Scholars at Risk - SAR is an international network of universities founded in 1999 at the University of Chicago to promote academic freedom and protect scholars who are at risk of life or whose work is severely compromised. Its two headquarters are SAR-US at New York University and SAR-Europe at Maynooth University (Ireland).
Over the past decade, a growing number of universities have joined SAR International. At the end of 2020, SAR included 550 universities and research institutes or associations in 42 countries, mainly located in the United States, Canada and Europe. These numbers demonstrate that there is increased interest in and support for the advocacy of hundreds of scholars around the world, through specific protection programmes, awareness-raising initiatives, and training programmes on the importance of academic freedom and the consequences of its violation.
Membership in SAR requires the university to commit to the principle of academic freedom, and to subscribe to an annual fee ranging from 1,000 (contributing membership) to 5,000 USD (sustaining membership). Membership in SAR International automatically entails membership in the national sections.
Here is a selection of the most important publications written or supported by SAR International (free to download):
- Free To Think the annual report based on the detection of attacks on university communities around the world, the result of the work of faculty members and students participating in the Academic Freedom Monitoring Project;
- Obstacles to Excellence: Academic Freedom and China’s Quest for World Class Universities, the report on academic freedom in China (2020);
- the Academic Freedom Index, a report promoted in collaboration with the Global Public Policy Institute;
- SAR Global Congress Report (2020).
For prospective members: Get involved.
Here is a short presentation video.
At the international level, there are currently important national protection programmes for scholars at risk. Some are promoted tanks to co-funding initiatives involving public and private organizations (France, Germany and Finland), others through private organisations (US and UK).
The main programmes are:
- the Philipp Schwartz programme (PSI) and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (AvH) in Germany, with the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation;
- the PAUSE programme (Programme d'aide à l’Accueil en Urgence des Scientifiques en Exil) in France;
- EDUFI in Finland;
- CARA (Council for At-Risk Academics) in the UK;
- the Scholar Rescue Fund, established in 2002 by the Institute of International Education (SRF-IIE).
Additional information can be found in the Insights section of: How to Host.
In order to promote advocacy strategies to defend academic freedom, SAR International promotes activities that single universities can develop on their own or in partnership with other universities within their national network or with other European, US or Canadian national networks:
- Student Advocacy Seminars, see also the Student Advocacy Seminar Handbook;
- Scholars in Prison Project;
- Academic Freedom Monitoring Project.
SAR's advocacy work is supported at the European level by the European Coordinating Committee for Academic Freedom Advocacy that carries out some types of actions in defense of academic freedom, with the aim of going beyond the academic environment to strengthen collaborations with different actors at the European level and increase the effectiveness of advocacy campaigns.
In particular, the goal is to:
- keep policy makers at European level informed about academic freedom;
- expand and coordinate advocacy initiatives between the various European actors;
- increase participation from Central, Southern and Eastern Europe.
In order to promote advocacy strategies to defend academic freedom, SAR International promotes activities that single universities can develop on their own or in partnership with other universities within their national network or with other European, US or Canadian national networks:
- Student Advocacy Seminars, see also the Student Advocacy Seminar Handbook;
- Scholars in Prison Project;
- Academic Freedom Monitoring Project.
SAR's advocacy work is supported at the European level by the European Coordinating Committee for Academic Freedom Advocacy that carries out some types of actions in defense of academic freedom, with the aim of going beyond the academic environment to strengthen collaborations with different actors at the European level and increase the effectiveness of advocacy campaigns.
In particular, the goal is to:
- keep policy makers at European level informed about academic freedom;
- expand and coordinate advocacy initiatives between the various European actors;
- increase participation from Central, Southern and Eastern Europe.
Contacts
Scholars At Risk International
https://www.scholarsatrisk.org/
email: [email protected]
Tel: + 1-212-998-2179 / FAX: + 1-212-995-4427
411 Lafayette St., 3rd Floor, New York, NY, USA 10003