The Nobel Prize in Economics considers intervention in American universities as interference with academic freedom, similar to McCarthy’s Un-American Activities Commission.
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Nobel Prize winner in Economics Joseph Stiglitz, a professor at Columbia University, said this Thursday that the police intervention due to pro-Palestinian protests in North American universities “raises the question of academic freedom.”
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Many politicians, particularly Republicans, have been waging war against our universities for years. They don’t like us teaching our students to think a little more for themselves. [porque] When they do, they usually come out with a different position than some of the conservative politicians would like them to have,” he said this Thursday in London.
However, the economist and professor in Columbia, New York, recalled during a Foreign Press Association event that much of the scientific research that led to advances in medicine and technology was done in universities.
The President of the House [dos Representantes, Mike] Johnson went to the steps of Columbia University a few days ago and said that the university’s president should resign. It is an interference with academic freedom.something we haven’t seen since the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings. [lideradas por] McCarthy in the 50s,” he warned.
Stiglitz, who is in London promoting the book. The path to freedom: economy and good society (The path to freedom: economics and positive societyin free translation), he emphasized that this is a topic that he addresses in the work.
One of the important points I make in the book is that, for our system to workwe need control S Is balances in our system. And one of the checks and balances is the freedom academicindependent universities, which look at what the government does and criticize it,” he stressed.
The pro-Palestinian demonstration that took place at Columbia University ended on Tuesday with the police storming an administrative building, which had been occupied by protesters, and making dozens of arrests.
In a statement, a Columbia spokesperson said New York City police entered the campus after the higher education institution requested help.
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Police have entered other US campuses in the past two weeks, leading to clashes and more than 1,000 arrests.
Tension increased at the University of California (UCLA). Police dismantled barricades and made new arrests
Source: Observadora
