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Thank you so much for coming today I know it is the busiest time of year and also not very nice out after a lot of nice weather it's also a really difficult time on campus in the world as well so thank you for making the time today I really think the topics that we'll talk about today will be ones that um will resonate given current events this talk was planned before the events of October 7th and the ongoing violence so they were not this was not organized in response to that I have gotten some emails about that but I do think that the conversation today will have implications or will certainly be relevant for the way that we talk about International engagement and also about the ongoing conflict I think we would all agree that the university is a space it's a place and a space where dialogue where engagement where learning and teaching are protected and in these challenging times maybe even more than ever I hope that we can have a good discussion tonight we have a couple hundred people who are signed up to be online as well as the people in the room the people in the room are the ones who will be able to ask question questions and so we look forward to your questions um during the Q&A the conversation tonight is about what it means to engage in an ethical way as a global University with Partnerships and collaborators abroad and with representatives from around the world here on campus on behalf of the University I'm supposed to remind all participants that Cornell values free and open inquiry and expression and Str strives to create a community where diverse opinions can be expressed and heard as provided in University policy speakers have a right to speak without intimidation and the audience has a right to hear what speakers have to say audience members who disagree with the speaker may make their views known of course so long as they don't interfere with the speaker's ability to be heard or the right of others to listen and to see the speaker thank you before I introduce our fabulous keynote speaker tonight I want to provide just a little bit more framing for the conversation over the past two decades the landscape of higher education has changed dramatically we're more Global on this campus than we have been ever before we've always been a global campus but this has increased over the last two decades the internationalization of higher education we are are more connected now to the world than perhaps ever before the number of international students staff and faculty at Cornell has increased substantially since the early 2000s many of you in the audience know that very well today roughly 24% of Cornell's students are international from almost 100 countries we have roughly 1,500 International Scholars visiting Cornell for short periods every year at the same time the number of students going out into the world for study abroad for internships for t as they call them is also increasing we've sent 500 students out on full bright Fellowship since the 194s and the number of successful applicants continues to increase and I don't have solid percentages for this but my educated guess is that about 75 to 80% of our faculty have international collaborators or International collaborations and projects they work on in part evidence by the fact that we have about 225 active agreements with International institution This Global engagement is what defines and furthers a world-class institution we recruit we teach we collaborate internationally because we want to work with and have the best and the brightest and because some of the most significant problems facing us today are Global ones we need to understand them and seek Solutions collaboratively and globally what we're talking about tonight is how to engage abroad how to do all of this work all of these collaborations ethically when do we not engage when do we need to make room on our campus to provide Safe Harbor to students and Scholars who do not have the freedom to speak openly in their own countries and how do we think about teaching and learning in countries with different formal and informal value systems from our own these are huge questions and we only have an hour and a half so we won't answer them tonight um I'm not even convinced that they can necessarily be answered these are Big questions but they're ones that we ask ourselves probably all the time I imagine Allan does so what we'll do tonight is Allan I'll introduce him very briefly um and he will speak as our keynote and then we will have a panel of Scholars who will then talk about their understanding of free expression and ethical International engagement we will hopefully have a lot of time for questions as I said when I started um it's difficult to introduce Alan briefly it's much easier to do it as Mark Twain said uh with a long introduction um particularly to summarize the impact or his contribution to International Education Alan e Goodman is the chief executive officer of the Institute of International Education some of you may have heard of The Institute of International Education which goes by iiee but many of you may know the Institute better by the programs that it operates the programs that it runs and advocates for the ones that we have on our campus alone are of course the full bright iiee as well as our Scholars under threat program and the Humphrey fellows program iiee was established at the end of World War I end of World War I 1919 sorry on the premise that fostering student and faculty exchanges around the world would promote greater understandings between nations and maybe as the organization mission statement says quote build more peaceful and Equitable societies by advancing scholarship building economies and promoting access to opportunity end quote Alan Goodman received a PhD in political science from Harvard and has received honorary degrees from universities in Canada Europe Japan and the UK before joining iiee alen Goodman was a professor at Georgetown University and the executive dean of the school of Foreign Service he has published widely and served at the Department of State and the CIA thank you Ellen [Applause] I'm going to follow you and maybe speak from the floor and anybody in the back that would like to come up front there's plenty of room here and we could have a real conversation that way anybody would like to come up front well maybe in the thank you so much uh thank you very much for having me for arranging this day and this visit to Cornell at a special time uh thank you for coming for those on live stream I appreciate you tuning in this is a conversation that goes on for for us at The Institute for many years uh Cornell is our most valued partner it dates back to 1930 when they helped us rescue and take the first German and European scholars fleeing the Nazis um coming in uh to the United States and needing placement in US higher education and currently Cornell has the most rescued Scholars uh from our program and the artist Protection Program in addition of any American campus and it is our third largest host over the years we've had the scholar rescue fund uh since we started it in 19 19 in in 20 in 2002 uh it's going to take me a while to get it's I'm going to have a little bit of an odyssey to get to the topics of free expression in University engagement but maybe I can do it through uh recounting a little bit of how we struggled with those topics uh the other thing I struggled with is in this visit uh what could I bring Cornell to thank them for this invaluable partnership and my first thought was to because it's Halloween was to bring Wendy a Superwoman costume but then I realized I have to bring the rest of her terrific staff Rachel Sarah U Laura who I just met Nishi uh and there weren't enough costumes available for super women in Washington for me to bring up so instead I brought the institute's highest award to the university the century medal and we presented it to your Provost this afternoon [Applause] uh and it is for the work you have done not only with the fbite and Gilman and other programs that we administer on behalf of the Department of State but the way in which and crisis after crisis this university has opened its doors to F to Scholars their families to all the challenges that and made them feel that they belong was indeed a place where thinkers in distress and Scholars needing rescue could come and be helped and write the next chapter and you'll hear from three of our who are writing the next chapters of their discipline their field and our work together and I look forward to us being on the panel together um I use the word Odyssey because in many ways this was not an intentional permanent activity of the Institute we we started in 1919 in 1920 We rescued our first scholar no one imagined that we would be rescuing a scholar within months of being created uh it was a group of Russian academicians fleeing from the Bolshevik Revolution and found no uh University in Europe willing to take them and somehow we got connected with them and they with us and we found universities in America that would take them and also their students who were then stranded along with him in Europe uh between 1920 and 2001 we probably rescued 20,000 Scholars sometimes a few uh sometimes a few hundred uh sometimes a few thousand uh 1,500 hungarians fleeing from the uh repression of the Hungarian Revolution 2,000 black South Africans who would have otherwise been in jail for the rest of their lives during a party uh but every time we did this we were reactive uh and we was was very ad hoc U there would be a crisis we would hear from a scholar displaced we would then say how many are you and how much do we need and we would pass the plate and raise money crisis by crisis by crisis uh and it turned out we did it every year from 1920 till 2001 2002 we decided this would be a permanent Mission and we needed a way to get ahead of the crisis so we could be prepared for how many crises there would be and how many scholars they uh would involve and how much money did we need and and so we raised an endowment we're now in the process of trying to double the endowment because the problems and the demand is so great but we started by saying uh let's have a universal Declaration of academic freedom and a universal Declaration of academic Free Speech uh so that we could then make an index of countries that repress freedom of expression and naively thinking that no country would want to be in first place like the most corrupt country in the world the most repressive of free speech the most threatening to to Scholars that would in some way deter regimes and countries and Guerilla forces and Generals of armies to it would in some way deter these attacks on Scholars we spent um thanks to Fort Foundation 18 months with an International Panel discussing what is academic freedom what is freedom of expression uh at the end of 18 months we had abandoned it we found it impossible to conceive and craft a definition that didn't read made in America made in a rich country made in a place where universities had historically autonomy uh and what was the nail in the coffin of the exercise was as I was realizing we were not going to come up with the index or the definition that would be appropriate uh someone said you know why don't you call the American Association of University professors and ask them how many complaints uh this was in 2001 2002 how many complaints were they getting from their members that their freedom of expression was being constricted and they lacked academic freedom on their campus and I knew the Secretary General we had helped to create the Gilman scholarships together uh and uh rang him up and and said uh you know what academic freedom means and he said oh yes we have a definition of it uh originated in 1940 uh o okay do you have any American professors applying to your adjudication process because their freedom of expression has been denied or their academic freedom challenged and he said we do that year they had 1,800 cases and that was the end of the effort to make a definition of academic freedom freedom of expression I realized the only thing we know how to do really is rescue and we're still learning how to rescue and it varies from crisis to crisis and whether you have one crisis or multiple crisis uh but let's stick to what we know how to do which is to rescue Scholars place them in a setting where they can be safe continue their work and hope that at the end of Wars do end dictators do get overthrown terrorists get captured uh when that happens they can go back to their home countries and in the period uh between 1920 and uh 2001 uh of the 20,000 about half went back we're finding that today in the case of the modern scholar rescue about after two or four years in a safe haven the regime changes um something happens in the terrorist movement and they focus on somebody else and the scholar and the family are able to go back uh in the process we learned a lot about what threatens Scholars and one lesson is that it ain't lack of freedom of expression it's one of the factors that causes Scholars to have to flee but much more common uh is their gender uh there are some countries and some situations where uh it doesn't matter what the professor teaches or says or has done the regime or the religious authorities do not want them saying or doing anything an issue fought was for death uh in some places it's their very existence U they are from an ethnic group in their country that the regime or the terrorists want to eliminate in some cases they are simple professors uh a mathematician who is Chairman of the math Department uh is told he must join the political party of the ruling Hunter and he says I don't know anything about our politics I only know math most respected person in the University that's why the terrorist and the regime targeted him and they said if you don't join the party we'll kill your kid there are pharmacists in other countries uh that teach Pharmacy U the terrorists have discovered that you know if you kill the pharmacist then a lot of people don't get their medicine and and so the terrorist has used this as a way to inflict real terror and real harm on large swaths of population uh for their sheer purpose of terrorism and ultimately their view prevailing it's nothing to do with freedom of expression yes some are uh uh threatened because they have expressed something and the country lacks freedom but many more it's it's a much more widespread human condition that we we are dealing with um uh gender preference something we all Embrace some countries it's a sentence of death some countries uh art uh the very fact that you're doing art uh that you've used a symbol in art that you had no idea was offensive uh so you weren't expressing a political view you weren't expressing the humanist you were it was a symbol you liked and carried meeting can lead to a death threat and often a death sentence so uh for the first part of the topic I think we learned a lot in scholar rescue about the multiple sources that threaten Scholars and and also the difficulty people have in countries that you would think have freedom of expression uh and our approach and response to that was to say the only thing that matters to us is are you a scholar associated with the University and are you threatened not trying to judge that some threats are more important than others but and then to try to help everybody we can and their families uh the other part of the topic is University engagement um I mentioned that we started doing this in 1920 and if you look at the reasons why universities did it um there's no single reason why universities get engaged in scholar rescue uh sometimes every university has a foreign policy except half the universities in America don't uh we have about 4,000 colleges and universities maybe 18 to 1900 have in their strategic plan or their mission statement the kind of things that when and her staff work on global presence Global Services uh scholar rescue uh but it it's not natural for many colleges and universities to have public or private a foreign policy we think they should we think they're going to need it in the world we're facing we think it serves them and their students and trustees well if they intentionally think about what kind of international engagement they want to have and where they want students from and where they want students to go and how many they want but it's not an operational requirement but sometimes University are engaged universities are engaged because it's an intentional foreign policy this one has Cornell has a foreign policy uh so universities get engaged in the work we do because they have a policy for it they see themselves as a Haven they see themselves as rescuing Scholars as part of internationalization sometimes we get they get engaged with scholar rescue because uh they think scholar rescue is the mission of the university and sometimes they get engaged because the president or the Provost or the dean or the most respected faculty member themselves had to flee from repression or flee from a place where Scholars were threatened or where there was no freedom of expression very early in our scholar rescue work in about 2005 2006 there was a large emergency in Iraq there was death threat list against 500 professors that one of the sectarian militia had composed and and they were systematically assassinating them uh we found the list with thanks to the American Embassy uh when they were about 300 left so they they were marching through names addresses uh people who never thought they would be threatened and we arranged uh to get as many of the 300 as we could either to Jordan or the United States and one of the first persons we brought to the United States was a medical professor in pediatric oncology and husband was a cardiologist they had one child uh she had to flee because she was a Sunni uh Oria and it was the other militia that was trying to assassinate first her husband because if you kill the Cardiology Professor uh then the people who who depend on his Clinic don't have a cardiologist and they shot and killed him in front of her and her daughter uh we were able to get her quickly to a university in America that said we will take her specialty pediatric oncology uh in one of the first visits I made to the university um I said oh my God it's the University of South Carolina I hope she likes football uh so just imagine yourself you're you're coming you're traumatized your daughter is um you're a medical professional but and you're going to a place the only resemblance between Iraq and South Carolina is that they have palm trees in both places uh um and I went to the hospital where at the university hospital where she was the scholar in Residence and I I uh our practice is to visit each scholar on each campus and I was elected to to do that uh and I was very eager to meet her and to see how her pediatric oncological work was unfolding well it wasn't uh she was in the pharmacy department and the neurology department uh because she had figured out that she and her daughter had PTSD and began to figure out how she could cure herself and help her daughter and the University of South Carolina provided a home in which she could do that and she wanted me very much to meet her patience I I'd say uh now picture Columbia South Carolina Nikki Haley is Governor uh this woman is completely covered in hijab she's half my size and she introduces me to her patients led by S black who is three times my size and they walk out from the clinic holding hands and he said she's the only one that cured us she had the same thing we had she figured out how to help herself and now she's helping me and my platoon uh and not pediatric oncology she ultimately went back to Iraq and to her practice but I just couldn't figure out how this worked until I met the dean of the graduate school and the head of uh the pH pharmacy program at at South Carolina and I asked them why they did it and they said we had to flee our country there was sectarian violence in our country uh we came here 18 20 years ago Columbia South Carolina turned out to be a really great home for us there is a mosque down the street uh you don't have football as a religion but you don't have to attend it on Saturday uh and we realized it was our duty as University people to help people like we got helped by others and and the most powerful reason you universities get engaged in our work by far is the fact that somebody says it is our duty and sometimes it's a student group sometimes it's a faculty group a lot of it started here with the faculty sometimes it's the president or the Provost or the dean of research it doesn't matter it it's enough people thinking that the mission of the university is to protect freedom expression and to protect those who are threatened for whatever whatever reason so there no easy answers we've discovered to how you eliminate this is a problem or widen freedom of expression or even how to define it but what we do know is uh everybody you help can save somebody else's life sometimes maybe a whole family maybe a whole community and the doctor I met ended up looking much taller suddenly to me and to all her buddies in the VA hospital where she was taking through this cure so uh to end on a hopeful note it it's kind of hard to think of visiting itha without thinking of the poem by kabasi uh and and I get it uh life is in the journey it's not where you end up eventually you get to itha like Odus did but it's really overcoming all the challenges and and that's pretty much the end of the ending of the poem it's very uplifting U beautiful British voices even though he's Greek read it on the YouTube um but in thinking about this trip and what I would quote from the poem I I was struck by the first standard which I had never appreciated before um the poet says that along the way uh you're going to encounter the Cyclops uh the lonians and angry posidon uh and then that's kind of like today uh a lot of countries have Cyclops people that have one eye that view the whole world by one lens that have misogyny sharply focused in that lens and and through that one eye kill anybody that they don't like I didn't know much about the lonians until I looked them up U uh in in the Odyssey odyss has 12 ships and 12 companies of men Manning the ships and the lonians ate they were cannibals they ate 10 of 11 or 11 of 12 of the ships and the crew um Odysseus escaped because he had another idea uh and posidon as I remember my mythology seemed to be able to boil the Seas of conflict uh at a moment's notice and and kept some sea somewhere always turning and isn't that a bit like what we have today the world is on fire the seas are boiling uh and it seems out of our hands but the poet says don't be afraid of any of these you can get through it essentially by keep your thoughts high and that's what universities teach we teach a lot of other things and it's really to be depressed about where we are today in the world but if we can teach our young people to have thoughts that they can keep High I think it will get us all through and keep hoping alive because that's sort of the one thing that separates us from the gods they didn't have to have hope they didn't have hope and they were destined to have the fates that they were assigned U and they didn't have to hope for something different and I thought the poet was really speaking to us today when he he says you keep your thoughts High and that'll get us through what's ahead and that's what makes Cornell great and why it's great for me always to come back and visit you thank you very [Applause] much Alan thank you thank you that was really beautiful and INSP spiring and it is a real joy to get to work with iiee and and with you and I know I speak for many of us um who are here it's also honestly and I know I always sound like I drank lemonade um but it's also a real privilege to get to work at Cornell where all of our units our faculty our students our staff reach out in times of trouble they're deeply engaged they're really committed so it's wonderful to have you here to get to to bring some of this together I want to ask a couple of questions and then I'll I'll throw it open I'm going to take a minute just to ask you you said um universities need to have a foreign policy and that resonated with me and I really thank our president Martha Pollock because she's been very clear in engaging around what is our strategy what how do we think about this we've had number of people who worked on our guidelines for ethical engagement um and we think and rethink those every day I want to ask you um you said that it was difficult to come up with a statement on free expression that didn't sound like made in America um and I appreciate that I wonder I know you have said iiee doesn't take a position on crises or make statements about crises um that's something that we think about in the University do you put out a statement do you um have a position um I think our students and faculty and staff should all have positions should all um be thinking about where they stand on things but as a university uh that's something that we have struggled with and I would love to hear your comments um where you fall on that what do you think are the positive or negative aspect effects of positions or statements uh for you and for iiee I wish I could say it was the first time anybody asked me that question um we live in an extraordinary time where you have to make statements of solidarity compassion denounce terrorism not condone terrorism anytime it happens and in our work we have we have to do it but what has to guide us is what what what is our mission in the face of these events and and that's to care for those affected on all sides to do the things we know we can do we we we can't solve we can't we were founded to make peace we're still working on that uh but in the absence of Peace we know now from our history there are things we can do to help the scholars the artists the stranded and threatened students and and our first response is to say we're going to double down on on doing that uh and I have found that that PE people understand that um and it it is about showing compassion for everybody that's affected I I me I mentioned in Rachel's class uh that uh the Nobel Peace Prize has been around for a very long time I think it started in 1901 uh so that means they're 100 plus Nobel Peace prizes three of our trustees have won one of them uh but of the 120 Nobel Peace prizes only three have been awarded to people who have ended Wars all the others have been and it's in nobel's will you can you can advocate for peace you can hold peace conferences you can care as we do for uh the victims of war during a war as well as after the red International Committee of the Red Cross has run the Peace Prize maybe half a dozen times but only three people have wanted for ending Wars uh Theodore Roosevelt 1905 to end the Russo Japanese war Henry Kissinger and L oo for negotiating an end to the Vietnam War his Vietnamese counterpart lay Doo did not accept the prize because he thought the war was ongoing it didn't not bring peace uh nor did the Russo Japanese war end up bringing peace and the only other two people are Anar sadad and manakan bean who negotiated a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt all the other prizes for were were for very important things but they didn't end War but people and organizations did what they could to deal with the consequences of War to deal with the seeds swn for the next war and and I I think I I see our mission and work in in that area we'll always be working to try to do those things you had an essay that you authored or co-authored in the early 2000s that was titled the closing of the American mind in 20 years since then do you think that there is more appetite for International engagement do you think that that has helped to open um Minds across the [Music] country so we're very unusual people uh I I travel in the world uh and everybody I meet has a passport uh 38% of Americans have a passport that's hardly any and and of the 38% half or over the age of 60 we send about 5% in a good year without a pandemic 5% of American students to study abroad uh we don't think that 10% of Americans in college have a passport uh so we have we're not in a period where the mind the American mind is being opened by intentional internationalization it should be we are going to try to get 10,000 passports in this decade for students of limited means because all of them have a driving license and if we can get them in their freshman year to get a passport uh you'll take care of making the plan for how they use the passport uh but it will be really easy just give us one more award to say U it's not our concern it's not our problem it's not uh and we have had long stretches of isolationism in the United States uh in our history in all of ia's history in part we were founded as by by part part of the motivation of our Founders was to work against the isolationists they didn't succeed but it doesn't mean we shouldn't keep trying and the the only way Americans are going to have a less closed mind and be more open to the fact that doesn't matter where the conflict is we're going to be affected by it whether it's the climate the refugee populations the displacement and disaffection of the Next Generation who live in refugee camps so it really doesn't matter it because it touches us everything matters to us doesn't mean we have to invade countries it doesn't mean we have to go to war uh but we don't have the luxury of being able to say uh we have football on Saturday and church on Sunday and we don't have to worry about the rest of the world we we have to worry about it but only education's going to change that I'm applauding thank you I should open it up to folks in the audience for questions hi um has the uh uh on on the last point that you talked about um the closing of the American mind um do you think that the internet has expanded that um as people are now able to see things from from other countries news um what have you I I think so far the internet has been more of a curse than a blessing uh because it gives us so much stuff that unless you're very intentional about saying I want to see what somebody in another country says or I want to see in another country if there's Pro and anti forces and what they believe and why they believe it uh it's a lot of homework if you want to process the information to make sure that you're seeing all sides of a question or uh the only good there there are some good things about the pandemic U we want it appears to be over and science saved us and every one of the scientists working on the vaccines you look at their last names and they they came from other countries uh to a free country where they could do the research that led to it uh but a lot of us in our field were also worried this thing goes on and the technology works really good and we all have virtual reality goggles we don't have to send anybody in study abroad because it's dangerous it's costly you risk disease and and that has not been the reaction people can't in our field cannot have cannot wait to get their full bride get their Gilman take up their long delayed work abroad uh so I I I think nothing is a substitute for bringing 7,000 International students here to Cornell and having 15,000 Americans who would never travel outside of New York State I I had no idea New York state was that big until you're waiting to do I rent a car and drive do I wait for the plane uh but to to have 7,000 cultural ambassadors from other countries sit next to our students who may have never worked with somebody from India Brazil China Nigeria it it is a tremendous gift that only in person can provide uh someday we will all be replaced by virtual reality and robots but not soon on that note other questions thank you so much for this wonderful set of comments I was wondering if you could expand a little bit more on um the ideas around the Declaration of academic freedom and speech as a project that has been abandoned in terms of ie's um stake in it and and deciding strategically to focus on Rescue but just coming back to those ideas as we are here in a university environment that the first iteration of that conversation you realized was something that was tied to a country that was particularly rich or the United States or one that um has historically had autonomy and so I'm wondering if you can help us to Think Through what other types of definitions would look like even if not that iiee has to put in practice but as we sit here together to think about what freedom of speech and expression look like how might we think about it with an international perspective yeah that's a that's a great question it really causes me to think back on where our methodology went wrong uh and therefore how we would do it differently today and our methodology was to look at first the Constitutional the basic laws of every country and did it pro provide for freedom of speech did it provide that freedom of speech ought to spill over into education did it guarantee people the right the right to speak and think freely and did that country sign the universal Declaration of Human Rights uh so that was pretty easy to get uh a lot of countries signed the universal declaration they don't follow it uh lot of constitutions U guarantee freedom of expression uh maybe the most robust statement of freedom of speech occurs in the constitution of the Democratic Republic of Korea which is not South Korea but North Korea uh the Chinese Constitution is pretty pretty fome in that and then we realized what we had to do is well look what weight does the rule of law have so is the Constitution actually honored and what happens to people who assert their constitutional right to be able to speak teach think freely uh and at that point we we realized that's an enormous research project and it it was Folly to think we could help the World by having a definition that didn't sound like it was made in a rich country uh that everybody could follow uh because we knew they wouldn't so I think the the world is really open to coming through this period and uh and and and especially for students thinking about what what would be a universal definition Universal assertion that would have some weight that would have some significance that would have some consequence and in doing the the project we we did we we had a bunch of us professors looking at it but we had uh six or eight graduate student interns not from the United States not from the global South not from the global North but uh looking at their own constitutions and and helping us to try to craft what what might be something that was more universally applicable thank you Ellen I think we will call our panelists we have the next part of our discussion tonight is a panel so if you would come up on stage and join us and do you want to stay Alan is trying to up to you maybe we let them all three panelists are representing um sorry their own stories but also have had some engagement with the scholars under threat program here on campus or elsewhere and that program here on campus is coordinated and led by m dupa who's here in the audience with support from many people in the audience so um very very grateful for your leadership and also for the support of the university for the program what I'm going to do is just very quickly introduce the three Scholars and then give them each a chance to make opening comments and then we'll open up for Q&A so Sheree haori is originally from Afghanistan he has a PHD in international relations from the center for international politics organization and disarmament in the school School of International Studies at the jnu or jaar sorry jaar L Neu University in New Delhi um and a masters in international studies from the South Asian University in New Delhi as well he was the vice Chancellor for academic Affairs at the University of Afghanistan before leaving the country in August of [Music] 2021 um he is currently an iiee scholar uh research fund fellow and a visiting scholar at the Ina Center's South Asia program his area of research is Afghanistan politics and foreign policy ethnic identity South Asian politics cultural studies and conflict resolution and Peace pedang Sun is associate professor of history at Cornell she has published widely and is one of the foremost historians of modern China her work has focused on social and cultural norms organizations and practices in post 19 1949 China much of her research is focused or centered on the history of and contemporary implications for Chinese Everyday Life by asking how quotidian practices have um of the sent down generation were influenced by their lived experiences and memories under ma socialism and deng's socioeconomic transformation after 1978 Professor sun has a number of new important books coming out about the more contemporary period aak gundogan is a political scientist and urban sociologist at Florida State University he researches how people produce and organize space and time he is working on a book that examines what he calls the Relentless growth of Istanbul with a focus on the broad dynamics of urban transformation as well as how migrant laborers negotiate the spaces of the city and in so doing negotiate the nature of both the state and the subject in addition to teaching and research Dr gundogan has co-rated five academic books from English to Turkish and dreams of one day translating a science fiction or fantasy novel prior to his position at Florida State University Dr gundogan was an iie srf fellow here at Cornell so why don't we start wish still there yes please uh thank you so much um uh from uh Global coral for inviting me to this very important program and we are very thankful to Alan who just came uh to meet us and uh we just really really um uh uh use from his speech since uh we do have a limited time so I just wrote down uh the way that I want to just say you something um ladies and gentlemen um esteem faculty and fellow panelists um I'm very deeply honored to be here as Cornell today or tonight to share my experiences and thoughts on the critical issue of academic freedom Global collaboration and the support that institution like Cornell can provide to Scholars and students on the threat today's in the world let me tell you brief about myself uh since uh it was um were structured to do so in my home country as um Pros also mentioned that I served as a professor of international relations uh at the department of the international relations in the same time I was doing administrative uh position as a Chancellor for academic Affairs at one of the private universities there in downtown of kabble in the same time I was staunch advocate for democracy Democratic uh governance multiculturalism and human rights and most importantly woman rights and I work as a workship trainer for human rights as well as the woman rights and in the same times as as a university uh administrator are supervised um certain scholarship committees to empower girls through education to provide them a scholarship using this opportunity uh please allow me to uh let you know about the harsh realities right now in Afghanistan why I am focusing on this because in the absence of Freedom uh uh just imagine what will happen um right now uh women are denied the work to the the right to work and gos beyond the sex grade unfortunately are prohibited from attending this school in my home country the outcome for them is unfortunately devastating um such as depression suicide lack of Hope and Shattered Dreams and I keep receiving messages from my students that how much and what kind of situation they're going uh through there is an alarming High rate of unemployment in the country leading to youth migration and economic pressure on neighboring economies and recent violence against Afghan migrant in Iran Pakistan as well as turkey has left many including myself here in the United States as as Asad as well as in the state of uncertainty the situation in higher education unfortunately in Afghanistan is very much dire with no freedom of expression thought and assembly under the current regime political views can lead to arrest imprisonment and torture private sectors of higher education have nearly collapsed and the many universities including the university which I I was working on was bankrupted and got closed thousands of teachers and professors have left the country including me myself causing a severe brain drain um additionally religious subject have been forcefully incorporated into University curriculum and the Taliban is going to uh to to to to have a different Engineering in the in the academic uh educ in academic sector in the current situation that authoritarianism is expanding crisis after crisis sweeping the the the the society is across the world I think the role of the universities and the institution like um srf and um IE that Alan is here with us tonight to represent that institution uh to help those who are in need especially academics becomes even more critical uh so how can universities like Cornell act to promote scholarship free expression and Global collaboration I believe they should work on two interwin agendas and um the first one is the educational agenda of course aimed at training students to be professional require a commitment and investment in University industry kind of approach but there is another very important uh uh uh agenda is the ethical agenda focused on training students to to be good uh citizens and and good human Necessities building a strong connection between the university not industry but the society collaborating with others and helping those in need should be integral to this ethical dimension for the eth for ethical agenda to flourish universities H universities must demonstrate their commitment to Freedom put protective measures in place to defend academic freedom and provide supportive resources for Scholars on the threat that they are coming here in this University Embrace diversity and inclusion and Foster collaboration and engagement not just within their own countries but across the world in a world that is increasingly globalized and interconnected universities like Cornell H cannot afford to think only in terms of local or national impact which of course is not above all I believe that none of the mention agendas can be effectively implemented without freedom of expression and freedom of thought in this regard Cornell exemplifies these qualities in his mission and vision if you go to the website of the Cornell you can find that it says that it stands as open collaborative institution with a founding commitment to diversity inclusion and public engagement so that is a huge and I can personally attest to the support and opportunities that Cornell has provided to me myself Cornell in collaboration with srf and many individuals in direct contact and behind the scenes including James King if cardaddy Daniel bass my mentor profor Evangelista and Professor um uh Professor Evangelista and Professor constein Nishi and cumberly have played a a pable role in my academic Pursuit and I I had to mention their name with their help I was able to work on my upcoming book publication and published Journal article last year and wrote a newspaper opit and Analysis as well as attending International conferences so I have had the privilege to attend seminars capacity building workshops and notably to assist Afghan students in here as Cornell to establish the Afghan student organization and right now I'm serving as a cultural adviser to this Association next semester I'm going to teach a course on Afghanistan in the department of government and I hope so many professors and faculties who are here encourage their students to come and enroll for this course uh now you can wonder that what is my suggestion for Cornell and srf I which is which is very big task I know Cornell has a rich history of helping students and Scholars uh from across the globe it has sheltered and provided educational opportunities to hundreds and thousands probably will come to seek refuge in the future as for srf um their impressive work in offering scholarship to Scholars from various countries is commandable and recently I was there with Alan in New York York City um to uh uh in their annual meeting and they are do whatever they are doing it is enormous uh but I have two suggestions uh in the end I suggest that when offering Aid um and special the special uh Focus must be placed on two categories when they're helping others to come to the United States and the first one is the minorities and the second one is the less privileged uh section of the society and that is woman uh when they're pulling the application they have to consider these two you probably know that in a country which are facing with crisis these two less privileged societ less prevaled section of the society which is women and and and and minorities of course they would not have an access to resources so I encourage both IIA and srf as well as Cornell when they're doing all their job they have to focus on this two issue so I'll will stop here probably uh some question might rise and I can elaborate on that thank you so much [Applause] okay thank you for inviting me for uh to speak in at this uh panel uh I will start from my own uh story every immigrant is the author of a unique Journey each scholar having lived under the shadow of authoritarian rule is a testament to the resilience of academic freedom and the transformative power of free expression two years ago on this very day October 30th 2021 I began a new chapter in my life I journeyed from France crowded streets to the quieter Trails of the American Countryside since then Corell university has warmly embraced me offering not just an academic refugees but also a place I now proudly call home in Etha with the Beauty has become my hometown over these years especially in the last five years my mind has focused on the single uh single idea the vital role of academic freedom and free expression back in 2007 sanso Paris awarded me my second PhD in sociology opportunities awaited in France yet my heart called me to Shanghai University's Department of Sociology a renowned institution in China I had previously researched the culture Revolution for my first PhD in law in China given its tremendous impact and the trauma it left on society the culture Revolution remains a sensitive topic in the eyes of the Chinese Communist Party none nonetheless I was it was a passion I could still pursue despite its challenges from 2013 to 2019 I taught this very history at Fudan University one of the nation's top three institutions however the academic environment shifted by 2015 my voice was censored my writings unpublished my presence at conferences on welcome and my commitment to teaching the untold history of the cultural revolution was labored subversive the defining moment came in late 2019 when fan University's Charter was Rewritten replacing academic freedom with Party Loyalty speaking out against this backlash and sharing my concerns with global media Outlets like the New York Times LA Times And The Washington Post made me a perfect perfect Target several students display condemning posts on my office door where others took to social media to attack both me and my family with threats Additionally the party Secretary of the history Department issued a dire warning suggesting I would be prevented from leaving China if I continued speaking to Western media so I reside from my 10e position and Fooda University in late 2019 but as one door closed another opened in February 2020 I found a refuge at sanspo my Al matter well I served as a visiting Professor for one year and in October 20 uh 20 another exciting opportunity came up Cornell offered me a faculty position which I happily accepted here at Cornell I engaged in writing books in both English and French on topics that are not allowed for publication in Chinese with within China I'm teaching courses um post 1949 Chinese history subjects that can no longer be taught in China over the past two uh years yes I have secured book contracts with both British and American Publishers and I'm currently working on to another uh two additional books in English what does the academic freedom look like for me is precisely what I'm experiencing here at Cornell so I save the time for the uh uh during the Q&A on the key uh questions we will discuss in this panel thank [Applause] you hi everyone my name is aad gundan I am an associate uh teaching Professor uh in the University honors program at Florida State University um I will briefly very briefly uh talk about my journey uh um both I and my um wife uh we had tener track jobs in the US uh in 2014 uh before we decided to go back to our home region which is the Kurdish uh region of Turkey um we were both uh offered jobs and it was a way out of the so-called two body problem in uh Academia um we would be uh in our home region teaching our fellow uh you know easterners or Kurdish uh people and uh we were very excited we also had a baby uh and it would be a good opportunity for her to be raised in our home region so we're very happy um so things got worse uh when we are we were there um in 2015 and we ended up um signing a petition uh alongside uh 1,00 other uh academics um basically that P petition was calling the Turkish state to end its uh violence against um predominantly Kurdish uh citizens in the Kurdish region where we were uh also teaching um and long story short things got worse and worse and um we ended up um you know um facing the difficult choice of leaving the country but when you're in it you don't think about leaving I mean no one wants to be a refugee no one wants to leave their country um circumstances are forcing you to make that decision but in our case especially um Cornell uh helped us actually specifically a colleague in Cornell who reached out to us and really hked us about uh things getting worse and worse um which is a great indication of uh Cornell's uh Vision uh about being uh Global so um he mentioned this uh you know Outlet uh iiee and uh we ended up here um both uh I and uh my wife we were granted uh I srf scholarship she was HED in bigton University and I was in the anady center um and uh it was a very embracing inclusive uh Community um my colleagues here they were extremely interested in my story and uh my research uh it was um refreshing because as my colleagues uh just noted it's a very traumatic experience um you don't even have time to process what you go through uh so in that sense genuine interest in what you've been going through uh is uh very valuable so it's um I really really appreciate uh it and such talks uh you know that would give me the opportunity to share my experiences it's just one way of you know giving my thanks um So eventually we both ended up in uh Florida State University um I spent my second year of my fellowship uh at FSU uh sociology Department which is my home discipline um and eventually in 2018 I ended up in the University honors program um I am an integral part of the uh remaking efforts uh of the university to revitalize its uh honors program I am uh alongside my faculty colleagues um designing um interdisciplinary courses and teaching them um teaching uh providing those courses to the high achieving students of FSU honors students so uh and some of them I hope they are watching me right now uh they asked for the link and they were extremely excited about this uh event that I'm participating so hello folks um so um I am also publishing articles uh I have published articles which I started here uh so I'm extremely appreciative of my my time here um we uh are running out of time so I have a couple of notes at the expense of over philosophizing or conceptualizing the discussion about freedom of expression I would like to make the statement about freedom of expression it is human nature freedom of expression is human nature the reason why I think that is uh two things that make us human that make make our species unique uh in relation to other species one is uh we are conscious species we are conscious of our environment and we are also conscious of our own Consciousness we know that we exist and we know that we will perish I mean uh and it makes us very expressive I mean we uh express our thoughts uh in various modes uh so like art for example uh philosophy right language obviously so we have come up with various form forms of expression right so curving this natural disposition that makes us human is only against human nature It comes naturally to us this is one point that I would like to make and the other related point is that we are human and What Makes Us human is that we are social uh species right uh we collectively survive we collectively live and uh we uh through institutions that we create social institutions and University uh modern University like any other uh modern institution a complex institution is one of uh only one of those institutions but it's Unique because of its connection to the other aspect uh that makes us human um expression being expressive creatures right so um universities they are the hot beds of freedom of thought and expression this is their reson de the reason why they exist in the first place thanks also to the um you know um Enlightenment ideals that made University institution very precious to the development of modernity that we have today and we are living in it right reason critical thinking uh humanism value of human life and dignity um so science rational inquiry uh rational debate uh argumentation deliberation this is what made makes universities as the embodiment of um Enlightenment ideals so in that sense that question that bothers me not bothers me but pokes me actually when I was thinking about the theme was that what if these ideals uh are not shared universally not anymore by uh some other folks some fellow citizens in this Society or all around the world especially against the background of the so-called Posta era what if the very important modern political actor uh the messes um that can be extremely destructive when they are mobilized um what if they don't share these ideals anymore who is our audience so universities in that sense have also have this type of existential crisis um so in that's uh there's a challenge right um and if we're talking about the importance and destructive force of messes we are obviously talking about popularism and also uh increasing authoritarianism totalitarianism Tendencies of many regimes around the world right so um in that sense um Global Cornell has this uh very difficult task and challenge to ask uh itself the very question because the Global uh is not aesthetic uh never changing entity somewhere out there it's not an object it's a very Dynamic very alive um alive set of things events and processes um and more importantly to me the global global events Global Trends Global uh phenomena ranging from the kop to uh you know terrorist attacks it they all tell us that the global engages back right so the question for any uh peer institutions to Cornell Global Cornell is that are they ready or are they open uh to reflect back on their ideals that make them disengaged um so this is uh something that I think is very important uh because as um you know the impacts of all these events and uh phenomena um beyond the US borders uh they haunt us so I guess that would be a good way of talking about these uh issues thank you so much uh I appreciate you having me [Applause] here thank you very much to all three of you your stories were reflect um great adversity things that you have had to struggle with and deal with and yet you're all here and inspiring and teaching it's wonderful um Alan do you want to come back up and join us up here we just have um about 10 minutes for questions for uh conversation um I want to ask you a question that I'm self-interested in hearing the answer to um it's a big question and so I know uh it's a too difficult to take on in this time but I wonder if you have thoughts about um your own situation but looking out onto the world do you think that the university um should be collaborating should be working teaching researching working in countries where free expression or what you've described described um as free speech however we might Define that um is not tolerated or if there are restrictions on that anybody who wants to take that I think uh um recently I I just say that I was there in in the annual meeting of the srf IE uh I just met with a lady I unfortunately I don't remember um his name her name but um she was in charge of um this um uh what what is the uh the full bright full bright program for for for Afghanistan especially um she approached me and said that uh we stopped this program of full bright since the Taliban came to power and then she asked me that what is your idea about this starting this program or not um why I mentioned this one it is it has quite connection with your question as as an example and I I mentioned that why not um she said that there is a Taliban government is there and that is authoritarian and something but I said that you are not bringing the Taliban here in the US uh you are bringing the young generation of the country Here If You Close uh the the the windows not allow uh the Youth of that country to come and learn then probably that Darkness will remain there forever but at least people who are coming there in collaboration is there and they will give or shed some light on on on the new thing so that is why and and I think uh it it it indirectly answered to your question that why not I mean it should be so that's why I just mention the example from Afghanistan that it should be uh you know the the the full bride program should it start in the Afghan generation Young Generation should come to this country and learn it and probably one day I'm pretty much sure that the the Taliban regime will not be there forever so we'll be back we will you know start a new life start a new country uh and and and um educate or train the next generation of that country yes I I guess the uh the answer will be not only a why not it will be a firm yes because three reasons first for the uh for the students or the Young Generation uh I I just take the case in China for students for the faculties uh work and live in China if the outside world just close the door or the window that means they will never have the opportunity or get access to know what the outside work or outside world look look like secondly for faculty like me if I was cap outside of the Western Country I couldn't make here thirdly for the uh Western countries like the us if you uh close the door that means you just uh uh refuse a opportunity to get the deep inside Knowledge from the country like in China um like my colleagues I definitely agree with uh uh you know ethical and international engagement of uh us universities uh without however uh denying the power uh asymmetries between um you know uh non-global North uh universities institutions and uh you know that happen to have uh less resources than you know us universities because higher education uh in the US sets the standards you know all around the world and most of these universities I mean especially the big good ones like corn I mean their endowments are way bigger than uh gdps of many countries you know and this is uh a power Dynamic uh so if we also need to continue this discussion about ethics of international engagement this is something that we should not uh ignore but my uh unquestioned answer would be a straightforward yes definitely excellent thank you Alan do you want to jump in or so I yeah I I think the problem with American Education in other countries is there's not enough of it and we don't have enough experience with education in countries where there are limits on freedom of speech and there are restrictions on freedom of expression but we need to learn to work within those boundaries and then try to widen them and that's as important lesson in for me as a political scientist uh as I could hope our next Generation has because most of the world ain't like America and we are going to have to work with all of the rest of the world whether it's the Taliban or the regime in Iran uh and anything we can do to provide education and provide our own education of how we continue to work work for our values everybody's working for their values uh is is a struggle we all ought to embrace and and it's really hard if we had time I would ask you more on what ethical engagement looks like and the power dynamics I think are are incredibly important it's something we think about a lot but I should open it up to to our colleagues for questions hi um am my name is marel I'm from Afghanistan and my question was from Alan godman um we working or okay um my question was um so since it's uh in International Institute of Education um I have a question related to education about GS in Afghanistan because recently I was doing an assignment and it was about like I was doing a research or uh I was writing about the crisis of um participating of women's in education sector and um politics sector and I was wondering if you uh published any statement about um um that situation about um Afghans Afghan girls in Afghanistan because as um you know like they are not allowed to go to school and also a school is like it's huge part of education so I was wondering if you have any position about um that topic yeah I I have indeed written about it and also about the murder and repression of women and young girls in Iran and and I as the father of a daughter and three granddaughter ERS uh I'll speak out anytime uh against what's happening uh it's more powerful to speak out that way than to just issue a statement it it's really to issue a statement about everything and what I try to do is reach the media in say that country where it's happening to to know that that people are watching and what they're doing is destroying their future and so I have all of question uh also you mentioned that you are supporting visit Scholars and those are who are working with universities and institution I was wondering if you have uh any support kind of support for um students um who are like not able to pursue education back in another countries they have the chance to apply or for any funding or scholarship to pursue um education here in the United State thank you everybody does want to come here uh it is very difficult and very expensive we we're also trying to find Alternatives uh where it's easier to travel to where you can still get an education and you can be safe from physical harm uh both are going to be needed uh there are nowhere near enough scholarships to save the girls of Afghanistan or the girls of Iran but uh I don't think about that everyone we save matters it matters to them it matters to to their brothers it matters to their family and it will matter to our country and I think we should everyone should do everything we can realizing that we won't be able to help everybody you add um right now the Taliban ban the education for girls and um so it gives a different kind of image from Afghanistan that the families the society is against the woman or the girls education uh it's s wrong it gives a different unfortunately image for example me myself as an Afghan man from there I'm supposed to have a second child which is baby u a baby which is girl and I am much more Enthusiast and happy rather than the first child which I had who was a son and most importantly which I want to say you that many families right now immigrating from Afghanistan and going to the neighboring countries like Iran and Pakistan most importantly just when they are reaching to the level that their girls are going to Beyond sixth grades just for one reason and the reason is to allow their girls to go and have their education so it means that the whole society in the country is pro this education but unfortunately a bunch of people came and took the power and right now is suppressing each and everyone because they do have a guns and people cannot stand against them thank you other questions um I have a question uh what do you think that the iiee or or the srf program is going to look like 25 to 50 years from now and srf uh what will it look like 25 or 50 years from now well initially I thought the good news would be we'd be out of business uh that somehow we would have found an index and a definition and found a way to prevent these attacks and but but apparently we've been killing Scholars for 3,000 years um it's part of the way dictators and terrorists deal with people who have free thoughts and critical thinking uh we're currently rescuing about uh 225 a year uh I I I think in in 10 years that number could be five 500 I think the need and the demand unfortunately will will only grow and it it doesn't mean and and we'll still only be dealing with two questions are you a scholar and are you threatened and I think the threats are the threat environment is just growing every day uh so uh I think we'll still be focused on Rescue that is the only thing we know how to do we certainly don't know how to deter or prevent and I hope I'm wrong sure if were you looking at me I think I I I have another point also if you if you do have you can just go ahead um the first one is like the way that Alan mentioned honestly like when I I just you know was in Norway when I was in turkey and I started Googling about you know how to you know continue my my work and the only thing is I just did Googling and found the srf and I did not know anyone and did not know have any connection I didn't have any recommendation from anyone I just dropped an email and say that I a scholar and I'm under threat and that's it after a while you I got received and say that okay you have to send your documents and each and everything in order to prove that you're a genuine person which I did and thankfully you know just I got selected and it means that they are very transparent and honestly and they're pulling the people who are really in need and the second point which I wanted to add is adding to the answer to your question like having this program continue your engagement with the regime which is authoritarian right now in the country but when the application comes you should not close your eyes and select the people it should be thoroughly screened that who are coming how is their background because the systems back in the country work differently those people who are in power of course they are you know pulling the application that close to the power so that is why I just mentioned in my you know opening remarks also like priorities for wom and girls and priorities for the less Empower section of the society and that is minorities either it is ethnic minorities or religious minorities it doesn't matter but you have to bring those people who are you know less empowered less access to the resources so that is the the thing which I just you know wanted to add to the my answer that initially I just made yes I I would like to say um uh Ellen you are not wrong and actually I I I think that's just the very uncomfortable rout ity we are facing in the next like few decades so I I think unlike the uh the prosperous uh period following the Second World War uh in the upcoming decades may not be marked by uh peace Global Peace we are entering an area marked by Fierce contention between democracy and autocracy and the Stark can uh um confrontations between Progressive values and regression and the intense rry between different economic models so what we we can do as a k as a great University like Kel I think the history serve as a guide uh we know it established in 1930 uh am made the shadows of rising fascism in Europe The Institute of for advanced study at Princeton University became a lighthouse and play a vital a vital role in the transfer of intellectual capital from Europe to uh America and it became the new Lighthouse of for Giants of their time many of whom sought refuge in the US uh so today I I think it's a big it's a big moment uh for Cornell University because we know we know very clearly then science alone H cannot resolve the world's challenges so the humanities and the social science are equally crucial um payers so that's why I said this a corell's moment it's time for our University to embrace a historical Mission uh for its own Institute and became a safe haven for for the brightest mind in social science Humanities human rights activists lawyers um and journalist un uh uh uprooted from their native soil brilliant M passionate to seek knowledge um to benefit humankind humanity and enrich the uh their new Homeland if our university conell University champion this CA it not only paves the way but but also it establish a benchmark for all instit Global institutions this is a resounding call to our leadership with a Global Perspective to daers Anchored in humanity alumni with unwi moral com compasses faculty with clear convictions and the students driven by Passion so also ining your uh Mr Goldman's wise uh sentiments from early discussion our higher education must be positioning the result of borders our higher education must be a part of global humanitarian response without it we risk creating a Lost Generation without future on that note I think that was so well said thank you very much I know we need to let everybody go we're a little bit over time I just want to say thank you so much to our Scholars for coming tonight for all the work you do um and for your resilience and engagement with our students thank you and thank you to Alan thank you for um the collaboration and also for your talk but just everything you do thank you all for coming. 

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