Academic Freedom Media Review
July 10 – 16, 2010
Compiled by Scholars at Risk
Persecuted Scholars Find Refuge in the Netherlands
UAF-SAR, 7/16
Three University of Zimbabwe students appear in court
The Zimbabwean, 7/16
Academics attack RCUK’s ‘dogmatic stance’ in refusing to rethink impact
Paul Jump, Times Higher Education, 7/15
The Growth of Private and For-Profit Higher Education in Britain: Competition or Collaboration?
Geoffrey Alderman, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 7/15
Teaching or Preaching?
Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Education, 7/15
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Tag Archives: cultural policy
Academic Freedom Review, July 3-9
Scholars at Risk Academic Freedom Media Review
July 3 – 9, 2010
News Alert: Reports suggest release from prison of Dr. Igor Sutyagin
Scholars at Risk, 7/9
ACLU accused UW police of spying on action group
Casey McNerthney, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 7/9
Oil-crisis research casts USF into political waters
Lindsay Peterson, Tampa Bay Online, 7/9
Adjunct Who Taught Catholicism at U. of Illinois Says Job Loss Violated Academic Freedom
The Chronicle of Higher Education, 7/9
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Culture Jamming Anti-Ads
These are spoof ads from Adbusters Magazine,
a not-for-profit, reader-supported, 120,000-circulation magazine concerned about the erosion of our physical and cultural environments by commercial forces.
I think they are amazing. Funny, yet tragic. They point out the absurdity of advertising that promises to fulfill all our desires and yet only creates and enlarges desires that can never be filled.
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Academic Freedom Media Review
Academic Freedom Media Review
May 22 – 28, 2010
Below is the weekly compilation of news articles addressing issues of academic freedom that is put together by Scholars at Risk.
MLA Pushes for End to Ideological Denials of Visas
Inside Higher Ed, 5/28
Groups protest Israel denying US student’s entry
Jeff Karoun, The Associated Press, 5/27
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Global Connections and Exchange Program Combines Technology and In-Person Exchanges
Midlothian High School students planted trees in honor of their guests. | photo courtesy of Jamie Schlais Barnes
Two weeks ago, three men walked into Midlothian High School looking for a better understanding of American culture. Ten days later, they left having changed their own perceptions of U.S. citizens and their students’ perceptions of Arabic culture. Their challenge and that of the students at Midlothian High School is to continue spreading what they learned.
Abdulwahab Albaadani, a teacher at Ibn Majed in Sanaa, Yemen, Amine Slimani, a teacher from the Secondary School of Nedroma in Nedroma, Algeria and his pupil, Mohamed Belmeliami, traveled to the U.S. as a culmination of nearly a year’s worth of video conferencing, cultural lessons, and web logging with social studies classes at Midlothian High School…
Here we go again!
A new attack ad targeting three Democratic senators and one Republican criticizes “hidden taxes on … pensions and retirement accounts” in the financial regulation legislation being considered by Congress, and urges the senators to “vote against this phony financial reform.”
The ad gives a false impression. The Senate bill doesn’t contain the tax mentioned in the ad.
(It) is the work of a less-than-transparent group calling itself “Stop Too Big To Fail,” which says its $1.6 million ad buy is targeting senators in Nevada, Virginia and Missouri (Sens. Harry Reid, Mark Warner, Claire McCaskill and Kit Bond).
So begins a April 23, 2010 posting from Fact Check.org…
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Academic Freedom Media Review, February 12-19
Compiled by Scholars at Risk
Alabama Shooting Puts Spotlight on Tenure Process
The Associated Press, The New York Times, 2/18
Publish and be dumped?
Laurie Taylor, The Times Higher Education, 2/18
Is Heckling a Right?
Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed, 2/17
Education is the key for the future of Belarus
Bertel Haarder, Cristina Husmark Pehrsson, Rigmor Aasrud, Jan Vapaavuori, Katrin Jakobsdottir and Halldor Asgrimsson, EuObserver, 2/17
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Visualizing Empires Decline
Here’s an interesting visualization of the expansion and contraction of colonial powers from the 19th century through the present day. I assume the shapes include the actual countries of Britain, Spain, France and Portugal and that their size in the end reflects, in part, their land mass. The description accompanying the video notes, “The data refers to the evolution of the top 4 maritime empires of the XIX and XX centuries by extent.” But each of these countries still occupies some overseas territory that is in dispute. One is certainly aware of this living in the north of Morocco where there are two Spanish enclaves.
Visualizing empires decline from Pedro M Cruz on Vimeo.
Scholars at Risk Academic Freedom Media Review
Here, once again, is the weekly Academic Freedom Media Review from one of those organizations I wish would just go away. Go away because there would simply be no more need for it. Unfortunately, all over the world scholars come under attack for their scholarship or teaching. It’s said that knowledge is power and history is full of examples of the power of ideas to rock the foundations of societies of political structures.
And so scholars, researchers, students, and even administrators find sometimes find themselves subject to restrictions on their academic freedom that include obstruction of their research, prohibition of its publication, bans against being able to teach, requirements for ideological review of publications and course materials, unofficial intimidation from any number of sources, blacklisting, media smear campaigns and the like. All to often scholars might even be subject to arrest, extended imprisonment, torture or even assassination.
The Scholars at Risk Network (SAR) is an international network of universities and colleges that responds to this by raising awareness of the issue, getting scholars in particular danger out of danger, and through other programs described on their site.
Academic Freedom Media Review
October 9 – 23, 2009
Compiled by Scholars at Risk
Hundreds of Palestinian Students Are Blocked From Travel to Foreign Universities
The Chronicle of Higher Education, 10/22
Colleges and Universities Across Pakistan Are Closed Following Deadly Attacks
Shailaja Neelakantan,The Chronicle of Higher Education, 10/21 Continue reading
Freedom of the Press in the Maghreb
Upon the death of his father, it looked as if Morocco might be on its way toward total freedom of expression. This post is too short to go into much detail, but tentatively at first, then progressively with more and more confidence the media and the arts began to confront previously taboo subjects including corruption in government and the private sector, human rights abuses, gender oppression, linguistic and cultural suppression of minorities, policies in the Western Sahara, homosexual rights, etc.
There was shock when the Moroccan magazine TelQuel was able to publish an investigative piece on “The Salary of the King,” and get away with it. Under his father Hassan the II such matters were kept as secret as nuclear launch codes. I don’t mean to say that the media totally ignored all that was wrong in Morocco until the liberalization, either. But when something was reported, it was done very carefully, with great care as to who was bore the blame. All of that changed in the years following the elevation to the throne of Mohammed VI.
Recently, however, there have been a number of setbacks and it has been hard to watch. Continue reading