Advocacy Insider: Turkey's institutional autonomy under threat!

Posted: 30-01-2021 00:43 | Views: 940

Protesters hold signs reading, "Trustee rector get out of Boğaziçi." Hilmi Hacaloğlu/VOA

Scholars at Risk's Advocacy Insider is a monthly summary of actions, reported threats, and media on academic freedom worldwide. Have a question or want to get involved in SAR's advocacy work? Email us at scholarsatrisk@nyu.edu.

Turkey: Institutional Autonomy Under Threat!

Protesters hold signs reading, "Trustee rector get out

of Boğaziçi." Hilmi Hacaloğlu/VOA

Join SAR in supporting the academic freedom of Boğaziçi University students and faculty in Turkey. On January 1, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan appointed Melih Bulu, a member of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), as the new rector of Boğaziçi University. Unlike previous rector appointments at Boğaziçi University, academic faculty had no say in the appointment of Bulu. Boğaziçi faculty and students, through a series of peaceful protests, condemned the appointment, raising concern that it violates their academic freedom and the institutional autonomy of Boğaziçi. Police have responded to the protests with violent force, including the use of tear gas and rubber bullets, and arrests.

The appointment of Bulu underscores the threat to university autonomy that placing the rector appointment process in the hands of the president and the Turkish Higher Education Council (YÖK) represents. Governments must safeguard universities’ autonomy to make decisions about their own leadership, based on academic criteria and the needs of their communities. Further, state authorities have an obligation to ensure the safety of higher education communities and to not restrict or retaliate against peaceful expressive activity.

You can help the efforts of Boğaziçi faculty and students!

Ask your university, academic department, or organization to endorse the petition supporting academic freedom and institutional autonomy at Boğaziçi University.
Join over 2,000 individuals in signing the petition.
Share the petition on social media and tag President Erdoğan (@RTErdogan) and YÖK @YuksekogretimK, calling on them to protect university autonomy.

Take more action through SAR's Scholars-in-Prison Project, Student Advocacy Seminars, and Legal Clinics.

Share the Academic Self-Censorship Survey

Help share the Academic Self-Censorship Survey with academics, scholars, and researchers in or from the Arab region.

Recognizing that too often scholars may feel compelled to limit their research or expression for fear of negative consequences, SAR is partnering with Al-Fanar Media on a new survey to understand the causes and extent of academic self-censorship in the Arab region. We ask for the following help:

Professors, researchers, lecturers, and students in or from the Arab region are invited to complete the survey, sharing their thoughts, personal experience, and knowledge about academic self-censorship to help inform concrete actions to combat its root causes.
Individuals everywhere are invited to forward this email to colleagues in their networks to encourage their participation in the survey or share the survey over social media.
Researchers in other regions are invited to contact SAR at scholarsatrisk@nyu.edu about partnering in deploying the survey in their country or region.

Take the survey »

Take more action through SAR's Scholars-in-Prison Project, Student Advocacy Seminars, and Legal Clinics.

Start a Student Advocacy Seminar!

On Friday, January 22, SAR hosted a webinar with faculty teaching Student Advocacy Seminars this term. Through this experiential learning course, students conduct case research and advocacy for imprisoned scholars, and learn about human rights advocacy, academic freedom, and NGO work. SAR supports faculty teaching the seminars throughout the process.

In this webinar, faculty learned about new online tools and programming to support the seminars -- including upcoming training sessions for students as part of Student Advocacy Days -- and exchanged best practices in case advocacy.

Learn more about Student Advocacy Seminars here and email us today to get started.

Learn more »

Take more action through SAR's Scholars-in-Prison Project, Student Advocacy Seminars, and Legal Clinics.

Attacks on Higher Education

India: Professor suspended for free expression

Visva Bharati University, India, 1/7
Visva-Bharati University suspended professor Sudipta Bhattacharyya, in apparent retaliation for expression critical of the university administration.

Turkey: Police attack student protestors

Boğaziçi University, Turkey, 1/4
Police reportedly attacked students during a protest at the Boğaziçi University over the appointment of a new rector.

Lebanon: Police clash with student protestors

American University of Beirut, Lebanon, 12/29
Police clashed with student protesters at the American University of Beirut, during a demonstration over the price of tuition.

Morocco: Authorities detain prominent historian-journalist

University of Mohammed V-Rabat, Morocco, 12/29
Authorities reportedly detained Maati Monjib, a Moroccan professor of history, journalist and the head of the Ibn Rushd Institute for Investigative Journalism, which provides training to Moroccan journalists. The arrest was one of a string of actions targeting Professor Monjib over the past several years.

Iraq: University professor shot and killed

Al-Manara University College, Iraq, 12/16
Dr. Ahmed al-Sharifi, a professor at Al-Manara University College in the Iraqi city of Amara, was shot and killed by unidentified gunmen.

Nigeria: Authorities tear gas student protestors

Sa’adatu Rimi College of Education, Nigeria, 12/16
Authorities reportedly fired tear gas at students protesting the sudden closure of Sa’adatu Rimi College of Education in Nigeria.

Scotland: Student beaten in racially motivated attack

University of Edinburgh, Scotland, 12/11
A group of unidentified individuals reportedly beat a student at the University of Edinburgh, in an apparently racially motivated attack.

China: Students arrested for peaceful protest

Chinese University of Hong Kong, China, 12/7
Police arrested eight people in connection with their alleged participation in a peaceful protest at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Saudi Arabia: Authorities arrest religious scholar

Unaffiliated, Saudi Arabia, 11/20
Saudi authorities reportedly arrested prominent Uyghur religious scholar Aimidoula Waili at the request of Chinese authorities.

India: Police investigate professor

V.M. Salgaocar College of Law, India, 11/9
Police opened a criminal investigation into Shilpa Singh, a professor of political science at the V.M. Salgaocar College of Law, based on alleged nonviolent social media activity. She was also the subject of violent threats and harassment, as well as calls for her dismissal from the college.

Learn more about SAR's Academic Freedom Monitoring Project, which identifies and tracks attacks on higher education communities in order to protect vulnerable individuals, promote accountability, and prevent future attacks.

Academic Freedom in the News

THE PHILIPPINES: Philippine protest over permission for security forces to enter university
Neil Jerome Morales, Reuters via Nasdaq, 1/19
President Rodrigo Duterte’s government scrapped a 1989 agreement between the University of the Philippines (UP) and the Department of National Defense (DND), which prevented military and police forces from entering the University of the Philippines’ 17 campuses without consent. Students and activists protested in response, fearing government-sanctioned repression and harassment on campuses. Academics and politicians have also condemned the agreement's scrapping, explicitly calling the action a threat to academic freedom.

TURKEY: Over 2,300 academics from 52 countries: We stand with Boğaziçi
Bianet, 1/18
Amid protests against the appointment of Bulu as the new president of Boğaziçi, 2,314 academics from 52 countries have signed a joint statement: “We stand with Boğaziçi University students and faculty in their struggle for academic freedom and autonomy.”

UNITED STATES: Amid digital crackdown, Chinese Politics professor recommends students in China avoid his class
Marie-Rose Sheinerman, The Daily Princetonian, 1/15
Assistant professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University, Rory Truex, recommended that remote students currently residing in China not take his course on Chinese politics. In an email to students, Professor Truex said his course contains material the Chinese government would find sensitive and cited China’s new national security law as reasons to be “a little more cautious this year.”

Sign up for SAR's Academic Freedom Media Review, a weekly digest of news, essays, and other media pertaining to academic freedom and higher education communities around the world.

Back