Liberal Arts Education and Academic Freedom: Between Ideal and Vulnerability

• In Event: Liberal Arts Education: Freedom of Memory and the Memory of Freedom

Abstract

Liberal arts education is often seen as an institutional embodiment of academic freedom, emphasizing student autonomy, interdisciplinarity, and critical thinking. However, this model faces increasing challenges due to political and economic pressures worldwide. The paper examines cases of liberal arts programs being dismantled or transformed in Russia, Germany, the U.S., and Singapore, highlighting the various threats to academic freedom. It also explores new exile-based liberal arts initiatives that have emerged in response to political repression, raising key questions about the adaptability and sustainability of the liberal arts model in different institutional and political contexts.

Author

• Filipp Fedchin, Bard College Berlin (Germany)