Academic Freedom

CARA was originally founded as the Academic Assistance Council (AAC) in 1933, in the face of rising fascism across Europe and the totalitarian persecution of academe and academics. It emerged from a show of solidarity by senior British academics and free-thinkers of the day, to provide safe-haven and support to fellow academics under threat. It was established to defend the right of academics to explore the world of ideas, literature and science unfettered by political, social or religious oppression, censorship, or sanction. Most importantly, CARA was created to defend the principle and value of academic freedom.

Lord Lionel C. Robbins (1898-1984) President of the British Academy (1962-67)

Of Academic Freedom Inaugural Lecture under the ‘Thank-Offering to Britain Fund’ 6 July 1966

"A society which respects and cherishes the freedom of its academic institutions and their members is much less likely to fall victim to the enemies of freedom in general than a society which does not. And without freedom, how little of what happens on this planet has ultimate morale significance?"

Proceedings of the British Academy Vol 52 pp45-60

Professor John Sexton, President, New York University

Of Academic Freedom: CARA/SAR UK Universities Network Inaugural Meeting, 15 March 2006

“By seeing what happens in societies where universities and scholars are put at extreme risk, we come to better appreciate why we defend what we do and better recognize the warning signs of the erosion of those freedoms. … [W]ithout genuine academic freedom, our universities will not fulfil their core mission: the enlargement of what we know, how deeply we know, and the number of those who know.”