Academic Freedom and the University as Educational Space. Practices and Forms of Legitimizing and Limiting the Public Dimension of the University

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Christiane Thompson
• Subject Area: General Education and History of Education
• Term: from 2019 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 422761980

Currently, there is a considerable (international) debate on academic freedom and censorship in universities. The debate includes severals developments and phenomena: the boycot of controversial speakers, the enactment of university speech regulations as well as the so-called trigger warnings, i.e. the constitution of universities as ‚safe spaces‘. In the aftermath of several cases in the media, universities are called forth to react to these developments and to position themselves.This project explores the extent of regulations concerning academic freedom in universities in Germany. Beyond the current state of discussion, the project investigates the forms of authorization to secure or regulate academic freedom: Which practices of legitimation are used in the context of non-discriminatory speech? How are universities positioned in relation to the contemporary changes of political culture? The analytic and educational-theoretical focus of the project rests on the discursive practices surrounding the "public" and "Bildung in the University". The empirical materials researched are declarations, mission statements etc. from university stakeholders (esp. from university administration) – documents with relevance regarding the institutional frame of academic freedom. Like interviews with university leaders and student union representatives, these documents are analyzed with the method of discourse analysis (and authorization research). Important themes of transformation that are included in the analysis are the changing forms of university leadership, the new forms of pedagogization in the university as well as the crisis of scientific authority.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants