{"id":198178,"date":"2026-06-01T17:04:46","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T15:04:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=198178"},"modified":"2026-06-01T17:04:50","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T15:04:50","slug":"willen-rectoren-academische-vrijheid-dan-moeten-ze-beter-luisteren","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2026\/06\/01\/willen-rectoren-academische-vrijheid-dan-moeten-ze-beter-luisteren\/","title":{"rendered":"Do rectors want academic freedom? Then they need to listen better"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

To protect academic freedom, universities should become more democratic. That was the recurring theme at a national meeting on the issue, attended by all universities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPauline Wiersema<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Around eighty policymakers, administrators, rectors and other academics gather on a Friday morning in a dark theatre hall at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. They are there to discuss academic freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A year ago, university rectors warned in a letter<\/a> that academic freedom was under pressure. They wanted to spark a \u2018national dialogue\u2019 on the subject. Since then, meetings on academic freedom have been held at all universities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the first national gathering. Here in the theatre hall, delegations from across the country present the outcomes from their own universities on posters. What do they see as threats to academic freedom? How can it be strengthened?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Intimidation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Academic freedom is, in short, the freedom to research and teach what you want. People must be able to disagree and remain open to each other\u2019s arguments. In practice, that freedom is always limited, for example by funding. But there are other threats too, such as intimidation, censorship and populism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The student protests and occupations of recent months have also left their mark. Many posters therefore stress the importance of learning how to deal with differences of opinion. We should be able to disagree, but it must remain \u201crespectful\u201d (writes Eindhoven University of Technology) or \u201csafe\u201d (University of Groningen).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel is not mentioned by name, but Tilburg University does state: \u201cResearchers should be able to decide for themselves (with the right support) which international partners they collaborate with.\u201d \u201cWe need to learn how to have difficult conversations about academic freedom\u201d, says the poster from Delft University of Technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t

Een lijst met artikelen<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t