Michael Ignatieff, "The Geopolitics of Academic Freedom: The View from the Frontline"
In 2017, Central European University in Budapest became the first free institution in Europe to be targeted by an authoritarian populist regime. Michael Ignatieff was Rector of CEU and led the fight against Victor Orban’s campaign to declare the university illegal and then have it expelled. Orban’s eventual victory—successfully forcing the university to relocate to Vienna—set the pattern for the attacks on ‘woke’ ‘liberal’ institutions in the United States. In a lecture commemorating McCarthy era battles to defend academic freedom, Ignatieff identifies the ideological and geopolitical factors that have made the battle to defend academic freedom a global challenge. 
The annual Davis, Markert, Nickerson (DMN) Lecture on Academic and Intellectual Freedom will take place on Thursday, November 5, 2026, from 4:00 to 5:30 pm. The event will support both in-person attendance and a livestream. This lecture is sponsored by the Faculty Senate as a showcase event underscoring the U-M community’s collective interest in academic freedom.