International universities between awareness and agenda: Start of the lecture series on academic freedom
20 October 2025, by Zsuzsa Becker

Photo: UHH/Esfandiari
Academic freedom is currently under pressure worldwide. Starting on October 21, the Faculty of Humanities will be hosting a public lecture series focusing on the issue of academic freedom from an international perspective.
The recent attacks by the US government on universities such as Harvard and Columbia are just the latest in a series of political attacks on academic content in research and teaching. Attempts to intimidate researchers and students through bans, funding cuts, or other coercive measures in order to suppress politically unwelcome content and ideas have also shaped science policy in recent years in countries such as Poland, the Russian Federation, and Hungary. And how stable is the situation in Germany, where bans on established branches of research, public attacks on scientists, and administrative abuses can also be observed? How do factors such as the legal situation, precarious employment conditions, or authoritarian tendencies in science influence the freedom of research and teaching?
The public lecture series in the winter semester 2025/26 aims to explore the tension between academic freedom and political engagement. It will also examine the situation of universities from an international perspective.
The lecture series begins on October 21 and will take place every Tuesday from 6 to 8 p.m. c.t. in the main building ESA J, Magdalene Schoch Lecture Hall. It is coordinated by the Equal Opportunities Office and the Dean's Office of the Faculty of Humanities, Prof. Christoph Dartmann (History), Prof. Kristin Merle (Protestant Theology), and Prof. Anja Tippner (Slavic Studies).