Critical analysis reveals conceptual ambiguity in academic freedom literature, highlighting the need for contextual research that links scholarly rights with institutional duties.
This essay critically questions the current scholarly literature on academic freedom. Contemporary debates on the Gaza student protests and debates about university neutrality highlight the ongoing contestation of academic freedom, and we feel that current research is not always adequately addressing the most relevant issues. We therefore identify a number of concerns regarding the current knowledge production on academic freedom (including its conceptual ambiguity) and reconceptualise academic freedom by emphasising the duties and responsibilities that (should) accompany academic freedom. We conclude by proposing renewed research on academic freedom accounting for its complexity, emphasising the importance of micro-level contextualised research.
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Huisman et al. (2026) studied this question.
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