An international congress “The University and the Future of Democracy” will take place at Freie Universität Berlin from April 24 to 26, 2018. The congress is being held jointly by the Scholars at Risk Network, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and Freie Universität. This congress is also the Scholars at Risk Network 2018 Global Congress, a biennial gathering of SAR’s global network of universities, which is taking place in Germany for the first time. All three major Berlin universities are members of the Scholars at Risk (SAR) Network.

The participants will report on and discuss the threats faced by individual scholars and scientists, threats to academic freedom around the world, and the role of universities in defending democratic values. The keynote address on April 24 will be given by the philosopher and literary scholar Judith Butler from the University of California, Berkeley.