http://scholarsatrisk.nyu.edu/Education-Advocacy/Conferences.php
21 February 2014
SAR Network Global Congress, Amsterdam, 9-10 April 2014
http://scholarsatrisk.nyu.edu/Education-Advocacy/Conferences.php
03 February 2014
Keeping Sexes Seperated; Should we?
If a student or group requests a gender-segregated setup for religious reasons, does the university have a responsibility to accommodate?
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/01/31/clashes-over-religiously-motivated-gender-segregation-canadian-british-campuses
19 January 2014
Landmark Trial: Malaysian academic vs US government
Prof. Rahinah Ibrahim, UPM won no-fly-list suit against US government
Academic Freedom Media Review, January 11 - 17, 2014
Scholars at Risk monitors reports of threats to academic freedom and higher education communities worldwide, including media articles, blogs, opinion pieces and other announcements. Unless otherwise indicated (such as in articles written by SAR), the language and views contained in the search results reflect those of the originating author and/or publication and do not necessarily represent the views of Scholars at Risk or its members, affiliates, board or staff. Archived media reviews are available athttp://scholarsatrisk.nyu.edu/
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Aditya calls on suspended professor, threatens protest
The Times of India, 01/18
MUMBAI: A day after the governor asked Mumbai University vice-chancellor Rajan Welukar to resolve the situation arising due to the suspension of econometrics professor Neeraj Hatekar in an "amicable manner", Yuva Sena head Aditya Thackeray on Friday called on Hatekar at his residence. Read more
China's detention of Uighur professor Ilham Tohti worries U.S.
Julie Makinen, The Los Angeles Times, 01/17
BEIJING -- The U.S. government and human rights activists are voicing concern about the detention of a professor who has been an outspoken advocate for China’s Uighur minority group. Ilham Tohti’s home in Beijing was ransacked Wednesday afternoon by more than 20 police officers who seized computers, phones, credit cards and documents and took him into custody, his wife, Guzaili Nu’er, said by phoneFriday. Read more
UM denies disciplining Chou for social activism
Macau Daily Times, 01/17
The University of Macau (UM) has issued a statement insisting that it “upholds academic freedom and encourages the pursuit of academic excellence” and has not launched disciplinary procedures against any of its members because of their political viewpoints. Read more
'Politically useful' science is no use for democracy
Prateek Buch, The Telegraph, 01/16
Just how independent is independent research into government policy? It emerged last week that the Home Office may have pressured researchers at the University of Sheffield to delay publication of a study on the effects of minimum alcohol pricing. Dr Sarah Wollaston MP isn’t amused that the academics agreed to the Home Office request, suggesting it hindered discussion of the evidence. Read more
Uni under fire over Hamas meeting
Christian Kerr, The Australian, 01/16
SYDNEY University is again under fire over staff conduct, in the wake of a meeting between emeritus professor Stuart Rees and Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal in Doha last month. Professor Rees is director of the Sydney Peace Foundation, the group behind the Sydney Peace Prize, part of the university's Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies and a prominent supporter of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. Read more
South Sudan Closes Universities Amid Security Concerns
Sudan Tribune, 01/15
Juba — South Sudan has temporarily suspended university studies due to ongoing conflict in the country. Lecturers were informed through an administrative circular issued by the higher education council. Read more
Georgetown Backs Academic Freedom of Adjunct Who Alluded to Assassinating Obama
Nick DeSantis, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 01/15
Georgetown University is supporting the academic freedom of an adjunct faculty member in its School of Foreign Service who, in recent blog posts, has written indirectly about assassinating President Obama, according to The Hoya, Georgetown’s student newspaper. Read more
Protecting Faculty Records
Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed, 01/14
Saying that “frivolous” open records requests for faculty members’ emails and other communications have a potential chilling effect on academic freedom, a joint faculty-administrative body at the University of California at Los Angeles has drafted a first-of-its-kind statement to protect the confidentiality of frank, collaborative exchanges among scholars discussing their research. Read more
Another Approach
Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Ed, 01/14
Amid the clamor over the American Studies Association’s resolution endorsing the boycott of Israeli universities, the Middle East Studies Association has been more or less silent. The association’s Committee on Academic Freedom last weighed in on the subject of academics boycotts in 2005, issuing a letter opposing them after Britain’s Association of University Teachers approved a resolution to cut off academic cooperation with Haifa and Bar-Ilan Universities. Read more
Respected Russian University Feels Kremlin’s Scrutiny
Anna Nemtsova, The Chronicle Of Higher Education, 01/12
MOSCOW — The Kremlin appears to be in a forgiving mood. Russia recently pardoned the former oil baron turned activist Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky and other prominent critics of President Vladimir V. Putin in a move widely seen as an attempt to mollify international criticism on the eve of the Winter Olympics in Sochi. Read more
The Times of India, 01/18
MUMBAI: A day after the governor asked Mumbai University vice-chancellor Rajan Welukar to resolve the situation arising due to the suspension of econometrics professor Neeraj Hatekar in an "amicable manner", Yuva Sena head Aditya Thackeray on Friday called on Hatekar at his residence. Read more
China's detention of Uighur professor Ilham Tohti worries U.S.
Julie Makinen, The Los Angeles Times, 01/17
BEIJING -- The U.S. government and human rights activists are voicing concern about the detention of a professor who has been an outspoken advocate for China’s Uighur minority group. Ilham Tohti’s home in Beijing was ransacked Wednesday afternoon by more than 20 police officers who seized computers, phones, credit cards and documents and took him into custody, his wife, Guzaili Nu’er, said by phoneFriday. Read more
UM denies disciplining Chou for social activism
Macau Daily Times, 01/17
The University of Macau (UM) has issued a statement insisting that it “upholds academic freedom and encourages the pursuit of academic excellence” and has not launched disciplinary procedures against any of its members because of their political viewpoints. Read more
'Politically useful' science is no use for democracy
Prateek Buch, The Telegraph, 01/16
Just how independent is independent research into government policy? It emerged last week that the Home Office may have pressured researchers at the University of Sheffield to delay publication of a study on the effects of minimum alcohol pricing. Dr Sarah Wollaston MP isn’t amused that the academics agreed to the Home Office request, suggesting it hindered discussion of the evidence. Read more
Uni under fire over Hamas meeting
Christian Kerr, The Australian, 01/16
SYDNEY University is again under fire over staff conduct, in the wake of a meeting between emeritus professor Stuart Rees and Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal in Doha last month. Professor Rees is director of the Sydney Peace Foundation, the group behind the Sydney Peace Prize, part of the university's Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies and a prominent supporter of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. Read more
South Sudan Closes Universities Amid Security Concerns
Sudan Tribune, 01/15
Juba — South Sudan has temporarily suspended university studies due to ongoing conflict in the country. Lecturers were informed through an administrative circular issued by the higher education council. Read more
Georgetown Backs Academic Freedom of Adjunct Who Alluded to Assassinating Obama
Nick DeSantis, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 01/15
Georgetown University is supporting the academic freedom of an adjunct faculty member in its School of Foreign Service who, in recent blog posts, has written indirectly about assassinating President Obama, according to The Hoya, Georgetown’s student newspaper. Read more
Protecting Faculty Records
Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed, 01/14
Saying that “frivolous” open records requests for faculty members’ emails and other communications have a potential chilling effect on academic freedom, a joint faculty-administrative body at the University of California at Los Angeles has drafted a first-of-its-kind statement to protect the confidentiality of frank, collaborative exchanges among scholars discussing their research. Read more
Another Approach
Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Ed, 01/14
Amid the clamor over the American Studies Association’s resolution endorsing the boycott of Israeli universities, the Middle East Studies Association has been more or less silent. The association’s Committee on Academic Freedom last weighed in on the subject of academics boycotts in 2005, issuing a letter opposing them after Britain’s Association of University Teachers approved a resolution to cut off academic cooperation with Haifa and Bar-Ilan Universities. Read more
Respected Russian University Feels Kremlin’s Scrutiny
Anna Nemtsova, The Chronicle Of Higher Education, 01/12
MOSCOW — The Kremlin appears to be in a forgiving mood. Russia recently pardoned the former oil baron turned activist Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky and other prominent critics of President Vladimir V. Putin in a move widely seen as an attempt to mollify international criticism on the eve of the Winter Olympics in Sochi. Read more
30 December 2013
SCHOLARatRISK: Unchained
Dear SAR Friends,
Will you help us to help them? Will you please make a gift of $100, $500, $1000 or whatever level to Scholars at Risk today? Every gift helps us protect more scholars.Just two weeks ago, a scholar we have been helping escape threats in Iran finally arrived at a host university in Norway. It took months of work, involving many partners, to identify a campus ready to host, arrange the necessary support, get the invitation, and secure visas and tickets, all while working around restrictions in Iran. Even on his way to the airport, we all knew the scholar was not yet free. He could be turned back or detained at any time before takeoff, as so many others have been. Finally, we got the message that the plane was on its way. It said he was, finally, “unchained.” Over the last year, Scholars at Risk helped over 250 scholars  escape threats and overcome pressures, including arranging positions at network-member campuses, providing advice, referrals and other services, and advocating for those held in prison or otherwise still under threat at home. But there is still so much to do. Right now we have over 200 pending cases of scholars needing our help.
Click here ("DONATE now") to make a contribution. If you have already made your gift, thank you!
 Rob Quinn Executive Director Scholars at Risk |
17 December 2013
WORLD BANK: Malaysia economic monitor: high-performing education 2013
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/12/18645043/malaysia-economic-monitor-high-performing-education
Malaysia's economy regained momentum but yearly growth is set to decelerate in 2013. Export recovery into 2014 is expected to offset slower domestic demand and lead to a pick-up in growth. Fiscal consolidation is picking up pace with subsidy cuts, sin tax increases, and less generous public service bonuses. The full implementation of the minimum wage in January 2014 will provide an additional boost to households, as will increased cash transfers that are part of the government's strategy for subsidy rationalization and modernizing social protection. Malaysia performs very well with respect to access to education. Enrolments at primary and lower secondary levels are nearly universal and recent gains in pre-primary education have been note-worthy. Among East Asian countries that participated in the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), Malaysian students only outperform their Indonesian peers, and lag even lower-income countries (including, by a wide margin, Vietnam). Expenditure on basic education is more than double that of other Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries and the decline in learning outcomes occurred while inputs to education were expanding and the size of the student population was falling. The key constraints to improving the quality of basic education thus relate not to the quantity of inputs but institutions. 46 percent of principals report a lack of qualified teaching staff as a constraint, and Ministry of Education (MOE) admits that in recent years some candidates enrolling in teacher training institutions did not meet minimum requirements of academic achievement at the secondary level. Lifting these constraints entails refining some of the measures recommended in the Education Blueprint for high-performing education system: (1) moving towards school-based decision-making; (2) improving parental involvement and enhancing accountability; and (3) improving incentives and recruitment for teachers. The government may consider piloting fixed contract recruitments with tenure contingent on performance, and tying retraining and up-skilling efforts with certification.
Scholars at Risk (SAR) Academic Freedom Media Review, December 7-13, 2013
Scholars at Risk monitors reports of threats to academic freedom and higher education communities worldwide, including media articles, blogs, opinion pieces and other announcements. Unless otherwise indicated (such as in articles written by SAR), the language and views contained in the search results reflect those of the originating author and/or publication and do not necessarily represent the views of Scholars at Risk or its members, affiliates, board or staff. Archived media reviews are available at http://scholarsatrisk.nyu.edu/
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Protecting higher education from attack – Report
Peta Lee, University World News, 12/13
http://www.
U.S. Colleges Finding Ideals Tested Abroad
Tamar Lewin, The New York Times, 12/11
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/
Ukraine Crackdown Turns Sinister
Inter Press Service, 12/10
http://www.iede.co.uk/news/
Law Professor Fired for “Spreading Political Views”
Sophie Beach, China Digital Times, 12/10
http://chinadigitaltimes.net/
Students 'persecuted for protest', says MP
Hannah Richardson, BBC, 12/9
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/
Egypt govt. takes over Brotherhood-owned schools
Aswat Masriya, 12/9
http://en.aswatmasriya.com/
Egypt puts Brotherhood leader on trial, students protest
Tom Perry And Shadia Nasralla, Reuters, 12/9
http://www.reuters.com/
A Scholar Is Back Home and Defiant in Hungary
Paul Hockenos, The New York Times, 12/8
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/
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Protecting higher education from attack – Report
Peta Lee, University World News, 12/13
http://www.
U.S. Colleges Finding Ideals Tested Abroad
Tamar Lewin, The New York Times, 12/11
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/
Ukraine Crackdown Turns Sinister
Inter Press Service, 12/10
http://www.iede.co.uk/news/
Law Professor Fired for “Spreading Political Views”
Sophie Beach, China Digital Times, 12/10
http://chinadigitaltimes.net/
Students 'persecuted for protest', says MP
Hannah Richardson, BBC, 12/9
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/
Egypt govt. takes over Brotherhood-owned schools
Aswat Masriya, 12/9
http://en.aswatmasriya.com/
Egypt puts Brotherhood leader on trial, students protest
Tom Perry And Shadia Nasralla, Reuters, 12/9
http://www.reuters.com/
A Scholar Is Back Home and Defiant in Hungary
Paul Hockenos, The New York Times, 12/8
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/
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