On September 25th 2024, in New York, CAFA held a one-day Symposium on academic freedom, in partnership with Scholars at Risk, New York University and PEN America. The Symposium on Academic Freedom and Attacks on Education as a Public Good featured the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education, as well as speakers from various educator unions, faculty, scholars, and students. Its main focus was the US context, while at the same time maintaining a global perspective and analytical framework.
After an introduction by CAFA and SAR on what is Academic Freedom and why we need to protect it and a keynote intervention by the UN Special Rapporteur Farida Shaheed, the Symposium drew on 3 panels: Academic Freedom Under Fire, The Significance of University Autonomy and Attacks on K-12 Education and the Public Sphere: Threats to DEI, Gender/LGBTQI+ Studies, Book Banning, Curriculum Censorship and “Parental Rights”.
Among other elements, the commodification of education and the encroachment of private actors was highlighted, with for-profit actors shifting the agenda. The problematics of surveillance and denouncing of teachers by both students and parents was highlighted, putting education actors against each other and fostering punitive and persecutory approaches. Threats from the general public were pointed out as escalating teachers’ self-censorship and having a chilling effect on teaching, researching and debating a range of topics. A much deeper understanding of university autonomy was pointed out as a priority needed, which includes securing robust financing so that academic agendas are not imposed. Finally, the need for sustained debate and collective strategizing and action around securing academic freedom was a key consensus of the Symposium.