2024-03-30 07:37:18
The Central European University moved from Budapest to Vienna in 2019 following restrictive changes to the Hungarian Higher Education Act. Image: picture alliance / VIE7143
A Leopoldina conference discusses academic freedom; it must also be defended in Europe. Alena Buyx, chairwoman of the German Ethics Council, however, urges calm in the debate about “Cancel Culture”.
Ten years ago it seemed to be in little danger, particularly in Europe, but with increasing authoritarianism, academic freedom is threatened almost worldwide. Almost every second person lives in a country with severe restrictions, said Dominik Kalweit from the organization Scholars at Risk (SaR) last week at a conference on human rights and academic freedom organized by the Leopoldina and the Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Literature.
According to the “Academic Freedom Index” co-published by SaR, an increase was recently only observed in ten countries. This is often associated with self-censorship and endangers freedom of speech, scientific progress and the basis of our democracy, said Kalweit.
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