23rd Ethical Forum of the University Foundation

ACADEMIC FREEDOM UNDER ATTACK - ALSO FROM WITHIN? 

In many countries, now including the United States, academic freedom is under serious threat from above, from those who wield academic, religious, economic or, and above all, political power. These threats must meet with the vigorous resistance they deserve.

But isn’t there also an undesirable shrinking of the bandwidth of academic freedom from within? Does ideologically driven pressure from peers and even sometimes from students prevent certain research questions from being investigated, certain topics from being freely discussed in class, certain views from being publicly expressed by academics or by guest speakers?

The purpose of this Ethical Forum is to stimulate reflection on the following important questions: 

If this is the case, should we deplore the resulting lack of diversity in research, teaching and public interventions?

Does this lack of diversity damage universities’ capacity to fulfill their three-fold mission? Might it spoil the trust they enjoy among the general public, thereby providing ammunition for top-down pressures on academic freedom?

And if such a problem exists, how can it and should it be addressed?

Lead speakers  

Andreas De Block, philosopher, KU Leuven,

author of « Is links gewoon slimmer? Ideologie aan onze universiteiten »

Eric Fassin, sociologist, Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint Denis,

author of « Misère de l'anti-intellectualisme : Du procès en wokisme au chantage à l'antisémitisme »
 

A number of background documents are available in the downloads section (see link above). 

Organizing committee 

Philippe Van Parijs (coordinator), Eric De Keuleneer, Helder De Schutter, Hilde Garmyn, Jean-Paul Lambert, 
François Levrau, Gregory Lewkowicz, Sandy Tubeuf, Lieve Van Hoof, Dominique Willems, Jacques Willems.

Participation is free of charge, but registration is requested. The registration form will be made available in October.