Universities are meant to be guardians of democracy and bulwarks against authoritarianism. Yet many of our most powerful universities have enabled the Trump administration’s open effort to exert “existential terror” on our institutions and our communities. This convening at Boston University School of Law critically examined why universities have failed to protect democracy and how we might democratize our institutions and reorient toward their core mission: to pursue truth and knowledge for the common good.
Professor Sahar Aziz participated on a panel entitled “Universities, the Empire and Academic Freedom” that reexamines the assumption that American universities safeguard free expression, arguing that they have historically curtailed dissent in alignment with U.S. geopolitical priorities. Recent suppression of pro-Palestine advocacy—through expulsions, disciplinary sanctions, and the weaponization of antisemitism charges—demonstrates institutions’ active role in reinforcing the U.S.–Israel alliance. This pattern is consistent with earlier moments: Cold War loyalty oaths, McCarthy-era dismissals, sanctions on anti-war and anti-apartheid activists, and more recent initiatives targeting scholars of Chinese descent. Across these episodes, First Amendment protections have proven malleable when confronted with the imperative of sustaining U.S. imperial legitimacy. The panel will analyze this continuity and explore strategies for cultivating scholarly networks that preserve academic freedom in the face of imperial constraint.
To learn more about the academic conference hosted by the Boston University Law Review, click here.
