“Tyrants Hate Truth”: Austin Sarat on the New War Against Academic Freedom
Sunday, February 15, 2026
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Academic freedom is facing its most intense pressure in 75 years, with Austin Sarat stating that the Trump administration's campaign against expertise has created a climate of fear and self-censorship on campuses, as noted in his articles "2025 Rekindled Commitments to Academic Freedom Nationwide" and "There's an Intensifying Kind of Threat to Academic Freedom – Watchful Students Serving As Informants".
The Trump administration's assault on expert knowledge has led to a federal campaign against universities, with the goal of pressuring institutions to align with the administration's views, as Sarat explains in his conversation with Joshua Scheer on the podcast "Academic Freedom on Life Support".
The rise of student informants has fueled surveillance, complaints, and self-censorship, with Sarat emphasizing that the issue reflects a misunderstanding of free speech and academic freedom, rather than a technological problem, and that academic freedom requires courage and a commitment to truth-seeking, as he discusses in his work published on ScheerPost.
