Left: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights is based. Right: San José State University's Clark Hall, home of the College of Social Sciences and the Justice Studies Departement. Photo Credit: San José State University . Sang Hea Kil became the first tenured professor to be fired from a public university in the US over Palestine activism since October 7, 2023. Kil was fired from San José State University

The Trump administration sued the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) on November 18, 2025, citing the university’s refusal to turn over personal information about its Jewish employees. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) had subpoenaed information such as “names, phone numbers and physical addresses” for Jewish employees at UPenn as part of an ongoing antisemitism investigation against the university. As reported by The New York Times on November 21, 2025, the

Photo credit: Human Rights Watch Azerbaijani economist, opposition politician, and New University in Exile Consortium scholar Gubad Ibadoghlu has been under arrest for more than two-years on spurious counterfeit currency charges in a case regarding the activities of local non-governmental organizations. After nearly a year in pre-trial detention, Dr. Ibadoghlu was transferred to house arrest in April 2024. He is still under house arrest as his case has been indefinitely froze

The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) published a report on November 5, 2025, titled “Discriminating Against Dissent: The Weaponization of Civil Rights Law to Repress Campus Speech on Palestine.” The report sheds important light on the role of Title VI regulations, complaints and investigations in the ongoing crisis of academic freedom within the United States. Based on a review of material published on the we

Photo credit: Rawpixel . On August 28, 2025, The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced new federal regulations impacting conditions of stay for F and J visa holders which have serious consequences for foreign students. The Trump administration’s new proposed regulation will limit the length of time that foreign students, professors, and other F and J visa holders are allowed to stay in the United States without additional screening. Restricting the length of time

The group of armed attackers at Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey. Photo Credit: Bianet . On October 27, a group of masked men armed with machetes and knives attacked a group of students who were protesting on the campus of Hacettepe University in Ankara, Turkey. One student was injured during the attack. A total of 40 students were detained by police after the incident.   Hacettepe University had been the locus of recent protest activity, such as protests against a propo

The most recent issue of the annual report of Scholars At Risk, Free to Think 2025 , outlines and complies threats to and violations of academic freedom around the world in the 2024-2025 academic year.   One of the countries to experience the most significant erosions in key components of academic freedom, such as university autonomy and the freedom to research and teach, is the United States. The report noted that the Trump administration has been mounting an intense attack

Abdullah Esin, in front of the Faculty of Ecnomics and Administrative Sciences, Bogazici University. Photo Credit: Initiative for Freedom...

Left: Texas State University Campus. Photo credit: Texas State University Website . Right: Texas A&M Campus. Photo...

University of Melbourne students occupying the Arts West building, May 16, 2024. Photo credit: The Guardian On August 20, 2025, the...

Oxford and Cambridge students on the day they launched their encampment on campus, May 6, 2024. Photo Credit: Middle East Eye A new...

Boğaziçi University academics on the 1000th day of their protest vigil against the appointment of a trustee rector to their institution...

Columbia University security and public safety officers escorting an arrested student protestor after the Butler University student...

Striking lecturers picketing outside of the University of Zimbabwe, April 2025. Photo Credit: KBC News Most threats to academic freedom...

Photo credit: Udi Raz On June 28, 2025, Iris Hefets was set to deliver a presentation at the University of Bremen. However, in the lead...

The aftermath of the bombing of Ivan Puluj Ternopil National Technical University on June 6, 2025. Photo cr edit: Gyunduz Mamedov . Much...

Top left: Gubad Ibadoghlu being interviewed in his house after he was released from prison into house arrest, April 22, 2024. Photo...

Ali Khan Mahmudabad. Photo credit: The Wire . Professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad was arrested on May 18 by police officers who showed up to...

Riot police surrounding protesting students in Boğaziçi University's North Campus, Istanbul. Photo credit: Bianet On May 13, 2025, 97...

Student protesters setting up tents in front of the John Harvard Statue in Harvard Yard during a rally in April 2024. Photo credit: Jesse...