Columbia University faculty protesting against the settlement between their university and the government, as a violation of institutional autonomy, on March 24, 2025. Photo credit: The New York Times . The 2026 update of the Academic Freedom Index (AFI) was published on March 17, 2026. Based on a dataset that measures academic freedom levels across 179 countries, the most recent iteration of the yearly report demonstrated once again the growing scale and intensity of attacks on academic...

The damaged state of a lecture hall at University of Kordofan in the aftermath of the drone attack. Photo Credit: The Eastleigh Voice . A drone attack targeted the University of Kordofan in El Obeid on February 23, 2026, as part of a multi-day campaign on different locations in the city. The university reported significant damage to university infrastructure located on the university’s main campus, claiming that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), an armed group currently engaged in a civil war...

Police presence in the area surrounding Bogazici University hours before Erdogan's visit. Photo credit: Boğaziçi Üniversitesi ÖTK . On February 13, 2026, President of the Turkish Republic, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, visited Boğaziçi University in Istanbul to attend the opening ceremony of two new student dorms. For the students and faculty of the public university, who have been engaged in ongoing resistance against governmental encroachment (which has lasted more than five years, making it one of...