What India can learn from U.S. academic freedom crisis: When politics enters the classroomPremium

American colleges face ideological conflict due to conservative policies, threatening academic freedom, autonomy, and diversity, serving as a caution for India.

With conservative State governments in the United States enacting policies that opponents claim jeopardize academic freedom, institutional autonomy, and intellectual diversity, American colleges have recently turned into arenas for ideological conflict. Although freedom of thought and inquiry have long been defended by the U.S. as essential components of its higher education system, that basic foundation is currently in jeopardy. This incident serves as a frightening reminder to Indian administrators, students, and policy intellectuals of how readily university integrity can be undermined by politicization.

Laws that limit the teaching of subjects like race, gender, and sexuality in schools have been passed in a number of conservative-led U.S. states, including Florida, Texas, and Tennessee. These laws, which were framed as attempts to shield kids from political indoctrination, have caused: Critical Race Theory (CRT) being prohibited in public institutions; Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) offices being dismantle; and control of course content and library resources

Many educators are concerned about this top-down management because they perceive it as an open attack on their freedom to teach and conduct research. There are also requests to restrict or do away with tenure systems, which are a cornerstone of academic freedom.

Consider the discussion surrounding critical race theory.

The theory known as Critical Race Theory (CRT), which was created in American law schools throughout the 1970s and 1980s, essentially explains how racism is ingrained in institutions, legal systems, and public policy rather than being limited to individual opinions. The key underlying concepts are:

Racism is systemic; it is not limited to individual prejudice but is ingrained in institutions, laws, and structures.

Race is socially manufactured; it is not biologically based; rather, it is a social construct used for control and classification.