“Something is broken in our college and university systems. Professors are being declared “the enemy of the people” by J. D. Vance and other MAGA Republicans. Book bans, curriculum reviews, attacks on DEI programs, threats of defunding, and suspending faculty or removing their tenure are becoming widespread. Students engaged in peaceful assembly are being assaulted, criminalized, and locked up by riot police and accused of creating an atmosphere of campus hostility. Together these events sharply reveal that the higher education system, which many people take for granted, is fundamentally changing, if not shattered.

Against the full-scale assault by the far right on higher education, there is an urgent need to rebuild the infrastructure that supports academic freedom. Academic freedom is central to the core mission of education. It is both an individual and collective professional right to think, research, teach, and disseminate evidence-based knowledge free from political interference and threats of punishment. And it is essential in developing the capacity for students to think independently, including the ability to challenge the status quo and the far right’s authority to govern.”

Continue reading: https://academeblog.org/2024/09/03/rebuilding-the-infrastructure-of-academic-freedom/