While CAUT members face many challenges in their daily work, only rarely do these include violence and intimidation. But this is not the case in many areas of the world. In the midst of political and social crisis, academics — like journalists — are among the first to be attacked, often for their defense of free inquiry. The situation is desperate for some of our colleagues. I’d like to draw your attention to two of the many egregious situations in which academics face the threat of physical violence, including imprisonment, torture and death, and des­cribe a program that responds to these threats.

Once home to an enviable higher education system, Iraq’s post-secondary institutions are now in sham­bles and Iraqi academics have increasingly become targets of sectarian violence. The Institute of In­ternational Education has called this “one of the greatest academic crises of our time.” By the end of 2007, the death toll of Iraqi academics had reportedly surpassed 300 and many more continue to be attacked and have their lives threatened. Uni­versity World News reported that in a single month this year 25 Iraqi academics were killed and scores kidnapped, sometimes along with their families.

The Chronicle of Higher Edu­ca­tion described the “near paralysis of Iraqi universities,” in a May 2007 report, adding that “Almost all aca­demic research in Iraq has been halted because fieldwork and data collection are nearly impossible.” Not surprisingly, many academics have fled the country, leaving a seri­ous void in Iraqi academe. Sadly, there are few safe havens. Hundreds of Iraqi professors of medicine, pharmacy and engineering who sought refuge in neighbouring countries over the past few years are living in increasingly desperate circumstances.

In the wake of elections in Zimbabwe, many educators there have become targets of violence and in­timation. There are widespread re­ports that teachers in rural areas have been injured or killed and many have now fled their schools, or fled the country. During this past summer the situation became so bad that academics warned Pre­sident Robert Mugabe that all higher education institutions in the country faced closure as a result of deteriorating working conditions that has led to what University World News describes as a “mass exodus of experienced staff and absenteeism.”

But terrible threats to scholars are by no means confined to Iraq and Zimbabwe. Topping the most dangerous list where scholars are at peril are Cambodia, Pakistan, Iran, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Uzbekistan, among others.

What can Canadian scholars do to address this? CAUT is a member in Education International, the worldwide voice of education workers and academic staff. EI is active in promoting human rights, union rights and academic freedom. It also educates academics about global conditions, contributes to solidarity among academic staff and, through advocacy and regular monitoring, makes academic freedom and human rights violations visible and encourages international response to offences. For example, over the past summer, as the crisis in Zimbabwe deepened, EI issued an urgent action appeal for its worldwide members to denounce the human rights violations being systematically carried out against teachers.

But we must deepen our commitment to defending academic freedom and protecting individual civil liberties with more concrete action. One international program that pro­vides important opportunities for the involvement of Canadian academics is the Scholars at Risk Network. This is an international network of universities and colleges that provide sanctuary through tempo-
rary academic placements to scholars and students whose lives are threatened in their home country.

Since 1999, the University of To­ronto, which is the only Canadian member of the network, has admit­ted 12 scholars from Iran, Ethiopia, Yemen, Iraq, Columbia and Azerbaijan to its Massey College-School of Graduate Studies program, and provided them with two-year fellowships of $10,000. This has allowed recipients to continue with graduate studies or post graduate research.

The presence of scholars is significant for the sponsor as well, according to John Fraser, master of Massey College. “For us not to reach out means we’re almost guilty of complicity by not understanding what happens in these countries. In the end we’re the beneficiaries because the scholars sometimes teach or they enhance the research pool of the university,” he told the UofT Bulletin earlier this year.

In the U.S. more than 50 colleges and universities have joined the network and there are 33 member institutions in the UK. Members of the U.S. network include leading universities such as Harvard, Stanford, the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Chi­c­ago and smaller institutions such as Monmouth College in Illinois. Canadian academics are strong defenders of civil liberties and academic freedom and we should play a bigger role in defending our colleagues internationally.

Only higher education institutions can join the network, but as individuals and members of academic associations we can push our colleges and universities to join. I ask you to urge your academic staff association to take up this call to participate and to bring it to the attention of your institution through your departments, faculties and university-wide bodies. It’s time to extend our social justice agenda and challenge our borders. I hope CAUT members nationwide will take up the quest and work with colleagues in their local associations and institutions to join this program.