This episode explores recent challenges to the ideal of the university as a space for open debate and the plurality of views. What is emerging in various national contexts of higher education across Europe and in the United States? And how is the ideal of the university currently being debated? Listen also to hear what the EU’s rearmament could mean for academic freedom across Europe.
Guest featured on this episode:
Luiza Bialasiewicz is a professor of Political and Economic Geography at the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice in Italy, where she’s also director of the School for International Education. Before moving to Venice last year, for over a decade, Louisa was a professor and chair of European Governance at the University of Amsterdam, where she also directed the Amsterdam Center. She’s held several prestigious fellowships and visiting positions at the University of Colorado, Boulder, the University of British Columbia, and Osaka City University. Her most recent publications include an article, “Geographical Storylines and the Russian Invasion of Ukraine: Narrative Power and Narrative Taboos, a Difficult Conversation” published last year and “The Social and Spatial Forms of the Far Right Across Europe” in 2020.