Academic freedom and the knowledge commons

Our new blog post takes a grounded look at the academic freedom 'debates'

Dear subscribers,

This is to let you know that we have published a new blog post, titled ‘Academic freedom and the knowledge commons’, written by our members Matilda Fitzmaurice and Dion Georgiou. They set out five basic, but contingent principles of academic freedom.

These concern: the major threat posed to academic freedom by the exercise of state power, as well as the need for universities to accept that academic research carries with it an inherent risk of controversy. The authors also invite us to think about how the exercise of academic freedom is constrained for most - but enabled, for some - by the huge imbalance in our media ecology in favour of the political right. Furthermore, they address the complex entanglement of academic freedom with the exercise of our power as credentialed professionals, and the fact that academic freedom implies not only rights, but responsibilities.

You can share your thoughts and join in the conversation with us on X/Twitter, or Bluesky.

In solidarity,

UCU Commons