Rob van Gestel is professor of theory and methods of regulation at Tilburg University and professor of legal research methods at the KU Leuven. In his research he is focused on methodology of both law and legal research with a focus on methods of legislation/regulation, methods of judicial lawmaking and methods of scholarly legal research.
The right to academic freedom as enshrined in article 13 of the EU Charter on Fundamental Rights is under attack. The latest EU academic freedom monitor (2024) confirms that the state of de facto academic freedom across the EU continues to erode. While systematic and structural infringements of academic freedom occur only in Hungary, various threats to academic freedom are identified and discussed in most other EU Member States. The most serious recent threats arise from political interference and the impact of security policies and considerations, including foreign interference. In addition, there are reports of various threats to academic freedom by institutional leaders and managers, while there is growing concern about the impact on academic freedom of attacks on dissenting voices, ideas and opinions within the academic community. The Danish movement for a Free Academia Forskerbevægelsen, for example, has recently brought together 130 anonymous testimonies from researchers across disciplines with stories about managerial pressure, a culture of silence, and psychological violence in academic workplaces.
What most stories on threats to free speech on campus and possible violations of the right to academic freedom have in common is that they rarely reach the judicial system. Academics feeling under attack often quietly leave their position after a lonesome struggle with heads of departments, HR-officials, and in-house university lawyers. Therefore, it may be interesting to look into a Dutch case concerning a scholar with German roots, Susanne Täuber, who worked for the University of Groningen as an expert on gender equality and social safety. Täuber got fired after publishing a critical article about the university’s tenure track program for talented female academics (the Rosalind Franklin Programme) in which she took part.
Täuber’s case went all the way up to the Dutch Supreme Court but she did not manage to successfully invoke her right to free speech and academic freedom. The Supreme Court ruled there was no causal relationship between Täuber’s dismissal and her critical publication since the struggles with her supervisors would have started before she published her article. Interestingly, though, Täuber and her lawyer, Stefan Sagel, who also happens to be one of the leading labour law professors in the Netherlands, have recently decided to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights. Sagel believes the Supreme Court has misinterpreted the case law on freedom of speech and academic freedom. I am going to present the case and will ask the audience: what would you decide as a judge in this case?
The seminar will be held at Stockholm University, Department of Law, C-house, Faculty Room on the 8th floor.
Please register by 12 February. Coffee and sandwiches will be served to registered participants.
Warm welcome!
Antonina Bakardjieva Engelbrekt and Björn Lundqvist