Policing the University: A Global Trend

The essay examines the increasing policing of universities and colleges and specifically the diminishing of faculty and students’ right to peacefully assemble and challenge oppressive governance. I argue that we must understand the escalating presence of riot police on university grounds as part of...

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Main Author: Eve Darian-Smith
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: PUCPRESS 2025-06-01
Series:Revista de Direito Econômico e Socioambiental
Subjects:
Online Access:https://periodicos.pucpr.br/direitoeconomico/article/view/32337
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author Eve Darian-Smith
author_facet Eve Darian-Smith
author_sort Eve Darian-Smith
collection DOAJ
description The essay examines the increasing policing of universities and colleges and specifically the diminishing of faculty and students’ right to peacefully assemble and challenge oppressive governance. I argue that we must understand the escalating presence of riot police on university grounds as part of a wider trend to prevent all forms of public protest. Thinking about policing students and scholars as constituting part of a global anti-protest trend is essential for several reasons. First, it avoids getting bogged down in detailed legal and constitutional debates about what constitutes academic freedom and what activities justify police intervention that may vary within and across national contexts. This helps overcome the state-centered approach that continues to dominate analyses of higher education and opens up new comparative and transnational perspectives and questions. Secondly, and more importantly, without considering the global context in which localized attacks on universities occur we will not fully comprehend why policing is escalating, nor develop strategies to resist far-right regimes that suppress scholars and wider societies’ ability to challenge rising authoritarianism.
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spelling doaj-art-7e3492007d474b4eabf507682c3a5f7a2025-08-20T02:37:30ZengPUCPRESSRevista de Direito Econômico e Socioambiental2179-345X2179-82142025-06-01162e520e52010.7213/rev.dir.econ.soc.v16i2.3233719758Policing the University: A Global TrendEve Darian-Smith0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1971-0323University of California, IrvineThe essay examines the increasing policing of universities and colleges and specifically the diminishing of faculty and students’ right to peacefully assemble and challenge oppressive governance. I argue that we must understand the escalating presence of riot police on university grounds as part of a wider trend to prevent all forms of public protest. Thinking about policing students and scholars as constituting part of a global anti-protest trend is essential for several reasons. First, it avoids getting bogged down in detailed legal and constitutional debates about what constitutes academic freedom and what activities justify police intervention that may vary within and across national contexts. This helps overcome the state-centered approach that continues to dominate analyses of higher education and opens up new comparative and transnational perspectives and questions. Secondly, and more importantly, without considering the global context in which localized attacks on universities occur we will not fully comprehend why policing is escalating, nor develop strategies to resist far-right regimes that suppress scholars and wider societies’ ability to challenge rising authoritarianism.https://periodicos.pucpr.br/direitoeconomico/article/view/32337academic freedom. censorship. policing. protest. antidemocracy.
spellingShingle Eve Darian-Smith
Policing the University: A Global Trend
Revista de Direito Econômico e Socioambiental
academic freedom. censorship. policing. protest. antidemocracy.
title Policing the University: A Global Trend
title_full Policing the University: A Global Trend
title_fullStr Policing the University: A Global Trend
title_full_unstemmed Policing the University: A Global Trend
title_short Policing the University: A Global Trend
title_sort policing the university a global trend
topic academic freedom. censorship. policing. protest. antidemocracy.
url https://periodicos.pucpr.br/direitoeconomico/article/view/32337
work_keys_str_mv AT evedariansmith policingtheuniversityaglobaltrend