A Call for Constructive Engagement

https://www.aacu.org/newsroom/a-call-for-constructive-engagement

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Historiker*innen für eine demokratische Gesellschaft

https://hist4dem.de/

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Statement US-amerikanischer Wissenschaftler:innen: „To the American People“ ist hier zu finden:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/13gmMJOMsoNKC4U-A8rhJrzu_xhgS51PEfNMPG9Q_cmE/edit?pli=1&tab=t.0#heading=h.b3f2t4qlidd

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Trump entsetzt mit Vorgehen gegen amerikanische Elite-Universitäten

https://orf.at/stories/3389355/

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Statement on the Importance of Sexuality and Gender Research

Please Read & Forward

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00224499.2025.2474343

 

Authors:

Cynthia Graham

The Journal of Sex Research

Phillip Hammack and Liam Wignall

Psychology & Sexuality

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Unterzeichnen gegen die Zensur von Forschung durch die aktuelle U.S.-Regierung

wir möchten auf eine wichtige Deklaration aufmerksam machen, die sich gegen die zunehmende Zensur von Forschung durch die aktuelle U.S.-Regierung richtet. Die Deklaration setzt ein starkes Zeichen für wissenschaftliche Freiheit und den Schutz kritischer Forschung.

Wir laden ein, sie zu unterzeichnen: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSenHphuS0QIp1NPpyFNMJo4dd591UEOjHHyIGzNrVco90eYwQ/viewform

Appeal by the International Academic Community in Support of Serbian Students & Professors

Dear Colleague,

We write to you as members of the academic community, gravely concerned about the escalating repression targeting participants in peaceful students-led protests that have now persisted for four months.

From the very beginning, students and citizens have faced systematic state intimidation, culminating in a shocking act of violence during a mass protest on March 15 — a moment intended for solemn silence in memory of 15 fellow citizens who tragically lost their lives. In that very moment of commemoration, an unidentified device emitting a powerful sound and shock wave was unleashed against peaceful demonstrators without warning. The resulting pressure wave triggered mass panic, causing injuries and widespread distress. This deliberate deployment of such a device constitutes a flagrant violation of the Police Law of the Republic of Serbia. The intentional use of tactics designed to instil fear, panic, and chaos represents a grave breach of fundamental human rights — including the right to life itself. The report from Earshot confirming this is available HERE.

Equally alarming is the campaign of intimidation that followed. Witnesses have been threatened with prosecution under the pretext of “inciting panic and disorder” if they speak out about the incident. This attempt to silence citizens not only deepens the violation of fundamental rights but also exposes a dangerous disregard for the rule of law. The targeted attacks against the rector, who has stood in defense of academic integrity and students‘ rights, have escalated into an open campaign led by pro-regime public figures calling for his arrest.

This tragic event did not occur in isolation. These student-led mass protests were ignited by the tragic collapse of the canopy at the recently renovated Novi Sad railway station — a preventable disaster that claimed 15 lives, including several students. This tragedy has come to symbolize something far greater: decades of negligence, corruption, and systemic mismanagement, where public funds disappear into dubious projects at the cost of citizens’ safety. For many, the canopy collapse stands as a devastating reminder of the human cost of a political system that prioritizes power and profit over accountability and public welfare.

Outraged by this tragedy and the deeper crisis it exposed, students at universities in Novi Sad, Belgrade, Kragujevac, and Niš have organized blockades and demonstrations, demanding transparency in the reconstruction process, accountability for those responsible, and justice for the victims.

We stand at a critical moment. The repression of peaceful protest and the silencing of those who speak out against injustice threaten the very principles of democracy and human dignity. We therefore call on you to stand in solidarity with Serbia’s students and academic community in their courageous pursuit of truth and accountability.

Universities have long been spaces of free thought and critical inquiry — and it is our shared responsibility to defend those who peacefully resist repression in the name of justice.

Please read and sign the appeal here: https://forms.office.com/e/jnVLs00DLW

Sincerely,
Members of the Academic Community from Serbian Universities

Declaration To #DefendResearch Against US Government Censorship

Signatories to the Declaration continue to grow, and now stand at over 3,500, including 91 organizations such as the Association of University Presses (AUP), the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP), the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB), and the OAPEN Foundation, as well as numerous publishers and individual journals (see the full list of organizational signatories at the end of this email).

We have an ambitious goal to reach 10,000 signatures in April, so we need your help gathering more signatories through your personal contacts and on social media (remember to use the #DefendResearch hashtag so that we can all amplify each other’s posts).

From the responses to our questionnaire (still open) asking which of the four commitments you’ve taken action on, we know that most of you are sharing the Declaration and encouraging others to sign. Thank you and please keep up the good work! Reaching this goal will help us have a powerful impact as we fight back against the U.S. government’s onslaught of censorship orders and actions, by:

1. Raising awareness of the dangers of censorship and the need to #DefendResearch. A strong, shared voice will be an effective tool in not only stopping, but beginning to roll back this assault on our national research infrastructure. Coverage of the Declaration like these pieces in Nature, Scientific American, and other media will help, and we’re also starting to work on evidence-based toolkits you can use to get the message across in your own communities.
2. Connecting people and organizations to generate action. We are talking to a number of like-minded initiatives including Stand Up For Science and the Data Rescue Project about how we can collaborate to maximize the impact of our work. We’re also using our website to share information about other efforts to fight back on censorship.
3. Influencing change-makers, who can help us get the message out most effectively. By using the leverage of our signatures we will both influence more people to sign the Declaration and mobilize all signatories to take action.

More on all of this soon. In the meantime, thank you again for your support, and please keep spreading the word and taking actions to help #DefendResearch!

Lisa Schiff (@lschiff.bsky.social), Alice Meadows (@alicemeadows.bsky.social), Catherine Mitchell(@camitchell.bsky.social), Sara Rouhi (@RouhiRoo.bsky.social), Peter Suber(@petersuber@fediscience.org), Suze Kundu (@funsizesuze.bsky.social)