On April 28, the Mershon Center partnered with the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme Val de Loire (MSH) to present a webinar entitled “Franco-American Crossed Perspectives on Academic Freedom.” The MSH researchers invited their Mershon counterparts to explain and contextualize current events in US academia for a French audience. 

The Mershon and Ohio State participants included: 

• Alice Conklin, Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor of History
• Ryan Skinner, Professor of Music and African Studies and Secretary, Association of American University Professors, Ohio State University Chapter
• Christopher McKnight Nichols, Wayne Woodrow Hayes Chair of National Security Studies and Professor of History
• Tasleem J. Padamsee, Associate Professor, College of Public Health
• Dorothy Noyes, Director, Mershon Center for International Security Studies and Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor of English

Among those with important leadership roles at French universities who attended the webinar were the following:

• Xavier Rodier, Director of the MSH Val de Loire
• Ghislaine Glasson Deschaumes, Director of the MSH Monde (Paris-Nanterre)
• Nicolas Brucker, Director of the MSH Lorraine
• Camélia Turuc, Vice-Présidente en charge de la Commission de la Recherche, Université d’Orléans
• Daniel Alquier, Vice-Président de la Recherche, Université de Tours

The webinar focused on recent government interventions into US institutions of higher learning, particularly as they affect academic freedom and the funding of scientific research. In addition, the webinar explored the decentralized academic system in the US, the variety research funding arrangements nationally and locally, and the history of Ohio SB1. The expert panelists addressed current debates around higher education, the potential effects of different government interventions, and strategies for protecting academic freedom and independent research in the U.S. and in Ohio in particular. 

This event was part of a joint series organized by MSH Mondes, MSH Lorraine, and MSH Val de Loire: Humanities and Social Science in the USA and France: Crossed Perspectives .