Trans activists are running a campaign against University of Melbourne philosopher Holly Lawford-Smith. It raises a host of challenging ethical questions.
Belonging can also mean being able to challenge dominant norms and discourses.
As universities set up campuses globally, the blanket protections of academic freedom are becoming increasingly difficult to guarantee.
In a volatile and uncertain world, academic freedom is the foundation of universities’ capacity to be responsive to all of the challenges we face today.
With an increasing percentage of adjunct faculty, tenure and academic freedom are way more complex and nuanced than we realize.
Restricting academic freedom is often thought of in terms of universities telling professors what they can and cannot do or teach. But that isn’t the only scenario.
The identity and purpose of universities as spaces of free thinking depends on it.
A study titled “Defending and promoting academic freedom” that was conducted for a French higher education and research organisation discusses four areas for improvement of this crucial effort.
Facing protests by students and academics over its Liberal Party links and generous funding by the Morrison government, the centre’s most important test will be whether it respects academic freedom.
The issues dominating public debates about academic freedom are not where the greatest threats lie.
