Freedoms and Rights of Academic Citizenship are Essential. Reflections on the Situation at Universities in Denmark
Recently, the idea of academic citizenship has become a popular topic of debate. Citizenship is a political issue that has to do with power and freedom as expressed through constitutional rights and obligations, and such considerations are also relevant in relation to science and scholarship. Originally, many universities were recognized as independent legal entities with their own constitution and jurisdiction, just as it is customary to name university officials with the same titles as republican officials in antique Rome. While the idea of academic citizenship may thus have historical roots, there are also systemic and normative issues that may be worthy of consideration. Constitutional rule is a way of mediating between conflicting parties, and just as interests may conflict, so may power and knowledge. Hence, when the desire for power, or the fear of it, is allowed to dominate human relations, controversial truths are less likely to surface. Drawing readers' attention to historical facts and the valuable UNESCO Recommendation Concerning the Status of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel, my overall claim is that the constitutional rights and freedoms of republican government are essential to science, scholarship, and higher education. The horizon that makes this claim important is a sad case, namely that of contemporary Danish university governance, to which I will relate the article's general claims along the way. Denmark thus serves as an example of a country where the legal protections safeguarding academic citizenship have become very weak, and it is therefore also worth considering how this situation might be changed.
Object Details
Creators/Contributors
Sørensen, Asger - author
Collection
collections Journal of Educational Controversy | Peer-reviewed Journals
Identifier
1379
Note
Theme: The University in the Crossfire: Quandaries over Neutrality, Moral Responsibility, Corporatization, and the Protection of Free Speech in Difficult Times
Date Issued
January 1st, 2025
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Resource type
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Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author's written permission.
Acknowledgments
First, I am grateful for the comments of the anonymous reviewer and the editor of the journal. Second, I must thank two dedicated colleagues who have acted as anonymous referees on this article for the journal Speki. Nordic Philosophy and Education Review; their critical comments helped me to improve the structure of the argument and bring it to an appropriate conclusion. Unfortunately, ultimately the editor-in-chief chose not to publish the article. Third, I must thank the Danish editors of the special issue discussed in section 3 ('What is academic citizenship?', Journal of Praxis in Higher Education, vol. 6, no 2, 2024). They first invited me to give a presentation as part of an online panel debate on academic citizenship in March 2022 organized by HEPP (Higher Education Policy and Practice). Afterwards, they invited me to contribute to the said special issue and to comment on my first version of the argument, they provided two anonymous reviewers whose comments were very helpful, as were those of the editors themselves. Following the review and initial acceptance with revisions, however, the revised article was, much to my surprise, rejected by the editors. Fourth, I would like to thank Daniel Gamper Sachse, David Martinez, Sally Andersen, Stavros Moutsios, and Thomas Aastrup Rømer, all of whom provided helpful comments on different versions along the way. Finally, fifth, I must thank the editors of the Danish journal Paradoks, where an early version of the argument was published as 'Akademisk borgerskab er afgørende for videnskab og uddannelse,' Paradoks, vol. 4, April 11th 2024. This was also helpful for the process.