Universities in Search of Emancipation
Kaleeswaram Raj | 17 January 2025 | The New Indian Express
In April 1969, students at Harvard University protested the American war on Vietnam. It was a gesture of defiance against the regime that went beyond the campus. The next president of the university, Derek Bok, who assumed office in 1971, talked about the social commitment of modern universities in his seminal work, Beyond the Ivory Tower. It highlighted the importance of academic independence and political neutrality in universities.
Universities are, ultimately, centres of truth and knowledge. They are also important markers of resistance against the arbitrary use of power. In the field of science, too, universities are to serve humanity beyond territorial limits. Hence, academic freedom at universities has a direct link to a country’s democracy. The cerebral ecosystem of a nation is often created and maintained by the free exchange of ideas in the higher education system….