US: scholars jumping ship?
Three Yale professors, historian Timothy Snyder, Eastern Europe expert Marci Shore and fascism researcher Jason Stanley, have announced that they are leaving the US and moving to the University of Toronto, citing concerns over the political and social climate in the US. European academic institutions are also receiving an increased number of requests for positions from US scholars.
Give science asylum
Europe should open its doors, advises The New European:
“US scientists are looking abroad for help. Their most pressing concern is how to safeguard their data, which is more vulnerable than ever before to government interference and deletion. Millions of gigabytes of data are currently flying out of the US to servers abroad. Some are trying to get work outside the US, particularly in Europe. ... This is a disaster for US academia. ... But for some European universities, the crisis could be an opportunity. In the 1930s hundreds of Jewish scientists, including Einstein, were thrown out of their jobs and left Germany for Britain. Many then sailed to America ... The Americans are coming - if we let them.”
From attracting to repelling
The Kleine Zeitung reflects:
“The United States attracted global talent like a huge magnet, start-up founders, top researchers and Styrian bodybuilders went to the US because things were possible there that seemed impossible elsewhere. 'A shining city upon a hill', Ronald Reagan called it in his farewell speech. The extent to which the shining city on a hill is beginning to crumble is already evident. Historian Timothy Snyder and two other internationally renowned academics are now leaving Yale University for Canada due to the political climate. There will be no quick fix. The soft power and the reputation of the US may have been cut short in just two months after it took decades to build them up.”
True resistance does not flee
Snyder is contradicting his own principles, Welt sneers:
“In his book On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, Snyder vividly describes how to resist authoritarian tendencies: show steadfastness, protect institutions, don't budge. ... Compared to Russian intellectuals who lived under real tyrannies, Snyder's retreat seems like a game with a safety net. He and his colleagues enjoy the luxury of being able to leave while preaching to others to stay. ... But even the Russian opposition, which is often regarded as ineffective, is proving its worth: true resistance does not flee - it stays, whatever the cost.”