Student Rights in an Age of Austerity? ‘Security’, Freedom of Expression and the Neoliberal University

AbstractIn this profile, we examine a worrying trend taking place in institutions of higher education around the world: a notable increase in their managerial corporatization and neoliberalization, combined with greater repression of freedom of expression on campuses under the aegis of 'securitization'. We focus attention specifically on how these twinned trends have impacted student activism in a post-2008 austerity-driven economic environment. Drawing on examples from Canada and elsewhere, we highlight attempts to depoliticize and institutionalize student engagement, as well as evidence of students working to break free of myriad constraints to foment change in their respective communities.Keywords:: Studentsfreedom of expressionuniversitiesausteritysecuritization Notes1. Located in London, Ontario, Canada, the university is a public research institution home to over 30,000 undergraduates and more than 5000 post-graduates.2. This information can be found in The University of Western Ontario, '2013–2014 Operating and Capital Budgets'. http://www.ipb.uwo.ca/documents/2013_budget.pdf3. For critical discussion of the events prior, during and after the Maple Spring, see Volume 15, Issue 3 (2012) of Theory & Event and 'Gallery of Voices and Images from the Maple Spring' in Topia: Journal of Canadian Cultural Studies, 28, Fall 2012.4. There have been numerous books and articles that address these developments in recent years. A few particularly salient examples include: Bousquet (Citation2008), Newfield (Citation2011), Gregory (Citation2012), Slaughter and Rhodes (Citation2004), Tuchman (Citation2011), Bailey and Freedman (Citation2011) and Hanke and Hearn (Citation2012).5. The experiences of some faculty members at the University of Southern Maine are recent, close-to-home, disheartening examples. See Potter (Citation2014).Additional informationNotes on contributorsSandra SmeltzerSandra Smeltzer is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at the University of Western, Ontario, Canada. Sandra Smeltzer's primary areas of research and publication include communication in transitioning and developing countries (particularly in Southeast Asia), the ethics of activist research, ICTs for social justice, and the scholar–activist dialectic. She is the co-coordinator of the Media and the Public Interest program at the university of Western, has been awarded the USC Teaching Honour Roll Award of Excellence for every year she has taught at the university, and is the recipient of the FIMS Undergraduate Teaching Award. She was awarded Western's inaugural Humanitarian Award for her international work, named one of Canada's Top 25 Most Influential Women by Women of Influence Magazine and one of Western's Top Newsmakers, and is profiled in the Winter 2014 issue of philanthropy magazine, Lifestyles.Alison HearnAlison Hearn is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at the University of Western, Ontario, Canada, and is currently president of the University of Western Ontario Faculty Association. Her research focuses on the intersections of promotional culture, self-production, and economic value. She also writes on the university as a cultural and political site. She has published in journals such as Continuum, Journal of Consumer Culture, and Journal of Communication Inquiry, and in edited volumes including The Media and Social Theory, Blowing Up the Brand, and Academic Callings. She is co-author, with Liora Salter, of Outside the Lines: Issues in Interdisciplinary Research (McGill-Queens University Press, 1997).

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