Academic Freedom: Three Pieces
The social discussion - or rather: political battles - about academic freedom are intensifying. To analyze this situation, I have recently published three contributions to the debate: A blog post, an expert statement and hearing on a draft law, and a radio discussion.
Guest article on the Wiarda blog: Two concepts of academic freedom
The supporters of the Academic Freedom Network want to advocate open discourse and yet argue in part for its restriction. How can this be explained? And what are the consequences? A guest article by Karsten Schubert.
https://www.jmwiarda.de/2024/04/03/zwei-begriffe-der-wissenschaftsfreiheit/
Statement and hearing as an expert in the Science Committee of the NRW State Parliament
The AfD has introduced a bill to sanction student protest through university regulatory law. This means, for example, exmatriculating students if they disrupt university life by protesting.
In my statement, I explain why such a law would not protect academic freedom, but rather jeopardize it.
From the statement:
The GE would thus lead to a restriction of student intervention in academic and political discourse. It thus contradicts the image of universities as a place of critical, reflective and responsible education, in which students are not merely passive recipients of academic positions, but are involved in the academic and political discourse. Just as political protest is a necessary element of politics in liberal democracies, student protest is a necessary element of academia organized in universities within liberal democracy.
Link to the statement: https://www.landtag.nrw.de/portal/WWW/dokumentenarchiv/Dokument/MMST18-1570.pdf
Link to the committee minutes (with answers to questions from all political fractions): https://www.landtag.nrw.de/home/der-landtag/ausschusse-und-gremien-1/fachausschusse-1/a10-wissenschaft/anhorungen-1.html (as of July 18, the minutes are not yet online, but should be available there soon)
Radio program SWR Forum: Contested fundamental right - Is the academic freedom in danger?
A Minister of Education who publicly reprimands scientists, who gives the impression that she makes the allocation of research funding dependent on the right attitude - the affair surrounding Bettina Stark-Watzinger is the preliminary climax in a debate that has been raging at universities for a long time. It is about ideological research and academic cancel culture, about controlling discourse and prohibiting thought. Is the freedom of science in danger? Michael Risel discusses with Patrick Bahners - journalist, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Prof. Dr. Tim Henning - philosopher, University of Mainz, Prof. Dr. Maria-Sibylla Lotter - philosopher, Ruhr University Bochum, Dr. Karsten Schubert - associated researcher at the Department of Political Theory at Humboldt University Berlin