By Michelle Hines, University Relations
Contact: (336) 334-5371
Posted 9-26-07
GREENSBORO, N.C. – It’s all too easy to forget that the rights Americans enjoy – including rights to free speech and academic freedom – don’t always exist in other nations.
UNCG is lending support to the cause of academic freedom worldwide by joining Scholars at Risk, an international network that provides a safe haven for intellectuals fleeing oppression in their homelands.
“I see academic freedom as a basic human right,” said Dr. Jerry Pubantz, a UNCG professor of political science who suggested the university join SAR. “If you can’t exercise it, that’s a real loss, and a real violation of rights.”
SAR, based at New York University, arranges speaking engagements and visiting professorships for endangered scholars, which helps to inform students, faculty and the public about academic rights violations. Many of the scholars helped through SAR face all-too-real threats to their lives and the lives of their families.
UNCG and Duke University are the only North Carolina universities to join SAR so far. Pubantz is working with university administrators and fellow faculty to build an organizational framework for the program. He foresees starting with a speaker series featuring SAR scholars that would eventually grow into visiting professorships.
Pubantz expects to encounter scholars primarily from sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and Asia. “Not probably since the 1940s and 50s have academic scholars in such numbers had to flee their countries, or not been able to do their work or enjoy academic freedom,” he said. “It would be great for our students to learn from these scholars. We are really serving the whole academic community that way.”
Scholars currently in the network include a Russian journalist, an Iraqi PhD in art history and archaeology and an Iranian with a B.A. in Persian literature and creative writing. These are just a few of the dozens of intellectuals served by SAR.
Anyone wanting more information or who knows of a scholar at risk should contact SAR at (212) 998-2179 or scholarsatrisk@nyu.edu, or visit the SAR website at http://scholarsatrisk.nyu.edu.
