Academic Freedom in the Middle East

Academic freedom protects scholars' and students' ability to research, teach, learn, publish findings, present viewpoints relevant to a subject, and express political or policy opinions without censorship or institutional punishment.[1] It is widely treated as essential for universities to function as spaces of intellectual discovery and debate.[1]

Academic freedom is distinct from conduct such as threats, harassment, or discriminatory exclusion, which universities may separately be required to address.[1] It also does not automatically eliminate legal consequences for public advocacy of boycotts: Israeli law, for instance, allows tort claims against those who knowingly call for economic, cultural, or academic boycotts of Israel or Israeli institutions, subject to proof of direct economic harm.[2]

A 2007 Washington Institute study surveying 56 universities across 13 Arab countries found higher education in the Arab world to be highly centralized, with governments exercising control over curriculum, admissions, and faculty recruitment.[3] Documented restrictions included banning classroom or library materials and internet sites, and limiting student interactions or activities.[3] The study noted substantial variation among countries and institution types, and cautioned that its findings reflected selected institutions rather than all universities in the region.[3]

A scholarly volume on researchers facing the Arab uprisings described academic freedom and research conditions as uneven across the region, identifying Lebanon, Morocco, and Tunisia as among the few places where social-science research could be conducted and presented relatively freely.[4] Even there, a brief post-uprising opening of archives and public debate was quickly narrowed again by the return of security-state controls, including in Tunisia.[4]

Article 21 of Egypt's constitution guarantees academic freedom and independence from state interference, but documented state practices have conflicted sharply with that guarantee.[4] Universities became sites of open political debate during 2011, and a change to higher-education law introduced elections for student and university leaders, including faculty members, deans, and university presidents.[4] That opening ended abruptly after the political change in summer 2013: academics sympathetic to political Islam were arrested or barred from teaching, others self-censored or went into exile, and students and professors were arrested for participating in unapproved demonstrations or expressing opinions.[4]

A presidential decree in June 2014 revoked universities' ability to elect their leaders, and from January 2015, professors seeking to attend conferences abroad needed prior security clearance.[4] Hiring or promotion could depend on pro-government attitudes, and students were referred to military trials or disappeared.[4] Campus entrances at Cairo University were staffed by heavily armed police with X-ray machines and metal detectors after the 2013 clashes.[4]

Research conditions became similarly restrictive. Researchers needed security clearance for proposals — a process that could take months or years — and proposals could be rejected on security grounds.[4] Research on the Muslim Brotherhood or the military became almost impossible inside Egypt after Abdel Fattah al-Sisi assumed the presidency, and subjects such as irregular migration or civil-society engagement could be studied, if at all, under security-force surveillance.[4] Egypt's state statistics agency, CAPMAS, imposed additional procedural hurdles on research applications.[4] At a Cairo workshop on March 6, 2016, colleagues described their reaction after publishing new work as "one of fear," worrying about possible consequences rather than feeling satisfied with the achievement.[4]

A Washington Institute analysis described Iran's post-revolutionary government as undertaking a cultural revolution in higher education, during which almost 50,000 students were expelled and more than one-third of faculty members were dismissed or driven into emigration by political repression.[5] Further campaigns followed in 2005–09, and the 2022 analysis characterized the dismissals of four professors — Mohammad Fazeli, Reza Omidi, Arash Abazari, and Arezoo Rahimkhani — as the beginning of a possible third round.[5] It assessed the earlier campaigns as having destroyed university autonomy and reduced educational quality, particularly in the humanities and social sciences.[5]

Political and ideological controls extend to admissions. A quota system reserved almost 70 percent of university seats for students with qualifying ties to regime-linked groups, including the Basij, and actively disobedient students could be barred from graduate study.[5] A 2019 bill proposing to base admissions on academic competence rather than political affiliation was withdrawn by President Ebrahim Raisi in 2021.[5] Appointments of deans and deputy deans by the relevant ministers required approval by the Supreme Council for Cultural Revolution.[5]

U.S. State Department reporting describes Iranian authorities as targeting university campuses to suppress social and political activism by banning independent student organizations, imprisoning activists, removing faculty, preventing enrollment or continued study because of political or religious affiliation or activism, and restricting social-science and humanities curricula.[6] An amendment to academic disciplinary rules also permitted punishment for students' online activity deemed "unethical."[6] Bahá'í students have been barred from higher education and harassed for studying through the unrecognized online Bahá'í Institute for Higher Education; at least 22 Bahá'í students were denied university admission in 2019 despite passing the national admissions test, solely because of their religious affiliation.[7]

Following the failed 2016 coup attempt, Turkey imposed a travel ban on academics.[8] More than 7,000 academics were dismissed during the state of emergency that lasted from 2016 through 2018.[9] State broadcaster TRT reported that 95 academics had been removed from their posts at Istanbul University alone.[8] A Western-based researcher reported that Turkish colleagues were "very scared," that academics abroad were being called by their universities and asked to return, and that research requiring work outside Turkey could become difficult.[8]

Nearly 2,000 academics known as "Academics for Peace" had signed a 2016 petition condemning state violence in southeastern Turkey.[9] In July 2019, Turkey's Constitutional Court ruled that their prosecutions violated freedom of expression; by September 2020, 622 of 822 cases had ended in acquittal.[9] Most academics acquitted in 2019 who had been fired had not been reinstated by the end of 2020.[9] An April 2020 amendment to the Higher Education Law also specified new grounds for academic censure or dismissal.[9]

In Jordan, government intelligence personnel were reportedly present in academic institutions and monitored conferences and lectures.[10] Members of the academic community said the General Intelligence Directorate had to clear professor appointments and that university administrators referred potentially controversial research papers, forums, reading materials, films, and seminars to the Directorate for clearance.[10]

Saudi academics reportedly practiced self-censorship, and authorities prohibited professors and administrators at public universities from hosting meetings with foreign academics or diplomats without prior government permission.[11] Activists reported that several academics were arrested in July 2021 after attending a gathering hosted by a cleric associated with the Arab Awakening, with those named reportedly still detained as of November 2021.[11]

In Kuwait, universities offering fine arts, English literature, and humanities courses adjusted course material in response to legal requirements, university-administration policies, or student complaints.[3] A 1996 law barred coeducational classes.[3] When the American University of Kuwait opened in 2004 offering both coeducational and segregated instruction, it faced scrutiny from the Private University Council; a compromise arrangement included semitransparent, three-foot-high classroom partitions, while students could mix in other campus spaces.[3]

Israeli higher-education institutions operate with broad academic and administrative autonomy and are open to applicants who meet their academic standards.[12] The Council for Higher Education — headed by the education minister and including academics, community representatives, and a student representative — accredits institutions, authorizes degrees, and advises the government on higher education and research.[12] A Planning and Grants Committee serves as an intermediary between government and institutions on financial matters, with responsibility for submitting budget proposals and allocating approved funds.[12]

The Association for Israel Studies, founded in 1985 as an international interdisciplinary scholarly society for the academic study of modern Israel, lists academic freedom and freedom of expression among its core commitments.[13]

U.S. State Department reporting characterizes government restrictions on academic freedom and cultural events in Israel as few.[14] One specific legal restriction allows the finance minister to reduce public funding to organizations that commemorate Israel's Independence Day as a day of mourning or meet other specified criteria — a measure distinct from the general assessment of academic-freedom conditions.[14] A municipality was also reported to have removed a civics teacher after complaints about his political views, and an education minister intervened in a Bible-studies curriculum following protests by Orthodox rabbis.[15]

Palestinian Authority law provides for academic freedom, and State Department reporting indicates the PA generally did not restrict it in the West Bank — known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria.[16] Nevertheless, some academic institutions and faculty members engaged in self-censorship, and NGOs reported that authorities closely monitored criticism of the PA by students and professors.[16] PA and Israeli security forces sometimes detained students affiliated with the Islamic bloc at universities, particularly before student-union elections, with such detentions rarely followed by formal charges.[17]

In Gaza, Hamas interference in teaching methods or curricula deemed contrary to its interpretation of Islamic identity or traditions was reported by Palestinians, though UNRWA reported no Hamas interference in the running of its own Gaza schools.[16] Students and faculty who participated in cultural and educational programs sponsored by foreign governments or international organizations faced questioning by Hamas.[17]

Israeli movement restrictions have adversely affected Palestinian academic institutions and access to education and cultural activities.[16] Israeli authorities rarely granted permits for Gaza residents to attend West Bank universities, and the Israeli Supreme Court continued to uphold, with few exceptions, a ban on students from Gaza attending those universities; most students in Gaza did not apply because they expected permits to be denied or revoked during the academic year.[17]

A separate curriculum dispute arose in East Jerusalem, where Israeli authorities provided publicly funded schools with an edited version of the Palestinian Authority curriculum, removing material characterized as glorifying terrorist attacks on Israelis as well as some information about Palestinian history and culture, and tied school funding to use of this version.[17] Reactions were divided: some Palestinians viewed the measures as an effort to reshape Palestinian historical narratives, while others welcomed the associated resources as preparation for Israeli higher education and employment.[17] A parents' council, teachers' union, and PA Jerusalem Governorate held a strike in September 2022 to protest what they described as censorship and the imposition of an Israeli curriculum.[17]

Academic freedom affects both the production of knowledge and the ability of universities to function as places of intellectual discovery and debate.[1] The regional examples also show that formal legal guarantees, institutional autonomy, freedom of individual expression, access to education, and freedom of movement are related but distinct measures of academic freedom. Egypt's constitutional guarantee coexists with documented security controls, while reports on Israel distinguish broad university autonomy from particular legal restrictions and political disputes.[4][14]

Conditions may also differ within one jurisdiction. Reporting on the Palestinian territories distinguishes Palestinian Authority policy in the West Bank, Hamas practices in Gaza, and Israeli movement or curriculum restrictions rather than treating them as a single system.[16][17]

Recurring international debates over academic boycotts of Israeli institutions have intersected directly with questions of academic freedom. In April 2005, Britain's Association of University Teachers voted to ask members to avoid academic or cultural cooperation with Haifa University and Bar-Ilan University.[18] The stated reasons differed by institution: Bar-Ilan was cited for running courses at colleges in Judea and Samaria, while Haifa was cited for disciplining a lecturer who had supported a student writing about attacks on Palestinians during Israel's founding.[18] Universities UK described the resolution as "inimical to academic freedom," including scholars' freedom to collaborate.[18] About a month later, in May 2005, the AUT voted by a large majority to lift both boycotts following an international campaign by the universities and the Israeli Foreign Ministry.[19]

At its first conference in May 2007, the University and College Union voted 158 to 99 for a motion calling for a debate on a "comprehensive and consistent boycott" of Israeli academic institutions, including refusing research collaboration with Israeli academics.[20] This was a call for debate rather than a decision to implement a boycott.[20] At the end of September 2007, the UCU announced it would end its involvement in boycott planning after receiving legal advice that such an action would be unlawful under British law, while affirming that members could debate and pass resolutions criticizing Israeli government policy.[21]

In 2009, a separate episode arose when Spain's Housing Ministry disqualified the Ariel University Center of Samaria from the final stage of the Solar Decathlon, an international architecture competition, on the grounds that the university was located in what the Spanish government described as occupied territory.[22] Ariel had reached the finals alongside 20 other universities after two years of collaboration and had received a €100,000 grant; it reported an enrollment of 10,000 students, including 500 Arab students, and condemned the disqualification as anti-academic.[22]

A 2014 incident at Birzeit University in the West Bank brought campus-level tensions into focus. Israeli-Jewish journalist Amira Hass was asked to leave a conference by two professors who told her that "Israelis cannot enter the university."[23] The university apologized and clarified that its academic boycott applied to institutions, not individuals; a senior official said the university had no official policy banning contact with Israelis and planned to invite her back, though student activists supported her expulsion and opposed the apology.[23]

Following Hamas's terrorist attack on October 7, 2023, Education Minister Yoav Kish urged Israeli universities to suspend employees or students suspected of incitement or support for Hamas, hold hearings within 72 hours, and consider permanent expulsion or termination when allegations were confirmed.[2] The advocacy group Mossawa reported that approximately 130 Arab students and lecturers at 33 higher-education institutions were summoned to disciplinary hearings and suspended or expelled by the end of 2023, characterizing the procedures as expedited and improper.[2] Universities, NGOs, and academics raised concerns about due process and the effect of these proceedings on freedom of expression.[2]