Programme Details

With the news that the Association of University Teachers has called for the academic boycotts of two specific universities in Israel, and the fact that in the United States, a bill has been passed by the House of Representatives which includes a provision before the Senate asking for an independent body to make sure that government policy is being properly reflected in teaching at universities, Night Waves Undercurrents asks is the pursuit of academic knowledge no longer above politics? Should it be? Or is it idealistic and misguided to think it ever has been or indeed could be?

Joining Isabel Hilton to discuss intellectual freedom - are the social scientist Hilary Rose, who together with her partner the neuro-scientist Steven Rose, spearheaded a call for academic boycott of Israel, and supports the current one; the eminent bio-chemist Professor Raymond Dwek who believes knowledge in itself can change things, and should not be withheld for political purposes; Bruce Robbins, Professor of Comparative Literature at Columbia University who has written on academic freedoms in the United States; and Jonathan Sawday who looks at the history of freedom of academic thought.

That's all on Night Waves Undercurrents here on Radio 3 at 9.30pm