Abstract:
Academic freedom, the right of the professor to seek and teach the truth in research and practice, is rarely attacked frontally. Rather it is assaulted little by little over a period of time when no one prohibition, censored language, or outlawed concept can erase it totally in one fell swoop. However, little cuts, collectively over time, can result in a tipping point where academic freedom is effectively eviscerated.
The purpose of the proposed paper is to identify the leadership challenges posed by the Academic Freedom Index (AFI) developed in 2017 by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation in Germany with the Global Public Policy Institute by which 179 countries are ranked on their AFI which includes four factors: (1) freedom to research and teach; (2) freedom of academic exchange and dissemination; (3) institutional autonomy; (4) campus integrity which means the absence of security infringements and surveillance, including online learning platforms), and; (5) freedom of academic and cultural expression.
One of the most radical and well-financed assaults on academic freedom is occurring in the USA and specifically in Florida. Under a series of legislative mandates certain types of classroom discussions are banned. Other books are also banned in school and public libraries. Of particular importance is that Florida House Bill 266 which prohibits the terms “diversity, equity, and inclusion” from being applied in the state’s universities as institutional goals. The Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis, has sarcastically referred to DEI as “discrimination, exclusion, and indoctrination.” Under this law, the entire field of sociology was dropped as one of five core general education areas because it ostensibly contained too many subversive ideas such as critical race theory. It is to be replaced with a carefully crafted course on American history which is designed not to question American moral, racial, economic or political flaws in its past.
Institutional educational leaders and academic colleagues must understand the nature of the tactics and the threats to the very foundations of higher education which are being eroded, leading to former Harvard President Derek Bok warning that ‘Our leading universities, for all their outwards signs of wealth and success, are now in greater danger than they have been in a very long time’. This paper will close with a series of recommendations concerning how global academic leaders can confront these assaults.
The purpose of the proposed paper is to identify the leadership challenges posed by the Academic Freedom Index (AFI) developed in 2017 by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation in Germany with the Global Public Policy Institute by which 179 countries are ranked on their AFI which includes four factors: (1) freedom to research and teach; (2) freedom of academic exchange and dissemination; (3) institutional autonomy; (4) campus integrity which means the absence of security infringements and surveillance, including online learning platforms), and; (5) freedom of academic and cultural expression.
One of the most radical and well-financed assaults on academic freedom is occurring in the USA and specifically in Florida. Under a series of legislative mandates certain types of classroom discussions are banned. Other books are also banned in school and public libraries. Of particular importance is that Florida House Bill 266 which prohibits the terms “diversity, equity, and inclusion” from being applied in the state’s universities as institutional goals. The Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis, has sarcastically referred to DEI as “discrimination, exclusion, and indoctrination.” Under this law, the entire field of sociology was dropped as one of five core general education areas because it ostensibly contained too many subversive ideas such as critical race theory. It is to be replaced with a carefully crafted course on American history which is designed not to question American moral, racial, economic or political flaws in its past.
Institutional educational leaders and academic colleagues must understand the nature of the tactics and the threats to the very foundations of higher education which are being eroded, leading to former Harvard President Derek Bok warning that ‘Our leading universities, for all their outwards signs of wealth and success, are now in greater danger than they have been in a very long time’. This paper will close with a series of recommendations concerning how global academic leaders can confront these assaults.