Scholars at Risk US Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference

Scholars at Risk invited participation in the US Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference held October 9-10, 2025 at New York University. SAR US member institutions and prospective members across the country were welcome to attend regardless of location. 

 See the program

 Read conference highlights

Conference venue: Kimmel Center for University Life, 60 Washington Square S, New York, NY 10012

• Thursday, October 9 programming and anniversary reception: Rosenthal Pavilion on the 10th Floor.
• Friday, October 10 programming:  Rooms 905 and 907 on the 9th Floor.

The event, titled “Working Together to Protect Scholars and Promote Academic Freedom,” featured SAR programming on both local and global responses to pressures on academic freedom. The meeting offered networking opportunities, reflections on responses to attacks on higher education in both the US and worldwide, discussion of SAR’s Free to Think 2025 report, and most notably, the launch of SAR’s 25th Anniversary year themed “Truth Matters.”

Discussions addressed questions such as:  Does higher education have a collective action problem, or just an information-sharing problem? Does higher education have a messaging problem or a deeper, structural identity problem? What are the consequences of differing responses to these questions for developing effective responses to current pressures on academic freedom?

Attendees joined SAR network colleagues as we shared questions, concerns, and lessons from experience, domestic and international, with the hope of informing efforts to develop greater protections for scholars, students, and academic freedom, in the US and beyond.

Please direct any questions about the US Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference to SARConferences@nyu.edu.

Schedule change: This regional conference replaced the previously announced SAR US General Assembly which is being rescheduled to 2026 due to travel, budget, and logistical reasons. Future regional events will be scheduled before then. SAR US member institutions and prospective members are welcome to attend any regional events, regardless of location.

Registration and programming updates will be posted here. Please direct any questions about the rescheduled US General Assembly to SARUSGeneralAssembly@nyu.edu.

Scholars at Risk gratefully acknowledges the many institutions, associations, partners, and individuals that contribute to our work, including the Mellon Foundation, the Open Society Foundations, the Teagle Foundation, the National Endowment for Democracy, the Fritt Ord Foundation, the Charina Fund, the Winston Foundation, Anonymous, New York University (host for SAR Inc.), National University of Ireland, Maynooth (host for SAR Europe), the European Union (for NUIM/SAR Europe), and the Institute of International Education. Special thanks to the Teagle Foundation for direct support for this event.