavirus’
John Ross, Times Higher Education, 04/02
Derision of expertise has been concentrated in the US – but that’s where it matters most. The US administration’s war on expertise is imperilling the country’s people and jeopardising the global fight against Covid-19, according to former Australian chief scientist Penny Sackett. Read more.
The Coronavirus pandemic and the rise of Chinese civil society
Willy Wo-Lap Lam, The Jamestown Foundation, 04/01
On the surface, Chinese civil society actors—led by intellectuals, rights lawyers, and underground churchgoers—are being suppressed by draconian means. Yet, a number of brave activists have defied the censorship and oppression to have their voices heard. Tsinghua University professor Xu Zhangrun and a dozen-odd public intellectuals published a net-based appeal stating that “Freedom of expression starts today.” Apart from demanding proper treatment of victims of the pandemic, the petitioners asked for the establishment of a Dr. Li Wenliang Day, and a National Freedom of Expression Day. Read more.
Outrage over denial of amnesty for Turkish political prisoners
Bethan McKernan and Beril Eski, The Guardian, 03/31
Anger is growing in Turkey that while the government is preparing to grant amnesties to up to one third of the country’s prison population in order to combat the coronavirus pandemic, jailed human rights activists, journalists and opposition politicians will not be among those considered for early release. Read more.
Bangladesh: End wave of COVID-19 ‘rumor’ arrests
Human Rights Watch, 03/31
The Bangladesh government appears to be cracking down on free speech as COVID-19 hits the country, silencing concerns over the government’s handling of the epidemic, Human Rights Watch said today. Authorities should stop targeting academics and arresting people for speaking out about the epidemic, and ensure that accurate and timely information about the virus is accessible and available to all. Since mid-March 2020, authorities have apparently arrested at least a dozen people, including a doctor, opposition activists, and students, for their comments about coronavirus, most of them under the draconian Digital Security Act. Read more.
Ranking academic freedom globally
Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Education, 03/30
Comparative data on academic freedom has been hard to come by, but a new index released Thursday assigns ratings to countries based on how free scholars are to teach and research. The index relies on expert assessments of five measures related to freedom to research and teach, freedom of academic exchange and dissemination, institutional autonomy, campus integrity (defined as the degree to which campuses are free from politically motivated surveillance or security-related infringements), and freedom of academic, cultural and political expression. Read more.
Coronavirus crisis awakens a sleeping giant: China’s youth
Vivian Wang and Javier C. Hernández, The New York Times, 03/28
Students have flooded social media to organize donations for Chinese doctors battling the coronavirus epidemic. Workers have marched in the streets to demand compensation for weeks of unemployment during citywide lockdowns. Young citizen journalists have taken to YouTube to call for free speech. Read more.
Union opposes online classes as ‘violation of equality’
Wagdy Sawahel, University World News, 03/26
In a statement on 22 March, the General Tunisian Union of Students (UGET) rejected the proposal of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research to deliver university and other educational courses through online learning as a violation of the principle of equality and equal opportunity because not all students have personal computers, tablets, smartphones or reliable internet access. Read more.
Academic freedom index aims to boost defence incentive
Ellie Bothwell, Times Higher Education, 03/26
Researchers have published a new index of the state of academic freedom worldwide and across time in a bid to better defend a value that “remains under attack in many places”. More than 1,800 scholars assessed the level of academic freedom in different countries between 1900 and 2019 to create the Academic Freedom Index – the most comprehensive global assessment of scholarly autonomy to date. The index was created by researchers at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and the V-Dem Institute at the University of Gothenburg; the Scholars at Risk Network; and the Global Public Policy Institute. Read more.
Student affairs leaders on mental health, race relations, free speech and more
Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Education, 03/26
Inside Higher Ed conducted a first-ever survey of student affairs leaders, conducted by Gallup between Jan. 16 and Feb. 12, before the coronavirus left more campuses without students. Approximately one-third of student affairs professionals at public institutions (28% at private) reported spending a “significant amount of time” on free expression issues on campus. According to the report, some of the most contentious issues surrounding campus speech are whether students understand why free speech is important on campus and the punishments (if any) for those who disrupt free speech. Read more.
Freedom of speech in universities: Who draws the line?
Robin Lustig, BBC, 03/25
SAR’s Executive Director Rob Quinn speaks about free speech on university campuses with the BBC as a part of a series where reporter Robin Lustig visits universities around the world to talk about the freedom of ideas. In this episode, Rob Quinn discusses where the line is drawn regarding freedom of speech in universities, who draws it, and what happens to those who cross it. Listen here.
China set to indict Australian academic Yang Hengjun on espionage charges
Ben Doherty and Lily Kuo, The Guardian, 03/25
China is preparing to formally indict Australian academic Dr Yang Hengjun with espionage, a charge that potentially carries the death penalty, as concerns grow over his isolation and treatment in prison. Yang, 54, has been imprisoned for more than 432 days, and, for the last three months, has been held in total isolation, allowed no contact with the outside world. Read more.
Ming Pao row: If we learn anything from the virus outbreak, it should be the importance of free speech
Kevin Carrico, Hong Kong Free Press, 03/25
A frank discussion of the origins of this virus and the need to prevent another pandemic, written by two experts in microbiology who have been on the frontlines in researching and battling both SARS and COVID-19: this would appear to be precisely the type of opinion piece that we need at this moment. Yet Yuen and Lung’s article produced a storm of angry controversy on Chinese social media. Within a day, the authors had publicly retracted their piece. Read more.
A side effect of remote teaching during covid-19? Videos that can be weaponized
Emma Pettit, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 03/24
The coronavirus-prompted shift to remote teaching was stressful enough for faculty members before Charlie Kirk weaponized online learning. On Sunday the founder of the conservative political-action group Turning Point USA told college students whose professors had switched to online classes to share with Turning Point videos of “blatant indoctrination.” Turning Point, Campus Reform, and other groups have created a cottage industry of naming and shaming professors who they say advance what they call the liberal agenda. Read more.
Turkish pediatric hematologist & oncologist acquitted
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, & Medicine, 03/24
On March 19, 2020, pediatric hematologist and oncologist Dr. Murat Tuncer was acquitted of national security-related charges by the Criminal Court in Ankara. He had faced a lengthy prison sentence in an ordeal that lasted almost two years. Read more.
Iran releases French academic Roland Marchal: French official
Marine Pennetier and Mathieu Rosemain, Reuters, 03/21
Iranian authorities have released French academic Roland Marchal, who has been imprisoned in Iran since June 2019, a French presidency official said on Saturday. Marchal is due to arrive in France around midday on Saturday, the official said. French President Emmanuel Macron urged Iran to also release French citizen Fariba Adelkhah, who is still imprisoned, the official added. Adelkhah also holds an Iranian passport. Read more.
Coronavirus: Egypt detains novelist Ahdaf Soueif for demanding prisoners’ release
Middle East Eye, 03/18
Egyptian police detained four prominent activists who staged a protest on Wednesday calling for the release of political prisoners to prevent further spread of the novel coronavirus. Earlier on Wednesday, sister of detained left-wing activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, Mona Seif, posted a live stream on Facebook showing a mini protest by her mother the academic Laila Soueif, her sister, novelist Ahdaf Soueif, and political science academic Rabab el-Mahdy. Read more.
Hounded out of U.S., scientist invents fast coronavirus test in China
David Armstrong, Annie Waldman, and Daniel Golden, The Chronicle of Higher Education (co-published with ProPublica), 03/18
Professor Weihong Tan abruptly left the University of Florida in 2019 during a federal investigation into his alleged failure to fully disclose Chinese academic appointments and funding. He moved to Hunan University in south-central China, where he now conducts his vital Covid-19 research. Read more.
Jailed Iranian activist begins hunger strike to demand release of political prisoners amid country’s coronavirus crisis
Joseph Hincks, Time, 03/17
Jailed Iranian human rights activist Nasrin Sotoudeh has announced she is going on a hunger strike to demand the release of political prisoners in Iran, a move taken amid fears that inmates’ safety could be jeopardized by the coronavirus outbreak overwhelming the country’s health system. Read more.
‘No regrets’: Umbrella Movement co-founder Chan Kin-man released after 11-months in prison for peaceful protest
Rachel Wong, Hong Kong Free Press, 03/16
Chan Kin-man, one of the co-founders of the 2014 pro-democracy Umbrella Movement, has been released from prison after serving 11 months of his 16-month sentence. The sociology professor was one of nine activists convicted on public nuisance charges last April for participation in the 2014 protests. Read more.
Academic freedom in the time of coronavirus
Shannon Dea, University Affairs, 03/13
As universities respond to COVID-19, they must be guided by their core values of social responsibility, accountability and equitable access – all of which support suspending on-campus teaching and learning. Read more.
Foreign students asked to leave for ‘joining protests’
Shuriah Niazi, University World News, 03/13
Three foreign students have been asked to leave India for allegedly taking part in rallies against India’s contentious new citizenship law, the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which has sparked protests across the country. Read more.
Universities rewrite Confucius Institute contracts amid foreign influence scrutiny
Fergus Hunter, The Sydney Herald, 03/11
Two of Australia’s top universities have renegotiated their contracts to host China-funded culture and language centres in an effort to safeguard their teaching autonomy and ward off the Morrison government’s foreign influence crackdown. Read more.
Academic freedom and institutional autonomy–for democracy and quality
Sjur Bergan, Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), 03/12
The Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) released its monthly International Quality Group Policy Brief, with Sjur Bergan of the Council of Europe addressing the role that academic freedom and institutional autonomy play in higher education. Read more.
Persecution by the Bolsonaro regime: Brazil’s researchers under threat [German]
Ana Paula Lisboa, Der Tagesspiegel, 03/10
There are even death threats: more and more scientists have to leave Brazil to flee President Jair Bolsonaro. Read more.
Annual Collegiality Reviews?
Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Education, 3/10
Sam Houston State University is considering adding collegiality to its list of tenure and promotion criteria. This follows a failed attempt to do so in 2018 when rating professors’ collegiality on a scale of one to 10 was proposed.This time around, Sam Houston State wants to rate professors on whether they’re collegial or not, up or down. Still, the idea is controversial. Read more.
Silencing science? Auckland academics challenge media policy
Jamie Morton, The New Zealand Herald, 03/09
University of Auckland academics have challenged a policy they say would limit them in speaking out on important issues, while having a “chilling effect” elsewhere. But the university insists it’s not trying to gag its academics, and just seeking to clarify under what capacity staff members should be making public comments. Read more.
Do not forget the jailed Saudi women’s rights activists
Fadi al-Qadi, Al Jezeera, 03/08
It has been two years since Saudi Arabia intensified its crackdown on women activists and many of those jailed are still languishing in prison. Read more.
IACHR recognizes the need to protect university autonomy [Spanish]
Hernan Porras Molina, Entorno Inteligente, 03/07
The second vice president of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Flavia Piovesan, recognized that 85% of Venezuelan universities are affected by the economic and political crisis of the Nicolás Maduro government. According to her, without university students there can be no “future or possible democracy”, for which she considered it important to defend academic freedom and university autonomy. Read more.
China activist who called Xi clueless on coronavirus faces years in jail for ‘subversion’
Verna Yu, The Guardian, 03/07
A prominent Chinese activist detained for criticising President Xi Jinping’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak is being held on a state security charge that carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in jail, his friends said on Sunday. Read more.
Lawyer: Detained Egyptian student moved to notorious prison
AP via New York Times, 03/05
Police on Thursday transferred an Egyptian rights activist who was arrested after returning to Cairo from Italy last month to a notorious prison complex, his lawyer said. Patrick George Zaki, 28, a student at the University of Bologna in Italy, has been detained since arriving at Cairo airport Feb. 7 for what was supposed to be a brief trip home. Read more.
CEU welcomes the Advocate General’s Opinion regarding Lex CEU
Central European University, 03/05
CEU welcomes the unequivocal opinion of the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice in the matter of lex CEU. Advocate General Kokott has clearly declared that lex CEU violates European law. In her opinion, she declares that Lex CEU “cannot be justified”. It is an exercise of “arbitrary discrimination” and imposes a “disproportionate restriction” on academic freedom. Read more.
Pentagon proposes cuts to social science research
Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Education, 03/05
The Trump administration has proposed cutting a Department of Defense program that funds unclassified, university-based social science research relating to topics of national security. Read more.
TUP Manila holds first student rally in campus
Angelo Cocharo and Rona Fe Curia, Manila Today, 03/04
On Wednesday, March 4, students from the Technological University of the Philippines (TUP) – Manila held their first black shirt rally with the calls #DefendAcademicFreedom and #UpholdDemocraticRights. The protest was organized by TUP University Student Government (TUP USG) Manila after receiving different reports of repression from the students. Read more.
Two detained French academics go on trial in Iran
AFP via France 24, 03/03
Two French academics jailed in Iran for over half a year on national security charges went on trial Tuesday in a case that has raised tensions between Tehran and Paris. Read more.
After announcing firing of grad assistants, UC-Santa Cruz is in turmoil
Vimal Patel, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 03/02
The University of California campus spiraled toward a labor crisis on Monday in the aftermath of an extraordinary decision to send dismissal notices to 54 striking graduate students who are withholding winter-term grades to demand a cost-of-living adjustment. More than 500 other graduate students have pledged not to fill the spots vacated by the dismissed teaching assistants. Read more.
It’s not too late to save Brazil’s universities and its democracy
Debora Diniz, Times Higher Education, 02/28
An atmosphere of fear on campuses has served to mute expression and limit academic freedom, but action can still be taken to fight back, says Debora Diniz. Read more.
Universities in Venezuela: “You can be critical, but the threat is latent” [Spanish]
Julia Brekl, Deutsche Welle (DW), 02/27
Autonomous universities in Venezuela have a long tradition of resistance. What is the current situation of academic freedom in the country? These are the perspectives of different academics. Read more.
Open letter from Canadian academics opposing the IHRA definition of antisemitism
Independent Jewish Voices Canada, 02/27
Nearly 350 Canadian academics have signed on to an open letter opposing the International Holocaust Remembrance Association (IHRA) definition of antisemitism. Read more.
Oettinger defends controversial job for Orbán’s science council
Hans Von der Burchard and Cristina Gonzalez, Politico, 02/26
Former European Commissioner Günther Oettinger has defended his plan to take up a top post at a controversial science council set up by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Hungary’s Official Journal said last week that Orbán had appointed the German politician as co-chairman of the newly created National Science Policy Council, which advises the government on innovation and research. Read more.
China decides to set its own path in academic evaluation
Futao Huang, University World News, 02/26
On 18 February 2020, the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Science and Technology jointly issued a notice announcing a reform of China’s academic evaluation system. Read more.
Jailed French academic Adelkhah hospitalised in Iran: Lawyer
AFP via France 24, 02/25
French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah, jailed in Iran since last year, has been transferred to a prison hospital after her health deteriorated following a hunger strike, her lawyer said Tuesday. Read more.
Visa obstacles thwart renowned foreign scholars
Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Education, 02/24
A German professor invited to Virginia to teach about far-right politics faces visa delays, and a British professor focused on human rights can’t travel to Florida in the latest cases of scholars facing heightened scrutiny by U.S. immigration authorities. Read more.
When the State wants to control the narrative [Spanish]
Claudio Pairoba, Los Andes, 02/24
Tensions between science and the power of the day are not new. Today we see them related to current events. Read more.
Speech under siege from street to internet: Annual Report on the State of Freedom of Expression in Egypt for 2019
The Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE), 02/23
AFTE’s annual report for 2019 examines threats to freedom of expression across Egypt, including targeted attacks and legislation that negatively impact journalists, netizens, scholars, and students. Read more.
An Egyptian’s arrest rekindles an Italian trauma
Declan Walsh and Elisabetta Povoledo, The New York Times, 02/21
Haunted by the 2016 death in Cairo of an Italian student, Giulio Regeni, Italians are campaigning for the release of an Egyptian who has said he was tortured. When an Egyptian student was arrested at the Cairo Airport recently, it was hardly an unusual event. Read more.
Iran upholds lengthy prison sentences for eight environmentalists
Middle East Eye, 02/19
An Iranian court has upheld prison sentences ranging from four to 10 years against eight members of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation, despite criticism by rights groups. Read more.
Scholars’ growing insecurity puts academic freedom at risk
Farkhad Alimukhamedov, The Conversation, 02/19
In Iran, several scholars, including France’s Fariba Adelkhah and Roland Marchal (Sciences Po) and Australia’s Kylie Moore-Gilbert (University of Melbourne), have been detained under espionage charges. All deny the accusations, yet face several years in jail. Read more.
Evidence that conservative students really do self-censor
Conor Friedersdorf, The Atlantic, 02/16
I’ve argued before that campus speech is threatened from a dozen directions, citing scores of incidents that undermine the culture of free expression and dialogue needed to seek truth and learn. The academic Jeffrey Adam Sachs has staked out a contrasting position at the Niskanen Center. Read more.
Hong Kong scholars perceive declining academic freedom
Ellie Bothwell, Times Higher Education, 02/16
More than two-thirds of scholars in Hong Kong believe that the level of academic freedom in the territory has declined over the past year, according to a study. Read more.
Police stormed a university in India. Muslim students say the violence was an act of revenge.
Joanna Slater, The Washington Post, 02/16
Inside Room 46 of the Morison Court dormitory, the university students huddled in the dark, too afraid to speak. Police in riot gear pounded on the door. The next sound was glass shattering, then came the thunk and hiss of tear gas. Something exploded once, then twice, with a deafening noise. Read more.
‘This may be the last piece I write’: Prominent Xi critic has internet cut after house arrest
Verna Yu and Emma Graham-Harrison, The Guardian, 02/16
The Chinese professor Xu Zhangrun, who published a rare public critique of President Xi Jinping over China’s coronavirus crisis, was placed under house arrest for days, barred from social media and is now cut off from the internet, his friends have told the Guardian. Read more.
Scientists in Indonesia fear political interference
Dyna Rochmyaningsih, Science Magazine, 02/14
After living and working in Indonesia for about 15 years, French landscape ecologist David Gaveau suddenly left the country on 28 January. Indonesian immigration authorities had ordered Gaveau, a research associate with the Center for International Forestry Research in Bogor, on Java, to leave because of a visa violation. Read more.
Polish academics fear Catholic group’s role in ‘free speech’ law
John Morgan, Times Higher Education, 02/13
Polish academics have raised fears about government moves to create a committee to rule on alleged “freedom of speech” violations in universities, highlighting the involvement of a group of ultra-conservative Catholic lawyers in the proposed legislative changes. Read more.
Controlling Hong Kong HE is ‘top priority’ for China
Yojana Sharma, University World News, 02/12
Controlling the higher education sector in Hong Kong is a high priority, if not the top priority, of the Chinese government’s bid to step up authoritarian controls across different sectors of Hong Kong society, and must be seen in the context of China’s bid to spread its influence on campuses globally, says a group of Hong Kong scholars in a new report on academic freedom in Hong Kong. Read more.
‘Naked intimidation’: How universities silence academics on social media
Tess Reidy, The Guardian, 02/12
When Cardiff University PhD student Grace Krause began getting headaches and back pain after staring at a computer screen for days on end, she decided to speak out online. “Staff are marking hundreds of essays in an impossibly short time. It is exhausting. Everyone is in crisis mode. Stressed, moody, morose, everyone feels like they’re drowning,” she wrote on Twitter. Read more.
South Sudan academic suspended over opinion piece
Nyagoah Tut Pur, Human Rights Watch, 02/12
South Sudan’s University of Juba has suspended a renowned academic and writer from his teaching position over an opinion article on the issue of states and their boundaries – a controversial issue that has yet to be addressed by South Sudanese leaders before a unity government can be formed. Read more.
One academic per university at overseas conferences, says Brazil
Anna McKie, Times Higher Education, 02/11
Researchers in Brazil have expressed anger at an “unbelievable” government decree that limits the number of academics who may attend an international conference to just one per institution. Read more.
Students are the ‘backbone’ of Iraq anti-government protests
Linah Alsaafin, Al Jazeera, 02/10
Iraqi students in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square say they will remain at the sit-in until their demands have been answered. Inside one of a sea of tents in Tahrir Square, Sajjad Muyed and a group of his friends are sitting in a circle on thin mattresses, singing anti-government songs. Read more.
Egypt arrests, tortures human rights advocate: Rights group
Al Jazeera, 02/09
An Egyptian researcher and activist has been arrested at Cairo’s international airport upon his arrival from Italy. Patrick George Zaki, 27, had been in Bologna since August 2019 for his postgraduate studies and returned to Egypt’s capital for a brief family visit on Friday. Read more.
Academic dissent emerges over coronavirus outbreak
Mimi Leung and Yojana Sharmam, University World News, 02/06
A well-known academic in China has this week criticised the government’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak highlighting that it has caused widespread dissatisfaction in the country. The emergence of criticism by academics, medical personnel, and netizens silenced by the authorities for ‘spreading rumours’ could herald a new strand of political dissent with the potential to outlast the current emergency. Read more.
Struggle between state control and autonomy is playing out at the University of Nairobi
Ishmael Munene, The Conversation, 02/05
Since mid-January the University of Nairobi has been operating without a leader. This follows a decision by Kenya’s cabinet secretary for education to disband the institution’s council. He also rejected the institution’s appointment of a new vice-chancellor. Read more.
At Moscow university, a debate: Ban politics or risk the Kremlin’s wrath?
Fred Weir, The Christian Science Monitor, 02/04
Russia’s second-largest and most progressive state-funded university is facing a dilemma. On one hand, the Higher School of Economics (HSE), which has openly modeled itself on Western university traditions, generally espouses freedom of speech, and its spacious, modern downtown Moscow campuses are a known bastion of liberal moods. Read more.
Iranian students with valid visas turned back at US borders
Jihan Abdalla, Al Jazeera, 02/04
A mad dash to collect documents, two overseas trips, a nerve-racking interview followed by months of anxious waiting. After securing admission to some of the world’s most prestigious universities, this is the gruelling and costly process Iranian students go through to obtain a student visa to the United States. Read more.
Open Society University Network launched with $1 billion gift
Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Ed, 02/04
The financier George Soros recently announced a $1 billion donation to endow a new international network of universities with a stated aim of promoting “critical thinking, open intellectual inquiry, and fact-based research to strengthen foundations of open society amid authoritarian resurgence.” Read more.
Free to Think: Attacks on scholars, scientists threaten societies everywhere
Ian Graham, EuroScientist, 02/03
On September 26, 2019, a Turkish court ruled that the publication of a series of newspaper articles about pollution constituted a criminal act. The articles’ author, a scholar of public health named Bülent Şık, had been dismissed from his position at Akdeniz University three years earlier by presidential decree. Read more.
Iraqi students rally against PM-designate Mohammed Allawi
Al Jazeera, 02/02
Hundreds of students have marched in cities across Iraq to denounce the nomination of Mohammed Allawi as the country’s next prime minister despite calls from influential Shia leader, Muqtada al-Sadr, for his supporters to clear roads and resume “day-to-day life.” Read more.
Free speech for whom?
Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Ed, 01/31
The arrest and sentencing of a Chinese student at the University of Minnesota for tweets he posted while studying in the U.S. raise concerns about restrictions on Chinese students’ speech. Read more.
Abduction of Ethiopian students fuels anger at the government
Simon Marks and Abdi Latif Dahir, The New York Times, 01/30
Ethiopians are taking to the streets and to social media to protest their government’s failure to find at least a dozen university students and five other people who were believed to have been kidnapped from a bus by masked men in December in the latest in a chain of ethnically driven conflicts. Read more.
Jamia Millia: Indian student injured as man fires at university protest
BBC, 01/30
A student has been shot after a man opened fire during a protest against a controversial citizenship law in the Indian capital, Delhi. Police arrested the gunman outside the city’s prestigious Jamia Millia Islamia university. Read more.
Sedition charges against JNU scholar for citizenship speech
Shuriah Niazi, University World News, 01/30
Jawaharlal Nehru University researcher Sharjeel Imam’s arrest in New Delhi on sedition charges has sparked outrage among lecturers and students. Some see it as part of a conspiracy to vilify left-leaning students and dissenters and to undermine secular institutions, academic freedom and criticism of the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Read more.
Brazil’s pick of a creationist to lead its higher education agency rattles scientists
Herton Escobar, Science Magazine, 01/26
The appointment of a creationism advocate to lead the agency that oversees Brazil’s graduate study programs has scientists here concerned—yet again—about the encroachment of religion on science and education policy. Read more.
‘Demeaned and humiliated’: What happened to these Iranians at U.S. airports
Caleb Hampton and Caitlin Dickerson, The New York Times, 01/25
Since August, at least 16 Iranian students have been turned away at airports, losing their chances to study at prestigious universities, amid new tensions between the U.S. and Iran. Read more.
Campus attack and police violence alarm Indian academics
Sanjay Kumar, Science Magazine, 01/24
A controversial citizenship bill that became law on 12 January has led many in India’s scientific establishment, traditionally apolitical, to speak out. But the response has been fierce. In December 2019, police brutally suppressed protests at two predominantly Muslim universities, and on 5 January, masked intruders armed with iron rods, stones, and sticks beat and terrorized students and teachers at Jawaharlal Nehru University, a liberal bastion where students were on strike against the bill and a steep hike in student fees. Read more.
Iraqi government pressures protesting students to return to the classroom
Gilgamesh Nabeel, Al-Fanar Media, 01/24
Iraqi students have become a focus of the government’s efforts to snuff out the protests that have largely paralyzed that country since the end of October. Read more.
Merkel reminds Erdogan about scientific freedom (German)
Amory Burchard, Der Tagesspiegel, 01/24
Chancellor Angela Merkel called for more social freedom, especially at universities and in research, during a visit to Turkey. “The greater the degree of scientific freedom, the greater the scientific output,” said Merkel on Friday in Istanbul at the opening of the Turkish-German University campus with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Read more.
China’s camps now have survivors, and their ordeals aren’t over
Josh Rogin, The Washington Post, 01/23
The Chinese government is busily spinning lies about its massive “re-education camps” for Muslim minorities in Xinjiang. But as survivors escape China, their firsthand accounts tell the true story — and their terrible ordeals continue. Twenty-four-year-old college student Vera Yueming Zhou came to the United States in 2008 and is a U.S. permanent resident. She also happens to be a member of the Hui, a largely Muslim ethnic group. Read more.
Turkey: Alternative academies
Ben Upton, Research Europe, 01/23
Dismissal, exile and imprisonment drove Turkish researchers to build their own academies
Yücel Demirer should have been teaching in September 2016, but instead he began the month sipping tea in a café in Kocaeli, an industrial city close to Istanbul. Read more.
Iranian student denied entry to U.S.
Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Ed, 01/22
The student was bound for study at Northeastern University but was sent back after arriving in Boston. He’s the latest in what experts say has been a troubling number of cases of Iranians being turned back despite having valid student visas. Read more.
University of Maryland cuts China-supported education program amid tensions between countries
Phil Davis, The Baltimore Sun, 01/22
The University of Maryland, College Park has ended a Chinese-government approved education program after Congress passed legislation that the university said could jeopardize future federal funding if the program were to continue. Read more.
‘Harmony,’ not censorship: Students and faculty at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics have been told to cease ‘divisive’ political activism or find another university
Irina Kravtsova, Meduza, 01/21
On January 17, the administration at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics — one of the best universities in Russia — published amendments to its internal regulations on students and instructors. Following the changes, individuals affiliated with the university are now prohibited from mentioning their connection to the school when discussing political issues or taking part in “socially divisive” activities. Read more.
Chinese universities are enshrining Communist Party control in their charters
Emily Feng and Amy Cheng, NPR, 01/20
It wasn’t just the fact that one of China’s best universities had changed its charter last December to emphasize loyalty to the ruling Communist Party that raised eyebrows. Shanghai’s Fudan University also deleted principles like freedom of thought, and did so publicly, as if expecting praise. Read more.
Famous Pakistani rights defender detained for hours
Ayesha Tanzeem, Voice of America, 01/20
Authorities in Pakistan detained a human rights defender for seven hours at an airport as she tried to take a flight from Pakistan’s second largest city Lahore to the United Kingdom. Activist and human rights lawyer Jalila Haider was on her way to attend a workshop on feminism in the University of Sussex when she was told that her name was on a no-fly list for alleged “anti-state activities.” Read more.
Hong Kong student who helped found volunteer protest medic group arrested in China, classmates say
Hong Kong Free Press, 01/17
A Hong Kong student who helped found a network of volunteer medics to aid the city’s pro-democracy protests has been arrested on the mainland, fellow students briefed by his university have told AFP. Read more.
Occupy ringleader Shiu Ka-chun accuses Hong Kong university of ‘political cleansing’ after he is relieved of teaching post
Danny Lee, South China Morning Post, 01/17
Pro-democracy legislator Shiu Ka-chun has been relieved of his teaching post at Baptist University after being jailed for his role in the 2014 Occupy protest. The university has launched disciplinary proceedings against the department of social work lecturer, who served almost six months in prison last year after being found guilty of two public nuisance charges. Read more.
Top Russian university moves to ban political speech
The Moscow Times, 01/17
One of Russia’s elite universities is considering banning its students and faculty from exercising political speech in the wake of high-profile scandals involving free speech last year, according to its newly proposed rules. Read more.
‘You can’t handcuff my spirit’: Jailed writer wins freedom of expression prize
Alice McCool, The Guardian, 01/17
The Ugandan academic, writer and feminist activist Dr Stella Nyanzi, imprisoned for criticising the country’s president, has been awarded the Oxfam Novib/PEN International award for freedom of expression. Read more.
‘Attacks on academic freedom anywhere threaten us all’ (Portuguese)
Renata Cafardo, O Estado de S. Paulo, 01/15
Brazil appears for the first time in a report that monitors attacks on higher education across the world, alongside countries like China and Turkey. ‘We are deeply concerned,’ says Scholars at Risk’s Director of Advocacy, Clare Robinson. Read more.
Anti-regime student protests erupt after jet disaster
Shadi Khan Saif, University World News, 01/14
Undeterred by oppressive regime tactics, university students in Iran have put up a gradual yet defiant show of resentment towards the ruling religious elite with their latest protests triggered by the shooting down of a passenger plane outside Tehran by the powerful Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), killing all 176 on board, many of them students. Read more.
Protect India’s universities
Nature, 01/14
For several weeks the world has watched as India’s citizens — including academics and students — have taken to the streets. Tens of thousands have been gathering to read out the preamble to the Indian constitution, as a mark of protest against a discriminatory new citizenship law. Read more.
Behind campus attack in India, some see a far-right agenda
Kai Schultz and Suhasini Raj, The New York Times, 01/10
Hindu nationalists view Jawaharlal Nehru University, where a mob rampaged last weekend, as “a symbol of everything that is bad in this country,” one analyst said. Read more.
France calls for ‘gesture’ from Iran over detained academics
France 24, 01/10
France said on Friday that the imprisonment of two prominent French academics by Iran was unacceptable and that their release would represent a “significant gesture”, as tensions mount between Tehran and the West. Read more.
Freedom curbs raise academic collaboration uncertainty
Yojana Sharma, University World News, 01/10
Academic experts say universities in Western democracies should review their engagements with universities in China to gauge whether dramatically tightened restrictions and recent Communist Party-imposed reviews of Chinese university charters – aimed at reducing commitments to freedom of thought – are eroding academic freedom standards outside China. Read more.
Russian ‘foreign agent’ rules are chilling academic freedom
Katarzyna Kaczmarska, Times Higher Education, 01/08
As pressing political and social issues in contemporary Russia become harder and harder to discuss through online and artistic media, it may seem that academia is the only sphere left in which critical debate enjoys a relatively safe haven. However, while freedom of thought and research are legally protected under articles 29 and 44 of Russia’s 1993 constitution, academic freedom is increasingly under threat. Read more.
‘The police did nothing.’ Students in India are protesting after a masked mob violently attacked a top Delhi university
Sameer Yasir and Billy Perrigo, Time, 01/07
Nursing a bandaged right hand and bruises on his back from where he was struck with a rod, Santosh Singh says he no longer feels safe at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, where he is a masters student. Read more.
Sudan’s revolution, phase 2: Universities seek independence
Edward Fox, Al-Fanar Media, 01/06
A plan for educational reform written by teaching staff at Sudan’s oldest and largest public university, the University of Khartoum, calls for Sudan’s universities to be made independent of the central government’s control. Read more.
Peter Biar Ajak: Imprisoned Cambridge student released, lawyer says
BBC, 01/05
A Cambridge University student who had been detained in a “modern-day hellhole” in South Sudan has been pardoned and released, his lawyer said. Peter Biar Ajak had been a critic of his country’s regime and was studying for a PhD when arrested in July 2018. Read more.