Derek Peterson delivering the commencement speech at the 2025-26 graduation ceremony at the University of Michigan. Photo credit: Derek Peterson. Coming to the end of the 2025-26 academic year, controversy around graduation ceremonies once again highlights the extent of the restrictions on faculty and student speech on US campuses amid an ongoing nationwide crisis of academic freedom. Recently, on May 2, 2026, University of Michigan President Domenico Grasso issued an apology for a speech...

Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Photo credit: Tufts Now On March 31, 2026, the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation declared Tufts University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy “undesirable organizations” imposing punishments ranging from fines to prison sentences on Russian citizens that are affiliated with the university or otherwise cooperate or interact with it. According to The Tufts Daily , the reason the office of the prosecutor...

Destroyed equipment and buildings in Iran's Sharif University by US-Israeli attacks on April 6, 2026. Photo credit: The New York Times . In Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon, as well as in the US-Israeli war against Iran, Lebanese and Iranian universities have been turned into military targets, not only endangering civilian lives and significantly disrupting educational activities in the region but also setting a very dangerous precedent for future military conflict. Two academics at...