Australian students are returning to university campuses for the start of the academic year. They do so amid highly charged debates around racism and antisemitism. Australian universities have been accused both of failing to protect freedom of speech and academic freedom, and failing to protect the safety and wellbeing of Jewish students and staff. A new Australian Human Rights […] … learn more→

Texas A&M University told philosophy professor Martin Peterson in early January 2026 that he could not teach some of Greek philosopher Plato’s writings that touch on “race and gender ideology.” The university’s local chapter of the American Association of University Professors, an organization of professors and academics in the U.S., quickly denounced this requirement. Peterson, in response to […] … learn more→

Academic freedom refers to a set of freedoms including freedom of teaching, freedom of research, and freedom of expression, all of which enable the university to fulfill its missions. It is therefore closely linked to the role assigned to the university. To better protect it, as attacks against education and higher education have multiplied in the United […] … learn more→

The ability to teach and conduct research free from political interference is the cornerstone of higher education and its contribution to the public good. Academic freedom, however, has become increasingly threatened. V-Dem Institute, a global research organization that monitors indicators of democracy around the world, determined that academic freedom has “substantially worsened” in the United States […] … learn more→

Over the past few years, Republican state lawmakers have introduced more than 150 bills in 35 states that seek to curb academic freedom on campus. Twenty-one of these bills have been signed into law. This legislation is detailed in a new white paper published by the Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom, a project established […] … learn more→

In the era of today’s heated culture wars, the concepts of academic freedom and freedom of expression have become increasingly conflated. Divisive political debates around critical race theory, Québec’s Bill 32 and talk of establishing “free speech guardians” are just some recent examples. Academic freedom is being subsumed into the oftentimes polarizing rhetoric concerning what is commonly referred […] … learn more→

There is growing interest in the state of academic freedom worldwide. A 1997 Unesco document defines it as the right of scholars to teach, discuss, research, publish, express opinions about systems and participate in academic bodies. Academic freedom is a cornerstone of education and knowledge. Yet there is surprisingly little empirical research on the actual […] … learn more→

Academic freedom has become a polarizing topic. Recent issues at the University of Ottawa expose ongoing challenges of balancing academic freedom with university community members’ rights to respectful and safe classroom and campus spaces. In October 2021, the university’s Committee on Academic Freedom issued a report that examined academic freedom, freedom of expression, equity, diversity and inclusion — […] … learn more→

In recent months, academic freedom has been the subject of particular attention, in an entirely new way in France. This sudden interest in a hitherto unrecognized freedom is mainly explained by the emergence of various threats that come from the political, economic and militant spheres. This climate of tension goes against the necessary independence of academics in their fields […] … learn more→

We are currently witnessing a discussion about academic freedom, which is the right to teach, learn, study, and publish without economic or political pressure . An independent commission on academic freedom was recently set up in Quebec. For its part, following several controversies, the University of Ottawa commissioned a report on academic freedom from a committee chaired by the former […] … learn more→