ASC Presidential Panel: What’s A University For? The Role of Academia in Tumultuous Times

Session Submission Type: Presidential Session

Abstract/Description

We live in tumultuous, divisive, dangerous, and uncertain times. Academia in many countries has been propelled into controversies about human rights, war, freedom of speech, role of the judiciary, racism, anti-Semitism, and authoritarianism. In the United States, university presidents are under political attack; faculty grapple with how to handle controversial debates in the classroom; and ideas (such as Critical Race Theory and Settler Colonialism) have become politicized and contested. Criminology is in the thick of this crisis, addressing such topics as the resurgence of law and order, police killings, rightwing politicization of the legal system, attacks on reproductive and gender rights, war crimes by states, and culture wars. The proposed panel addresses how these issues are variously affecting research, teaching, administrative policies, and public criminology. Drawing upon participants from different countries/regions will provide a comparative perspective and deepen our understanding of the current crisis.

Sub Unit

• Area I. Presidential Panels

Chair

• Tony Platt, University of California, Berkeley

Speakers

• Smadar Ben-Natan, School of Global Studies & Languages, University of Oregon, Eugene

• Zeynep Gonen, Framingham State University

• Nikki Jones, University of California, Berkeley

• Christina Heatherton, Dept. of American Studies & Human Rights, Trinity College

• Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, Hebrew University, Israel