Academic freedom is under relentless attack by the political and economic actors who feel threatened by scholarly research or speech—especially the “extramural” speech of academics. Academic freedom encompasses not only what is taught or studied, but speech that “is not necessarily connected to academic expertise, nor to one’s position within the institution [but] to the general right of all citizens to express their views” (CAUT Policy on Academic Freedom).
These attacks take many forms: attempts to discredit the individual researcher, red-baiting, or the labelling of speech as disloyal (such as the accusation that supporting the phase-out of oil and gas extraction is ‘anti-Albertan’ and should be punished). The political Right in Canada, aided by allied media like the Postmedia chain of dailies and tabloids, has been campaigning vociferously against “woke” academics and their supposedly radical ideological influence on students.
In recent months we have witnessed the resurgence of accusations that political support for Palestinians is necessarily “antisemitic.” Academics speaking in public forums (webinars, conferences, social media, mainstream media) about the genocide in Gaza have been targeted by Zionist organizations and right-wing politicians demanding everything from the defunding of their departments or research programs to their suspension or dismissal. We learned recently that the Jewish Federation of Edmonton has formed a committee to actively survey academic speech and report to university administrators what they describe as “statements published by students’ groups or professors which contain antisemitic tropes, false or inaccurate claims, or present unreasonably biased perspectives on the Israel Hamas war.”
Although tenure-stream and tenured academics are protected contractually from disciplining by administrators for their scholarship or extramural speech, the incessant threats described above have a very chilling effect on free expression. I hear frequently from professors, post-doctoral fellows, students, and non-academic staff that they are afraid to publicly criticize government policies or even their own university administration, for fear of repercussions that will negatively affect their careers or their job security.
This self-censorship should concern not only academics, but all citizens. Its ubiquitous nature says a lot about how weak our institutions’ democratic commitments truly are. In a robust democracy with a vibrant public sphere, citizens would not fear loss of employment or career opportunities as possible consequences of participating in political debate.
At our own university, scholars active in organizations like the Jewish Faculty Network and Independent Jewish Voices have been targeted by right-wing media, Zionist organizations, and Conservative Party of Canada MPs for their criticisms of the Israeli state and its actions in Gaza and the West Bank.
Just two examples of this targeting:
- The stream of opinion pieces and cartoons appearing in Postmedia publications characterizing academics who support Palestinians as being antisemitic, terrorist supporters, radical leftists, etc., such as this piece that singled out a conference organized by University of Alberta faculty members; and
- The singling out of the same conference by CPC MPs in the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, who are calling for government censorship of scholarly research via the funding institutions.
Meanwhile, academics of Palestinian origin, those who are identified as Muslims, or others who have publicly supported calls for a ceasefire in Gaza have received hate mail and even death threats. The campaigns to persecute supporters of Palestinians make people fearful to speak; they affect their mental health, and even jeopardize their safety. Responding to these campaigns is exhausting. If this is the case for academics protected by their contractual rights as faculty members, imagine how much worse the environment is for university employees who do not have such contractual protection.
In the midst of such campaigns, academics expect university administrators to defend both the contractual and democratic rights of university employees. The board’s collective agreement with the Association of Academic Staff University of Alberta (AASUA) obliges both parties to “uphold and protect the principles and practices of Academic Freedom.” For this reason alone, we should have seen, by now, a strong statement from our university leadership countering the accusations made by the National Post writers and the CPC MPs concerning the Mediations of Racial Capitalism conference, its speakers, and its organizers. It is an important responsibility of university leaders to educate publics and governments about the essential roles of academic freedom and university autonomy in sustaining a democratic society. Moreover, senior administrators should not be granting a privileged, non-transparent “advisory” role to any external group that seeks to censor academic speech.
We further expect our rights to be defended by our academic union. In the past, AASUA has issued statements in response to academics who were targeted for their criticisms of health or energy policy, for example, that were unwelcome to provincial governments. AASUA adopted a resolution in November 2021 stating that it “recognizes the need to safeguard the rights of scholars to develop critical perspectives on all states, including the state of Israel, without fear of outside political influence, cuts to funding, censorship, harassment, threats, and intimidation.”
Why, then, has there been no statement, to date, in defence of our colleagues associated with the Mediations of Racial Capitalism conference? Or those targeted by the letter-writing campaigns coordinated by Zionist organizations? Why—in the context of the Israel-Palestine conflict—has our Association not reminded academic staff of their contractual rights and assured them of its support? Why has it not publicly called upon the university’s executive to fulfill its obligations under our collective agreement to do the same?
Although it should not have been necessary, faculty, staff, and students at the University of Alberta have written both to the university’s executive leadership and to the AASUA executive committee demanding vigorous responses to recent threats to academic freedom. Several of these letters have been made public:
- Professor Michael Litwack on X, November 23, 2023
- Fifteen Political Science professors, December 4, 2023
- Letter from 1100+ university community members, December 17, 2023
On March 1, 2024, 47 AASUA members and eight professors emeriti wrote to the AASUA Executive Committee outlining actions they call on the executive to take. The defence of academic freedom must be as unflagging as the attempts to suppress it, for this freedom is at the heart of the university’s purpose.
Laurie Adkin is a Professor Emerita in Political Science at the University of Alberta and a member of Faculty for Palestine
For further information about developments relevant to the University of Alberta, see:
Laurie Adkin, “Believing women, believing Palestinians,” Canadian Dimension, December 14, 2023. https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/believing-women-believing-palestinians
Laurie Adkin, “Israel lobby and its media enablers threatening academic freedom on campus,” Canadian Dimension, February 21, 2024. https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/israel-lobby-and-its-media-enablers-threatening-academic-freedom-on-campus
Mark Ayyash, “Why the IHRA definition of antisemitism is a danger to academic freedom,” Canadian Dimension, April 1, 2021. https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/why-the-ihra-definition-of-anti-semitism-is-a-clear-and-present-danger-to-academic-freedom
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