Each year, the ledger of silenced voices grows longer — scholars imprisoned, university leaders assassinated, faculty dismissed for the words they chose. Scholars at Risk's 2026 report documents 382 attacks across 59 countries, a number that obscures a deeper truth: the nature of the assault on academic freedom is intensifying even where its frequency slightly ebbs. What is at stake is not merely the comfort of institutions, but the survival of the human practice of open inquiry — a practice that authoritarian states suppress through violence and that democracies are increasingly learning to e
Academic freedom under siege globally, with 382 documented attacks in past year
Wrongful imprisonment of academics in China and Russia; targeted assassinations of university leaders in Guatemala and Pakistan; suspension or firing of faculty members in the US and Canada.
Threats are growing faster than the efforts to protect
Mark
So 382 attacks in a year across 59 countries—that's a lot of ground. What's actually changed from last year?
Mimi
The number went down slightly, from 395 to 395, but the nature of the attacks shifted. Last year we saw mass violence against protesting students in Bangladesh. This year the report is documenting wrongful imprisonment and assassinations of academics themselves.
Luke
Wait—assassinations? How many?
Mimi
The report mentions targeted assassinations of university leaders in Guatemala and Pakistan, but it doesn't give a specific count. That's one of the things that's striking about the report—it catalogs the types of attacks but doesn't always break down the numbers by category.
Mark
And this is happening in democracies too, not just authoritarian countries?
Mimi
That's the real story. The US, India, Georgia—countries we think of as having strong institutions—are using legislation and administrative action to restrict academic freedom. Immigration bans, government interference in hiring decisions, cancellation of speaking engagements.
Luke
But are those the same kind of attack as assassination? The report seems to be lumping together very different things.
Mimi
That's fair. A government blocking a visa is not the same as killing someone. But the report's argument is that they're all part of the same pressure on academic autonomy—some are violent, some are bureaucratic, some are social.
Mark
What does Quinn think needs to happen?
Mimi
He wants universities to stop talking only to themselves and start explaining to the public why university autonomy matters. He thinks if universities can make that case effectively, the public becomes their defender instead of a source of pressure against them.
Luke
That's a long game—25 years. What about the immediate threats?
Mimi
The report says threats are growing faster than the efforts to protect against them. So there's no quick fix. But there's cautious optimism about Hungary and Bangladesh, where new political leadership might reverse some of the restrictions.
Mark
So we're in a moment where things could go either way?
Mimi
Yes. The pressure is real and documented. But so is the possibility of pushback.
Il Polso
- The violence has grown more intimate — academics in China and Russia face wrongful imprisonment, while university leaders in Guatemala and Pakistan have been assassinated, turning abstract threats into physical elimination.
- Democracies are not standing apart from this trend but participating in it: immigration bans in the US strand international scholars, governments in India intervene to cancel lectures, and elected officials in Arkansas successfully pressured a university to rescind a dean's appointment.
- Faculty in the US and Canada have been suspended or fired for public statements made after a high-profile political killing, signaling that professional survival now depends on self-censorship in ways that hollow out intellectual life.
- Robert Quinn of Scholars at Risk warns that documented cases are only a fraction of actual violations, and that the global capacity to defend academic freedom is being outpaced by the speed at which threats are multiplying.
- Cautious hope surfaces in Hungary, where a new government is dismantling Orbán-era political controls over universities and rejoining Erasmus, and in Bangladesh, where a new administration may restore curtailed freedoms — but these remain exceptions against a worsening global tide.
Each year, the ledger of silenced voices grows longer — scholars imprisoned, university leaders assassinated, faculty dismissed for the words they chose. Scholars at Risk's 2026 report documents 382 attacks across 59 countries, a number that obscures a deeper truth: the nature of the assault on academic freedom is intensifying even where its frequency slightly ebbs. What is at stake is not merely the comfort of institutions, but the survival of the human practice of open inquiry — a practice that authoritarian states suppress through violence and that democracies are increasingly learning to erode through law.
Scholars at Risk released its annual accounting of academic freedom violations this week, documenting 382 attacks on scholars, students, and institutions across 59 countries between July 2025 and June 2026. The number is slightly lower than the previous year's 395, but the composition of those attacks has shifted in ways that matter more than the raw count.
The violence has grown more direct. This year's findings center on the wrongful imprisonment of academics in China and Russia, and the targeted assassinations of university leaders in Guatemala and Pakistan. These are not abstract threats to institutional autonomy — they are the physical elimination of people who teach and lead.
Yet the assault on academic freedom is not confined to authoritarian states. In the United States, immigration bans have left international scholars in precarious positions. In India, a government-opposed lecture was canceled at Banaras Hindu University. In Arkansas, a law school dean offer was rescinded after elected officials objected to the scholar's support for transgender students' rights. In the US and Canada, faculty have been suspended or fired for public statements made following the killing of political commentator Charlie Kirk — incidents the report frames not as isolated but as part of a pattern that chills intellectual debate.
Robert Quinn, Scholars at Risk's founding executive director, told Times Higher Education that documented cases represent only a fraction of actual violations. Speaking in Glasgow, he warned that threats are expanding faster than the capacity to contain them, and called for a concrete global academic freedom agenda grounded in practical measures. He also argued that universities have failed to make their case to the public — that if institutions spent the coming decades genuinely communicating their purpose in service to society, the public would become their defenders rather than a source of pressure against them.
Small signs of reversal exist. Hungary's new prime minister has moved to dismantle the political foundation model Orbán used to control public universities, and the country has signaled it will rejoin the Erasmus program. Bangladesh's new administration offers cautious optimism as well. But these are exceptions in a year when the overall trajectory points unmistakably toward greater restriction.
Scholars at Risk released its annual accounting of academic freedom violations this week, and the numbers tell a story of pressure mounting on universities worldwide. Between July 2025 and June 2026, the international organization documented 382 attacks on scholars, students, and institutions across 59 countries and territories. The figure represents a slight decline from the previous year's 395 incidents, but the composition of those attacks has shifted in ways that matter more than the raw count.
The violence has become more direct. Where last year's report highlighted police assaults on protesting students in Bangladesh—which killed up to 1,400 people and injured thousands—this year's findings center on wrongful imprisonment of academics in China and Russia, and the targeted assassinations of university leaders in Guatemala and Pakistan. These are not abstract threats to institutional autonomy. They are the physical elimination of people who teach and lead.
But the assault on academic freedom is not confined to authoritarian states. Democracies are tightening the screws through legislation and administrative action. In the United States, presidential proclamations have imposed full or partial immigration bans on nationals from 39 countries, leaving international students and scholars in what the report calls a precarious position. In India, Banaras Hindu University canceled a lecture by scholar Kedar Mishra after the government made clear it opposed his participation. The University of Arkansas rescinded its offer to legal scholar Emily Suski for the position of law school dean, citing feedback from elected officials who objected to her signing of an amicus brief supporting transgender students' right to participate in sports aligned with their gender identity.
Public pressure has also become a tool for restricting academic expression. In the United States and Canada, faculty members have been suspended or fired for public statements made in the aftermath of the killing of political commentator Charlie Kirk in September 2025. The report does not frame these as isolated incidents but as part of a broader pattern in which speech carries professional consequences in ways that chill intellectual debate.
Robert Quinn, the founding executive director of Scholars at Risk, told Times Higher Education that the documented cases represent only a fraction of what is actually occurring. Speaking at the European Association for International Education conference in Glasgow, he acknowledged that efforts to defend academic freedom have grown stronger, but he offered a sobering assessment: threats are expanding faster than the capacity to contain them. He called for a concrete global academic freedom agenda—one grounded in practical measures rather than aspirational language—with clear parameters for protecting intellectual debate and research liberty.
Quinn emphasized that universities themselves have failed to make their case to the public. Universities exist in service to the public, he argued, but they have not effectively communicated that reality or explained why university autonomy matters to ordinary people. He suggested that if universities spent the next 25 years messaging that purpose clearly and genuinely absorbing it into their own identity, the public would become their primary defender rather than a source of pressure against them.
There are small signs of reversal. Hungary's new prime minister, Péter Magyar, who defeated Viktor Orbán in April 2026, has signaled a willingness to dismantle the private foundation model that Orbán used to place public universities under political control. By the end of May, less than a month after taking office, Hungary indicated it would phase out that system and rejoin the Erasmus student exchange program, from which it had been suspended. Bangladesh's new political administration also offers what the report describes as cautious optimism for restoring academic freedoms that had been curtailed. But these are exceptions in a year when the overall trajectory points toward greater restriction, not less.
Citazioni salienti
The cases of freedom violations documented in the report were just the tip of the iceberg.— Robert Quinn, founding executive director of Scholars at Risk
The university that is in service to the public needs to deliver a message that it is in service to the public. I think that's the part we haven't been doing.— Robert Quinn
Vuoi la storia completa?
Leggi l'originale su timeshighereducation.com ↗
Politics & Governance