Academic Freedom and Central European University

Südosteuropa, 2017

In the beginning of April this year, the Hungarian Parliament passed two amendments to the existing educational law, which in their particular formulation targeted specifically the renowned Central European University in Budapest and sought to undermine the legal basis of its existence in Hungary. In four contributions leading academics and a PhD student of the History Department of the Central European University place the latest events in context, provide insights into the institutional set-up and the development of the History Department, and explain why this institution is special and worth fighting for.

Anthropology News, 2017

2017

On 4 April 2017, the Hungarian Parliament adopted amendments to the country’s Act CCIV of 2011 on National Higher Education, in an attempt to force the Central European University (CEU) out of the country. The attack on CEU, based in Budapest and accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, fits into a broader picture of violated academic freedoms and an even broader one of a state in constitutional capture, in which fundamental rights in general are in jeopardy. This paper explores the controversial law, explains its biased nature targeting CEU only, provides possible reasons why the government wishes to shut down Hungary’s most prestigious university, describes how political support for the crusade against CEU was generated by the government, draws lessons to be learned and suggests desirable European responses. The paper argues that the EU’s approach of ‘keeping problem children in the family’ has proved to be dysfunctional in recent years. The argument that EU...

2022

This editorial presents the special issue on challenges of academic freedom in Europe, predominantly in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The volume provides a novel empirical stream of research, urging scholars to face the emerging discourse and problems of academic freedom in the contemporary higher education systems that were largely overlooked in the analyses dominated by the West‐oriented global neoliberalism following the collapse of the USSR. Acknowledging collision and collusion between global competition for excellence and predomination of national interests, we propose to re‐conceptualize the premises and prospects of academic freedom in the discourse of global higher education. We advance the idea of a post‐Humboldtian university, assuming that modern universities are increasingly influenced by the geopolitical imperatives that depreciate academic freedom. The special issue exemplifies these concerns by detailed analyses in such contexts as Turkey, Hungary, Poland, Ukraine, Georgia, and a comparative analysis across Great Britain and continental Europe.

Perspectives on Politics, 2018

The Hungarian government’s discriminatory actions against the Central European University constitute one of the most prominent conflicts between an academic institution and a government today. My contribution gives a detailed account of how the conflict has unfolded so far. Various frameworks of interpretation, including democratic backsliding, cultural war, and international politics are discussed. I place the story of the university in the context of the polarized cultural climate of Eastern Europe and draw attention to the power of universities in collaborating across borders in defense of academic freedom—and freedom in general.

2020

The 'Lex CEU' and the heavy anti-EU and anti-Soros campaigns that accompanied this legislative move against the Central European University (CEU) in Budapest in the spring of 2017 caused a major stir among both academics and European politicians. But what were its reverberations in the region? This special issue (FOCUS) of the state of academic freedom, civil society and liberal values in the countries that came out of communist dictatorships more than 25 years ago and to place the Hungarian 'Lex CEU' in a broader regional, historical and conceptual context.

Educational Philosophy and Theory, 2020

The legacy of totalitarianism thwarts discourse and practice of academic freedom in post-Soviet universities. For legacy-holders, "academic freedom" causes disorientation, irresponsibility, demoralization and inequity. They see more threats than benefits from empowering decision-makers who are non-compliant with local bureaucracy. For innovators, freedoms enhance flexibility and creativity. However, granting such freedom also reinforces value clashes on campuses and tends to intensify feelings of guilt and shame in regard to actions which show a disrespect of authority and tradition. While both legacy-holders and innovators endeavour to redefine their practices and norms in their teaching, they appear to still struggle to shed their predispositions to a paternalistic and colonial philosophy of education. Presumably curative, their engagement with international networks of scholarship exposes their particular positions of vulnerabilities to that end. Both groups continue to push patriotism and cultural idiosyncrasy in order to hedge their power and status in the global marketplace of ideas. As in the past, a discourse of anti-westernization prevails, shoring up legacies of regulative thinking, indoctrination, and insularity. Progressive academics succeed primarily by taking bold steps to go above and beyond the dominant discourses and norms within their universities and policy-building communities. This article explicates why, in turn, a "surrogate academic freedom" tends to emerge as a conundrum across the post-Soviet higher education space.

Logos Anales Del Seminario De Metafisica, 2007

It is argued that university education has a moral and social function in society. Its purpose is to provide a liberal education (developing the intellect by challenging it to grapple freely with difficult ideas), the development of new knowledge and the provision of trustworthy, disinterested research. To serve society in this way safeguards are necessary: a separation from the state, giving institutional autonomy and academic freedom in teaching and research. With the rise of extreme free market capitalism and the "knowledge society", these safeguards are being eroded: national governments, partly through the ramifications of the Bologna convergence process, are in the process of moulding universities to the needs of the market, and now see the accommodation of students to the workplace as the principal, or indeed only, objective for a university education. Example of the consequences of these changes are discussed, including the corruption of research integrity and erosion of individual liberties.

2017

In 2014, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán has declared to build an “illiberal state” in Hungary, while constantly referring to leaders like Vladimir Putin in Russia or Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey as examples. This has been seen by many as a gradual march toward authoritarianism. While this – and many other policies – have been heavily criticized by many ever since, these have gained a new momentum with the prime minister and his circles turning against the Central European University.