The opportunity for scholars to conduct their research and speak freely is being challenged in many parts of the world, as is the ability of some universities to operate free of political or commercial influence. Has the digital age brought threats to intellectual autonomy, and is the advancement of knowledge that questions conventional wisdom hampered by new forms of censorship? This event explored the condition of academic freedom under various systems and circumstances, engaging challenges that transcend national and ideological boundaries.
This event was co-sponsored by the Free Speech Project and the Future of the Humanities Project at Georgetown University.
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Alexander Chernikov is dean of the Faculty of International Educational Programmes and head of the Department of Computer Information Systems and Technologies at Bauman Moscow State Technical University. He has issued 115 publications on topics including information systems, methodological problems of higher education, and control devices and systems.
John Drakakis is emeritus professor of English at the University of Stirling in Scotland and an honorary fellow of Glyndwr University in Wales, as well as an honorary fellow of the British Shakespeare Association. He has written widely on Shakespearean topics, and his book Shakespeare’s Resources will be published by Manchester University Press. He sits on the boards of a number of scholarly journals, including the online electronic journal Shaksper.
Nadine Strossen is a professor at New York Law School and a leading expert and media commentator on constitutional law and civil liberties; she has testified before the U.S. Congress on multiple occasions. She was president of the American Civil Liberties Union from 1991 to 2008, and her acclaimed 2018 book, HATE: Why We Should Resist It with Free Speech, Not Censorship, was selected by Washington University as its 2019 “Common Read.”
Natalia Troufanova is head of the Department of English for Industrial Engineering and lecturer in linguistics at Bauman Moscow State Technical University. After graduating from Moscow State University with a degree in theoretical and applied linguistics, she received her Ph.D. in philology from the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2006.
Professor Michael Scott (moderator) is Senior Dean, Fellow of Blackfriars Hall, the University of Oxford, college adviser for postgraduate students, and a Member of the Las Casas Institute. He also serves as senior adviser to the president at Georgetown University. Scott was on the Editorial Board which relaunched Critical Survey from Oxford University Press. Scott previously served as the pro vice chancellor at De Montfort University and founding vice chancellor ofWrexham Glyndwr University.
Sanford J. Ungar (moderator), president emeritus of Goucher College, is director of the Free Speech Project at Georgetown University, which documents challenges to free expression in education, government, and civil society in the United States. Director of the Voice of America under President Bill Clinton, he was dean of the American University School of Communication after a distinguished career in journalism. Ungar is a former co-host of All Things Considered on NPR.