Academic Repression – What is Happening and How do we Respond?

Academic freedom is vital for any society. It means scholars and students can share ideas, learn, research and ask questions without fearing negative repercussions. Today, many scholars around the world are losing this freedom. Rising levels of academic repression threaten the vital contributions universities make to supporting democratic societies.
 
At the Australian Festival of Democracy and Human Rights (2025), Professor Winnifred Louis led a panel discussion alongside four scholars with academic expertise and lived experience of academic repression: Dr Yasemin Acar (University of St. Andrews), Dr Melis Uluğ (University of Sussex), Professor Stephan Lewandowsky (University of Bristol) and retired Australian law professor and activist Gill Boehringer. Together, they unpacked academic repression and discussed practical ways to fight back.
 
The panel’s response to three key questions is summarised below. You can watch the full discussion here: A Panel Discussion of Academic Repression: What it is and how to respond. 

​Galileo Galilei before the Roman Inquisition, 1633. His trial for supporting heliocentrism, an early example of academic repression by political and religious authority.
 
Unknown artist (17th‑century Italian school), The Trial of Galileo Galilei before the Inquisition (1633). Public domain. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

Why do people try to repress scholars and universities?
 
Universities are key producers of knowledge. Their research shapes public debate, informs policies, and empowers citizens. When governments want to control ideas or enforce certain ideologies, they often start by targeting universities and the researchers within them.  
 
Control over academic spaces also means influence over what students are taught and how they think. Students play a crucial role in society, bringing knowledge from university experiences into their communities, workplaces, and social movements. When leaders restrict the range of ideas students are exposed to, they limit the spread of diverse knowledge throughout broader society.
 
Academic repression is also closely tied to efforts to weaken the foundations of liberal democracy itself. Universities foster critical thinking, intellectual pluralism, ideological expansion, and challenges to social norms. This makes them a threat to autocratic regimes and something that needs to be controlled.
 
What forces drive academic repression?
Several techniques are used by autocratic regimes to push universities away from academic freedom, while other drivers emerge from market forces even in democracies:

• Criticism of Academia: Opponents paint scholars as disconnected elites. This weakens public trust in research and makes it easy to dismiss evidence-based criticism of political power as mere “opinion”.
• Financial pressures: Authoritarian leaders reduce funding, forcing universities to increasingly rely on private subsidy, donors, grants and endowments. Funding is often accompanied by explicit or implicit conditions that narrow research agendas, discourage inquiry into sensitive topics, and lead to self-censorship.
• Bureaucracy and managerialism: Increases in complex approval processes and administrative demands — because of repression, or concerns about litigation or insurance — discourage academics from pursuing research in general, especially sensitive research.
• Commercialisation: Priorities for universities can shift towards branding and revenue, at the expense of independent inquiry. Universities can adopt business-like models and, in some cases, supply commercial sector employees for academic roles. These cultural and personnel changes often undermine courage and curiosity, drivers of academic research and protective forces for academic freedom.
• Weak legal protections: In authoritarian societies, scholars are left vulnerable to external and internal pressures without strong laws to defend against academic freedom.

 
These forces combined create an environment where academic freedom is limited and the foundation of democracy suffers as a result.
 
What can scholars do to resist academic repression?
 
Despite these challenges, there is hope and resistance is possible. Our panel identified several ways to oppose academic repression:

• Collective organisation: Academics need to organise together, build international networks and communicate across countries and contexts. Working collectively helps protect vulnerable researchers and affiliate scholars with supportive institutions.  Professional societies, unions, and peer networks can help.
• Advocacy within institutions: Academic associations can apply pressure through public criticism, protest, and opposition to problematic leadership. Small acts, like opposing administrative barriers, can help create a collective shift in the culture, reshape norms and foster gradual change.
• Engaging the public: Increasing participatory research will help reduce the distance between academia and society, oppose the elitist narratives, and demonstrate that research serves the public interest. For example, people's inquiries can provide a source of information gathering, networking and communication with the community.
• Raising awareness: Publicising academic repression through public talks, roadshows, community events, and online forums creates visibility which encourages solidarity and accountability.

 
Ultimately, academic freedom is fundamental to democratic societies. By standing together in collective action, we can ensure that universities remain a critical space for reflection, debate, intellectual expansion and progress.
 
By Rose Overland
 
Further links:
 
Scholars at Risk: https://www.scholarsatrisk.org/
 
Acar, Y. G., Uluğ, Ö. M., & Solak, N. (2025). The impact of authoritarian regimes on research: Insights from research, researchers, and participants. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/pac0000803
 
The Anti-Autocracy Handbook: A Scholars' Guide to Navigating Democratic Backsliding. https://zenodo.org/records/15696097

People’s Inquiry into Campus Free Speech on Palestine (2025).  Preliminary Report. https://www.palestineinquiry.com/preliminary-report