New Report: “National Security, the Assault on Science, and Academic Freedom”

From the American Association of University Professors (AAUP):

A new report, National Security, the Assault on Science, and Academic Freedom, released by the AAUP details troubling threats to academic freedom in the physical and natural sciences that have been exacerbated by the Trump administration’s hostility to science. International scientific exchange and, especially, the charging of innocent Chinese or Chinese American scientists with espionage in the name of national security is one focus of the report. The second is climate science, an area that has been subject to vicious attacks that have intensified significantly under the current administration.
The report’s survey of recent criminal cases involving international scientific exchange suggests that the government’s invocation of national security claims related to espionage has not been justified and is negatively affecting the ability of the United States to participate in global science.
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The report explores how the politicization of science, rooted in anti-intellectualism and propelled by anti-elitist mantras, is constraining the free pursuit of knowledge and scientific inquiry and limiting the ability of science to serve the public good. As the report notes, challenges to the validity of scientific findings and to the free pursuit of scientific inquiry began well before the inauguration of Donald Trump.
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The report concludes with recommendations for scientists, colleges and universities, scientific associations, scholarly organizations, government employees, and news outlets to resist efforts by government agencies to unduly restrict or discredit scientific research on grounds of national security, to speak out against the politicization of science, to report extensively and specifically about assaults on science, and to protect academic freedom.

Read the Complete AAUP News Release
Direct to Full Text Report: National Security, the Assault on Science, and Academic Freedom ||| PDF Version (13 pages; PDF)

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