A revealing exposé on how foreign authoritarian influence is undermining freedom and integrity within American higher education institutions.
In an era of globalized education, where ideals of freedom and inquiry should thrive, an alarming trend has emerged: foreign authoritarian regimes infiltrating American academia. In Authoritarians in the Academy, Sarah McLaughlin exposes how higher education institutions, long considered bastions of free thought, are compromising their values for financial gain and global partnerships.
This groundbreaking investigation reveals the subtle yet sweeping influence of authoritarian governments. University leaders are allowing censorship to flourish on campus, putting pressure on faculty, and silencing international student voices, all in the name of appeasing foreign powers. McLaughlin exposes the troubling reality where university leaders prioritize expansion and profit over the principles of free expression. The book describes incidents in classrooms where professors hesitate to discuss controversial topics and in boardrooms where administrators weigh the costs of offending oppressive regimes. McLaughlin offers a sobering look at how the compromises made in American academia reflect broader societal patterns seen in industries like tech, sports, and entertainment.
Meticulously researched and unapologetically candid, Authoritarians in the Academy is an essential read for anyone who believes in the transformative power of education and the necessity of safeguarding it from the creeping tide of authoritarianism.
Sarah McLaughlin is a senior scholar of global expression at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (Philadelphia).
Authoritarians in the Academy is one of those books that turns over a lot of rocks, exposing the unpleasant things going on underneath...The book deserves a wide readership.
— National Review
[Authoritarians in the Academy] thoroughly and thoughtfully explains the fall of free speech in the university, and it soon becomes clear to the reader that this tale is not dissimilar to that of other confrontations between liberal democracies and totalitarian states.
— Washington Examiner
As universities globalize, authoritarian regimes export censorship to American campuses. In Authoritarians in the Academy, Sarah McLaughlin unsparingly exposes how foreign pressure, self-censorship, and administrative complicity threaten academic freedom—challenging the notion that universities remain safe havens for open debate. A timely warning from the front lines of global free expression.
— Jacob Mchangama, Executive Director of The Future of Free Speech and author of Free Speech: a History from Socrates to Social Media
Essential reading for understanding how authoritarians abroad are limiting the freedom to think, teach, and learn at US universities. McLaughlin expertly shows how the sensitivity discourse prevalent on campuses is invoked to serve the censorious impulses of foreign regimes. With authoritarianism ascendant at home, this book is even more relevant.
