Police at US protests 'raise questions about academic freedom'
Nobel economics laureate Joseph Stiglitz, a professor at Columbia University, said on Thursday that police intervention at pro-Palestinian protests on US campuses “raises the issue of academic freedom”.
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Mundo Joseph Stiglitz
"Many of the politicians, particularly the Republicans, have been waging a war on our universities for years. They don’t like the fact that we teach our students to think for themselves a little bit more [because] when they do, they often come out with a different view than some of the conservative politicians would like them to have,” he said in London on Tuesday.
But the Columbia University economist and professor said, speaking at an event hosted by the Foreign Press Association, that much of the scientific research that has led to advances in medicine and technology has been done at universities.
"The speaker of the House [of Representatives, Mike] Johnson, went to the steps of Columbia University a few days ago and said the president of the university should resign. This is an interference with academic freedom, the likes of which we have not seen since the McCarthy hearings of the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s,” he warned.
Stiglitz, who is in London to promote his book The Road to Freedom: Economics and the Good Society, stressed that this is a theme he addresses in the work.
"One of the important points I make in the book is that for our system to work, we need checks and balances in our system. And one of the checks and balances is academic freedom, independent universities, that look at what the government is doing and criticise it,” he said.
A pro-Palestinian demonstration that was taking place at Columbia University ended on Tuesday with police raiding an administrative building that had been occupied by the protesters and making dozens of arrests.
In a statement, a Columbia spokesperson said that New York City police officers entered the campus after the university requested their assistance.
Police have entered other campuses in the United States in the last two weeks, leading to clashes and more than 1,000 arrests.
Read Also: Tension in California. Police move against pro-Palestine students (Portuguese version)
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