At university or college, students and teachers should not be afraid to express their opinions. An open door that needs to be kicked in. The freedom to question everything – if properly substantiated – is essential for science and education. Yet that culture seems to be under pressure.
The recent anxious reactions of two higher education institutions to the social debate raging within and outside their walls about Israel and the Gaza war do not give any optimism. At Utrecht University of Applied Sciences, a lecture series on anti-Semitism and the Holocaust was suspended after criticism from an action group, but continued after speakers and politicians reacted angrily. The VU in Amsterdam removed an online text by a lecturer who stated that Israel “is an apartheid state and a colonial project”, after which students protested in the name of academic freedom.
Sensitivities about political developments in the Netherlands and abroad thus hinder an open debate. After years of discussion, the University of Amsterdam asked the Stolker committee to investigate ‘institutional abuses’ and the ‘woke content’ of the institution. These are not too bad, the Stolker committee concluded. But the fear of unrest at other educational institutions only seems to be increasing. While, as Stolker noted, it is “an important task of the university not to exclude employees and students with differing views and perspectives.” The courage to go against the flow should be rewarded.
Proclaiming that the earth is not the center of the universe was long ago a reason to appear before the church court. Nowadays, expressing such contradictory ideas is fortunately protected by the right to academic freedom, which is enshrined in international treaties.
The ferocity with which some are now conducting the debate at the university is not consistent with this. Expressing a strong opinion should be possible – especially by young students. This is also how to refute a theory. As long as that strong opinion can be answered with another strong opinion. And as long as the refute of a theory can be refuted again. And people are prepared to listen to each other’s arguments. Flexibility and openness of mind characterize the true scientist.
Safe spaces at university – an Anglo-Saxon concept for spaces where students can isolate themselves from those who think differently – are a worrying development in that respect.
Science and education do not benefit from black-and-white thinking and putting pressure on each other. It becomes even worse if imposing an opinion is accompanied by (online) threats or the banning of people.
From recent research shows that a minority of researchers, teachers and students experience pressure to restrict their own behavior or expressions. That is both reassuring, because it is a minority, and worrying, because it is still 10 to 30 percent. The definition according to that research is this: ‘adjusting behavior and expressions within education and research in response to (expected or experienced) external pressure’.
In 2018, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences stated that there are “no signals that there is structural self-censorship and limitation of diversity of perspectives in science in the Netherlands.” According to the new research, the pressure now experienced at universities and colleges is related to the “politicization” of topics such as climate, gender and slavery. The Gaza war can be added to this.
Activists are asking, no, demanding that boards of directors take a side on this issue. The universities wisely do not respond to this. They try to channel the emotions by allowing teach-ins and protest rallies, but that doesn’t always go well. During an action by pro-Palestinian students at University College in Maastricht, employees locked themselves in an office while words such as ‘complicity’, ‘genocide’ and ‘decolonization’ were used outside.
This grimness, which is sometimes intimidating for teachers, students and administrators, can strike at the heart of academic freedom, the Stolker committee warned. To ensure that this unpleasant atmosphere does not pay off, it is important that every debate is not nipped in the bud with fear.