Group 2: Campus Integrity in Times of War and Crisis

As part of this year’s FreeAc Summer School on Academic Freedom, a group of students from across Europe came together in Poznań to explore a pressing question facing higher education institutions today:

How can universities protect the rights, safety, and autonomy of their communities in times of crisis?

Their focus: Campus Integrity — a pillar of academic freedom that safeguards not just ideas and dialogue, but the physical and institutional spaces where education happens.

Team members:
Mishel Bondar – Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv
Roza Athanasatou-Kots – University of the Peloponnese
Pola Bogacz – Adam Mickiewicz University
Wiktor Chałupniczak – Adam Mickiewicz University
Raffael Jessner – University of Graz
Dmytro Muzychuk – Adam Mickiewicz University
Antonino Martorana

Why Campus Integrity Matters

Campus integrity refers to the physical safety, social inclusion, and institutional independence that allow universities to function as spaces of free thought. Drawing on global examples, the group examined how conflict, repression, and instability undermine higher education, and what can be done in response.

Their research identified three main threats:

• Political repression – including arrests, surveillance, and crackdowns on activism
• Economic and social instability – such as underfunding, unsafe environments, and displacement
• War and armed conflict – causing physical destruction, relocation, and restricted access

Responses to Threats

The students explored real-world responses — both successes and failures — and proposed key strategies to protect campus communities:

• Empower students as active participants in university governance
• Institutionalise autonomy through formal structures
• Provide physical safety alongside emotional and symbolic inclusion
• Recognise campuses as safe zones for free expression and access to education
• Support displaced students and academics with targeted resources

Their case studies included:

• Ukraine: Universities building bomb shelters, relocating institutions, and supporting students from occupied territories
• Latin America & the US: Student protests met with police repression, raising questions about freedom of assembly
• Lebanon, Italy, Greece: Economic collapse, discrimination, and brain drain undermining the role of the university

“Protecting campus integrity means defending both the people and the space.”

The group concluded that, in times of conflict, defending the campus is not just about buildings — it is about defending ideas, belonging, and democracy itself.

Sources

• Academic Freedom Index. (2024). https://academic-freedom-index.net
• Al Jazeera. (2025, May 8). Pro-Palestinian protesters arrested at US’s Columbia University.
• BBC News. (2025). Pro-Palestinian protesters arrested at Columbia University.

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