One concept – different realities: academic freedom – does it even exist?

Image source: http://atfie.blogspot.com/2011/03/academic-freedom-and-educational.html 

In this post, I would like to shed light on the real truth about the restrictions and even prohibition over academics’ rights to express their honest opinion on different issues using their studies, classrooms and media. In other words, I will describe the nature of academic freedom and its ways of embodiment in different parts of the world.

Nowadays, there is no ‘universal’ meaning of academic freedom and therefore no common regulations over their rights to freely express their thoughts in oral or written forms. Thus, the extent of academic freedom varies throughout different countries and depends on lots of factors such as historical background, political regime, religious norms and even geographical position. In several countries, such as Iran, Syria and North Korea, academic freedom is simply prohibited. Almost similar situation can be observed in China, Vietnam, and Cuba, where many restrictions are put on academics in social sciences. Those academics who violate the rules and write on controversial topics regarding politics or ideology can be fired, prosecuted and even put in jail (Altbach, 2001).    

While in some countries academic freedom has different limits, in others (Ex.: Ethiopia, Serbia, several African/Asian countries) there are relatively few restrictions. However, even though academics in such countries have more freedom over their speech and publications, they have to be extremely cautious about the topics of their studies which can be either “politically or ideologically sensitive by the state” (Altbach, 2001, p. 212). The penalties for violating the regulations of academic freedom can be really severe and in most cases not investigated and reviewed by the court. In other countries with particular limits over academic freedom (Ex.: Singapore, Malaisia), professors are primarily acknowledged about particular taboo topics for research and discussions. Such topics include “ethnic conflict, certain religious issues, and local corruption” (Altbach, 2001, p. 213).

Nevertheless, even though the whole picture with the majority of countries is quite dramatic, many countries which had no academic freedom in the past (Ex.: Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, former Soviet Union countries), now are starting to change their regulations towards a more liberal view. More specifically, academics are free to choose whichever topic they want to pursue in their research or discussions in the classroom. However, in particular countries like Belarus, academic freedom is in a quite modest level, and in Ukraine and some countries of Central Asia the state of academic freedom is really under the question (Altbach, 2001).

Finally, in many industrialized countries (Ex.: Japan, Germany, the USA), academics are supposed to be given absolute freedom in expressing their opinions in oral and written forms both within and outside the university. Nevertheless, even such absolute freedom has its omissions and risks for academics. In particular, even though professors are not restricted from academic freedom, they can face harsh opposition from the views and interests of other individuals or even organizations. It can be explained by the partial corporatization of universities in these industrialized countries which lead to the situations when academics are forced to play the roles of ‘puppets’. More specifically, since most studies nowadays can be funded by different private organizations, professors have to write and publish not what they usually want to, but what they are expected to. Moreover, professors are also usually prohibited from disseminating the results of their research if there is such condition from the sponsor (Altbach, 2001).

One interesting case of violating the academic freedom of professor happened just recently in Northwest Nazarene University, where a tenured professor was dismissed from his job because of his theological beliefs. To be exact, since he was theologian, he was prohibited by the president of university to support the theory of evolution. I found this case extremely strange due to several reasons: first, he was a tenured professor who is not supposed to be fired; second, he was notified by email about his dismissal because of so called ‘budget cuts’; and third, it is just odd to fire a person simply because he believes in evolution. 

The second case which I would also like to share is a bit more complicated. In this situation, the University of New Brunswick in Canada impressed me for its support of one of their tenured professor who expressed his opinion on the situation with Asian immigrants in Vancouver and was consequently accused of being a racist by a Vancouver city councillor. Moreover, he was told to use academic freedom as a "shield" for the purpose to express his own controversial views. An interesting note was mentioned by the president of the Association of University of New Brunswick Teachers on the issue of academic freedom after this case, telling that: “academic freedom is under pressure from corporations, political interests and even big pharmaceuticals who don't like what scientists are telling them”.

To conclude, even though academic freedom is very necessary for the development of science and education, it is still being oppressed by university leaders and governments around the world. I believe that academic freedom should not be regarded as a threat to society, but as an opportunity for continuous development of different countries. However, since people usually tend to believe almost everything they read or hear, this absolute freedom of speech can pose significant risks to political and social stability in many countries.

So, what do you think about this issue? Is academic freedom worth such risks? Or should there be some limits of this freedom of speech and publications?

References:

Altbach, P. G. (2001). Academic freedom: International realities and challenges. Higher education, 41(1-2), 205-219.