‘It’s worse than I thought; it’s affecting all of us’
Discussion image: Erik Paulis
How can the academic world best handle the new political reality in the United States? This is the question that managers, lecturers, researchers and students at Leiden University discussed on Friday afternoon at a gathering in the Kamerlingh Onnes building. ‘Don’t just give in; defend academic freedom.’
There were two notable aspects to at the Leiden meeting, an initiative of university historian Pieter Slaman: the will to find concrete solutions, and the impact that the American turnaround is already having on Leiden and The Hague.
The packed lecture hall and the strong media attention immediately set the tone on the new situation. Slaman asked all those present not to make any recordings while discussions were ongoing so that everyone could feel able to speak freely. ‘I think it’s awful having to say that, but that’s the situation we’re in right now.’
Rector Magnificus Hester Bijl is very aware of the unrest that the reports of the attacks on academic freedom in the United States have caused in recent weeks. She makes it unequivocally clear that the university is behind the thousands of academics affected in the US, and obviously is also behind our own staff and students.
The Leiden approach
In the Kamerlingh Onnes building four other speakers besides Bijl presented the first steps for a structured approach to the restrictions from America. It is a typical Leiden approach, those present conclude: don’t make a general statement, but ask questions, express concerns and engage in discussions.
Carina van de Wetering, lecturer in American Politics, did not beat about the bush: ‘Our universities are under attack: our students, our staff, but also our broader academic community.’ She outlined the changed environment in which American universities are having to work. They are faced with democratic decline, polarisation and the personal leadership created by Trump.
Suddenly, the universities and their research are no longer for ‘the people’, but rather the complete opposite. Van de Wetering has four tips: be open towards other people and to the differences; choose your own path and keep to it – don’t just give in; defend the institute and its academic freedom; and make eye contact, talk to one another, and have trust in your colleagues.
Inform, protect and connect
American Jesse Morgan-Owens, assistant professor of North American Studies, agreed. She was pleased to see that all those present – when they could have been sitting outside enjoying a drink in the sunshine – instead chose to attend this important debate. Morgan-Owens spoke with dozens of colleagues and fifty students before the meeting. ‘It’s not about what has happened or how we got into this situation. The question is: what are we going to do at this moment in time? As a scientist, I would like to stop time and carefully examine the developments. But that’s not possible right now; it will be a task for future researchers. What we have to do is: inform, protect and connect.’
Morgan-Owens knows colleagues who have lost their funding. And the next speaker, professor of Normative Aspects of Medicine Martine de Vries, is already seeing the consequences of the American policy in practice. There are financial obstacles because around 80 percent of the budget of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the world’s biggest funder of medical research, has been frozen. The LUMC will be left with expenditure that will not be refunded. But there are also personal consequences: subsidies are being refused and publications withdrawn. And then there are the concerns about the reliability of research data. PubMed, one of the principal databases for publications in medical and health sciences, is an American government institution. ‘I check my own publications every day to see whether they are still there.’ De Vries pointed out that it is a good idea to bear in mind that how research from the US is interpreted may have to change in the future and that science will lose important partners.
Pay attention to the small print
Anouschka Versleijen, director of LURIS, gave some tips about these partnerships, although she, too, is sometimes still in the dark. ‘ A lot is unclear; at times we are no longer able to reach people in American programmes.’
Her advice is to pay attention to the small print in contracts with partners in the US. ‘Our contracts comply with the core values the KNAW; it’s important for us to honour them. Collaboration continues to be important; if that disappears, it will have major consequences for science. But make sure you check your paperwork, or let us check it for you.’
Where Leiden researchers can turn to LURIS, students have Student Educational Affairs (SEA). There were a lot of questions and comments from concerned students in the audience. Can you still travel safely to the US for workshops or conferences? And should you actually want to do that if you first have to clean up your social media and watch what you say? Members of staff also hear from colleagues and students that they are cancelling their study trips. The university has invited students who they know are due to travel shortly to the US to an information session that is planned for the coming Monday.
Pieter Slaman was impressed by the afternoon’s discussion. ‘The situation is worse than I thought, and it’s already affecting all of us. I’m very happy that so many practical tips have been put forward.’