Academic freedom

In wake of campus free speech bill plan, Tory ex-minister says UK-China links must be regulated to avert ‘genuine threat to free speech’

New statutory tort would aim to protect ‘political minorities’, but critics fear it will mean ‘risk-assessing the life out of campus’

Government’s legislative agenda includes extra powers for OfS on HE quality and enabling individuals to sue universities on free speech

Professor accuses university of ‘aligning itself with a propaganda narrative that is not intellectually defensible’

Eleven universities, their real estate and shares have been given over to foundations that observers say will be dominated by ruling party loyalists

With some academics being willing to oust those they disagree with, self-censorship is a huge, unacknowledged problem, says James Tooley

Eric Chabriere’s attacks against critics of hydroxychloroquine are seen as a sign of the social-media-induced radicalisation that has occurred during the pandemic

Faculty group’s first boycott order in decade affirms pro-Israel interference, but president Meric Gertler pushes back

Conference hears argument that freedoms are ‘better achieved’ by maintaining public support for universities

Restrictions are rare, but the Russell Group is putting its commitment to the open and rigorous contestation of ideas beyond doubt, says Tim Bradshaw

Academics question whether autonomy will be protected as an ambitious national policy is implemented

Making historic ‘misrepresentations’ a reportable offence could affect even overseas study   

Video platform made powerful by pandemic agrees to largely let universities police content

Scholars fear threat of lawsuits is deterring academics from exploring Polish complicity in genocide

Leading scholar says region must place more importance on liberal arts, not just science and engineering, to build better societies

Online harassment is now spilling into the real world, with politically outspoken historians doxed and subject to posters warning: ‘You are being watched’

Academics emphasise role of critical thinking in societal development at THE summit

Attempts to impose the IHRA definition have prompted the formulation of an alternative that respects academic freedom, says Bahram Bekhradnia

Education institutions are being undermined from within, everywhere from Turkey to Brazil, online conference hears

Universities have decried the GCRF cuts, but being corralled into promoting justice globalism is not academic freedom, says Bruce Macfarlane

Pratap Bhanu Mehta’s resignation from Ashoka underlines that financial autonomy doesn’t remove fear of government anger, says Saikat Majumdar

Universities face ban on deals with foreign partners that lack ‘institutional autonomy’, as they wrestle with similar demons

University employees are ‘in the firing line’ and some have gone into hiding

Newcastle University scholar says she ‘will not be silenced’

Rising public support for barring discrimination against LGBTQ people

Beijing has banned dozens of China researchers and their families, while the country’s embassy to France called an expert a “petty thug” on Twitter

Policy expert suggests institutions could back Brexit, a republic or rebrand themselves as a ‘Black Lives Matter university’

Events at the University of Leicester suggest an always tense relationship may be turning toxic, says Ursula Huws

Global index finds freedom of academic expression is declining, while experts warn overall autonomy may worsen post-pandemic

SOAS scholar says free speech is not an on/off switch and speakers could be invited on certain terms

Observers detect message that caution on criticism is price of increased funding, but suspect balancing act will be difficult to sustain

Debates around transgender rights illustrate why intellectual freedom rules must be in place before touchy topics arise, say authors

The crackdown on ‘Islamo-leftism’ is a purely political move to court right-wing votes in the coming election, says William Barylo

Worries about Islamo-leftism in France and free speech in England reflect disciplines’ straddling of science and activism, says Alexis Artaud de La Ferrière

Ethics approval for survey shaping government policy should still stand, says university panel

The Chicago Principles are powerful partly because they are linked to institutional history and values, say Carolyn Evans and Adrienne Stone

Universities must develop their own cultures of academic freedom rather than borrowing them, according to Australian authors

Academics and public health officials quit Covid-19 research or need police protection after attracting threats

Despite new encouragement, campuses that quit under Trump not considering reversals

Hepi event also hears v-cs argue that free speech rows reflect wider social issues ‘at play in universities’ as key sites of debate

But Frédérique Vidal admits the term ‘has no scientific definition’, and it remains unclear who will conduct the investigation

Mushrooming university may need to limit its activities to balance the books, new president suggests

Organisation charged with leading probe says term has no ‘scientific reality’ and is being used to shut down academic discussion of race and colonialism

Scholars at Risk denounces arrests and police actions on campus

A national ‘great debate’ in England would be more effective than imposing free speech champions and threatening fines, says Dennis Hayes

University and College Union accuses ministers of ‘fighting phantom threats’

Legislation will enable police presence on campuses after years of academics being assaulted, held hostage and blocked from entering buildings

Gavin Williamson’s call for OfS to ‘support individual academics’ in curriculum rows could ‘set up wall with university leadership’

Vote comes amid growing row over IHRA definition, which a UK minister wants universities to adopt

As military overlords revert to type, concerns mount over fate of detained Australian economist

Fighting discrimination is a must, but the IHRA document undermines that fight and threatens free speech, says Hagit Borer

Experts call on global community to support Burmese scholars

Expert fears that sexual minorities are ‘invisible and muted’ across Chinese campuses

Gang Chen gets backing as US reported to be considering retreating from such cases

Railing against ‘anti-Russian forces’, lawmakers are proposing state control over ‘educational activities’

National University of Singapore Press criticised over decision to scrap publication of title critical of country’s rulers

John Eastman, a renowned conservative, joined Trump at rally to push vote fraud claim

Appointment of Melih Bulu, a former ruling party political candidate, has triggered days of protests from staff and students at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul

Defence controls, research fields and New Colombo Plan in the frame, as bureaucracies flag foreign interference risks

Study finds dismissed supporters of Academics for Peace struggling to gain residence permits, find work and travel