BY HANK REICHMAN Today, February 24, marks the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In a powerful extended essay, with striking visuals by Ukrainian photographer Mila Teshaieva, New York Times columnist M. Gessen reflects on the impact of the conflict, whose duration now matches that of the epic Soviet war with the Nazi…
BY AMY LAI Academic freedom is generally defined as the freedom to engage in activities involved in the production of knowledge, without unreasonable interference or restriction from law, institutional regulations, or public pressure. Interferences with academic freedom can come from within the academy, such as in the form of institutional pressures, but may also come…
BY AN ANONYMOUS IRANIAN STUDENT On June 4, 2025, the Trump administration issued a proclamation that restricts or denies entry to the United States of foreign nationals from a list of specific countries, including Iran. In the weeks since then, the AAUP has received numerous emails from current and prospective students affected by the travel…
BY SAHAR AZIZ For decades, when the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) was mentioned, it was usually in reference to combatting antisemitism. Now the ADL is more accurately cited in the litany of pro-Israeli groups attempting to criminalize Muslim and Palestinian students for seeking an end to the horrific genocide in Gaza. For over a hundred years,…
BY HANK REICHMAN In the winter 2025 issue of Academe, which I guest-edited, exiled Russian scholars Ilya Matveev and Evgeny Roshchin surveyed the state of academic freedom in that country in the aftermath of the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. (The issue also includes essays by Ukrainian scholars.) Unsurprisingly, they reported that Security agencies and…
BY HANK REICHMAN On May 25, the Black Flag Action Group, formed by scholars at Israeli colleges and universities, issued an important Urgent Call to Action demanding the heads of Israeli academic institutions “speak out” and “act immediately” to stop the war on Gaza. By May 31 the Call had collected over 1,400 signatures. As…
Thursday 13 March, 1pm EST on Zoom BDS, International Law, and the Struggle for Rights and Representation on US Campuses Workshop Introduction and moderator: Karim Mattar (CAHE) Speakers: Omar Barghouti (Palestinian BDS National Committee) and Radhika Sainath (Palestine Legal) Registration: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/pyyCqnJvT1ain-vG4sJ5mg Please join CAHE on Thursday 13 March, 1pm EST for our BDS, International Law, and the…
BY HANK REICHMAN The recently published Winter issue of Academe, devoted to the theme of “higher education in wartime,” which I guest-edited, includes three articles by Ukrainian scholars. Odesa historian and philosopher Oksana Dovgopolova writes movingly about the impact of the war on her institution. “War creates immense challenges for higher education—there is no way around…
BY HENRY REICHMAN Following is the guest editor’s introduction to the winter 2025 issue of Academe, out this week. The full table of contents for the issue is available here. We live in a world at war. According to the United Nations, the current century can be characterized as “a new era of conflict and violence.” The…
POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN As I have previously posted on this blog, Russian sociologist and professor Boris Kagarlitsky is serving a 5-year sentence in a Russian penal colony on the fabricated charge of “justifying terrorism.” Kagarlitsky, whose dissident activity dates back to an earlier imprisonment under the Soviet regime of Leonid Brezhnev, has become a…