Marta Zimniak-Hałajko

The subject of this article is the analysis of selected institutional activities, including drafts of legislative initiatives and social actions that took place between 2018 and 2020 at Polish universities (and outside of them). Its goal is to define what can be expressed, who is entitled to speak within the academic realm and what can be said by an academic teacher or scientist during a public debate. These social actions and legislative initiatives are discussed in the broader context of activities of social movements having a clear ideological face (either left- or right-wing), protests against lectures, debates organised at universities that were labelled as “ideological”, as well as projects intended to promote specific visions of academic freedom along with corresponding regulations for universities.

The subject of the current article is the analysis of select institutional activities, including drafts of legislative initiatives and social actions, that took place during 2018-2020 at Polish universities (and outside of them), aiming at defining of what can be expressed, who is entitled to speak within the realm of academy – and what can be said by an academic teacher or scientist during public debate. These social actions and legislative initiatives are discussed in the broader context of activities of social movements having clear ideological face (either left- or rightwing), protests against lectures and debates organised at universities that were labelled as „ideological” ones, as well as projects intending to promote specific visions of academic freedom along with corresponding regulations for universities.

The article is dedicated to analysis of activities of Polish social movements for science and higher education during the last decade. It is focused on their ideological bases, scope of interests and connections with the wider social environment – i.e. other social ideas and social and/or political actors, that somehow shaped and influenced patterns of goals and activities of the academia activists. Here, a particular attention is paid to the mechanisms of changes in the higher education field. Finally, the attempt will be made to show the (prospective) role and impact of these social movements on the process of reforms of the higher education in Poland.