First, They  Came for the Scholars

External and Internal Threats to Academic Freedom
 

Dr. Pippa Norris is the Paul F. McGuire Lecturer in Comparative Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Vice President of the World Values Survey, and founding Director of the Electoral Integrity Project.

On May 6, Dr. Norris has graciously agreed to give a presentation on academic freedom from her paper First, They Came for the Scholars: External and Internal Threats to Academic Freedom at the JFK Museum in Hyannis followed by a working lunch for participants at Alberto's.  The deadline for registration is May 2 for attendees at the JFK Museum and lunch and May 5 for Zoom participants.

Contemporary challenges to academic freedom have recently roiled many American universities and colleges. At Harvard, this includes the letter that the Trump administration sent to the President and Corporation on 11 April and the response by President Alan Garber on 14th April rejecting these demands. In the words of President Garber: “No government—regardless of which party is in power—should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.” Subsequent developments in Cambridge and elsewhere, however, have only heightened pressures.

To consider these issues, and set them in a broader context, the HCC event will feature a talk reviewing research on the general state of academic freedom and then a working lunch for members to discuss how best to respond to these challenges in concrete ways.

“First, they came for the scholars” External and internal threats to academic freedom Pippa Norris (Harvard University) Pippa_Norris@Harvard.edu

Talk Synopsis:
The early twenty-first century has seen rising concern about risks to academic freedom worldwide expressed by a wide range of international bodies. To understand these issues, Part I of the paper outlines the conceptual and theoretical framework. The study argues that restrictions on scholars can arise from both outside and within the academy, including external (or formal legal regulations) and also internal (or subjective perceptions) dimensions of academic freedom. To compare the role and distribution of external regulations, Part II compares macro-level restrictions on academic freedom in 179 nation-states worldwide by drawing upon the Varieties of Democracy Institute (V-Dem) Academic Freedom Index (AFI). Part III builds upon this foundation to understand the chilling effects of external regulations on internal or subjective risks of self-censorship within academia. Cross-national survey data from over 100 countries is used to examine the attitudes and values of scholars. The conclusion in Part IV summarizes the core findings and considers their broader implications. The results suggest that external attacks by states on freedom of research, teaching, and publication by scholars, as well as institutional autonomy in higher education, reflect broader challenges to liberal democracy, evident in recent decades in countries in many parts of the globe. In addition, internal limits on free speech are also evident, even within liberal democratic states, arising from processes of self-censorship by social conservatives holding heterodox views in the academy.

Working Lunch Discussion:
After breaking for a working lunch, groups seated at each table will be asked to brainstorm ideas and suggestions about three key questions.
 

1. What should the President and Corporation do to counter external constraints on academic freedom at Harvard?
2. What should the President and Corporation do to counter internal constraints on academic freedom at Harvard?
3. How could members of the HCCC and related alumni associations play an active role in supporting Harvard in this process?
 

Each group is asked to select a leader and rapporteur. The role of the leader is to coordinate and facilitate the discussion for about 45 minutes. The role of the rapporteur is to report back in the final plenary session by briefly summarizing 2-3 key discussion points for a total of about 5 minutes from each group. Recommendations for collective action will be considered further by the HCCC committee.

To download a registration form to mail-in for the presentation, please click here.  Otherwise: