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The COVID-19 Pandemic as a Challenge for Academia and Academic Freedom: An Italian Perspective

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Academic Freedom Under Pressure?

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Abstract

This article concerns the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on academic freedom. In the dramatic framework of the pandemic, science is playing a pivotal role and many aspects of its freedom are challenged. I examine the monopolisation of scientific debate, the impact of “social distancing” on achievement of research objectives and the new challenges of digital teaching. Focusing on the Italian situation, I look at the pros and cons of measures adopted to tackle the emergency.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    COVID-19 is the name of the disease caused by the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.

  2. 2.

    Post-truth “relates to or denotes circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief”, Oxford Dictionary. On the topic, see Mannion (2017) and for a comment, De Cleen (2018), p. 268.

  3. 3.

    Morvillo (2020).

  4. 4.

    Weible et al. (2020).

  5. 5.

    The idea of using evidence to inform policy is not new. As far back as ancient Greece, Aristotle put forward the notion that different kinds of knowledge should inform rulemaking. This would ideally involve a combination of scientific knowledge, pragmatic knowledge and value-led knowledge. The term “evidence-based policymaking” is intended to signify a modernising mandate, committed to replacing ideologically-driven politics with rational decision-making. It was widely used and studied in the second half of the 1990s.

  6. 6.

    Weible et al. (2020).

  7. 7.

    Ruger (2020) identified four characteristics of a just framework for a resilient COVID­19 response: governing for the common good; shared responsibility for scientifically grounded systems; rational, compassionate and transparent communication; ethical leadership and trust.

  8. 8.

    See the Joint statement by World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations (UN), United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), International Telecommunication Union (ITU), UN Global Pulse and International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), “Managing the COVID-19 infodemic: Promoting healthy behaviours and mitigating the harm from misinformation and disinformation”.

  9. 9.

    Lawton (2020).

  10. 10.

    See for example the study promoting the use of the hydroxychloroquine to treat patients with COVID-19. It appeared in preprint version and was enthusiastically broadcast by the mass media and politicians, and was then published by The Lancet. After the publication of clinical studies with contrary results, the study was revoked. This controversial issue had reflections on the Italian regulatory system and led to the decision of the Italian Pharmaceutical Agency (AIFA) to suspend its use off-label to treat COVID-19, except in the context of controlled clinical trials and without reimbursement by the National Health Service. The lawfulness of AIFA’s decision is currently before the Italian Administrative Court: see Aperio Bella (2021).

  11. 11.

    Irwin and Wynne (1996), pp. 1–18.

  12. 12.

    The most significant reference to academic freedom in the context of the EU is to be found in Art. 13 (‘Freedom of the arts and sciences’) CFR. Academic freedom also figures centrally in the activities of the Council of Europe (see Recommendation R (2000) 8 of the Committee of Ministers of 30 March 2000 on the research mission of universities and Recommendation 1762 (2006) of the Parliamentary Assembly of 30 June 2006 on ‘Academic Freedom and University Autonomy’). As far as the normative context of the UN is concerned, both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) are of importance for the question of academic freedom, recognizing its fundamental role in the protection of economic, social and cultural rights, such as education and the advancement of society. At international level, it is worth mentioning the UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel of 1997.

  13. 13.

    Ex multis, Karran (2009), p. 168.

  14. 14.

    The topic has also been widely investigated from a legal perspective. See Calvano (2020), Prisco (2020) and Torchia (2020).

  15. 15.

    John Inglis at the academic publisher Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press in New York, quoted by Lawton (2020).

  16. 16.

    The number of articles published on the online platform of medical “preprint” articles “medRxiv” increased impressively during the pandemic from 1100 in the first eight months of activity of the website to 3700 published in the first two months of the pandemic.

  17. 17.

    The notion that “funding manoeuvres” deprive researchers of the freedom to choose the subject of their activity dates back many decades: Nigro (1972), p. 744. About the general risk of polarization and isolation of research in some academic and private centres, see Seckelmann (2012).

  18. 18.

    “Education at a glance” (OECD, 2019) offered a troubling picture of the Italian education system. Challenges and issues concerned low public funding (expenditure on primary to tertiary institutions was 3.6% of GDP against the OECD average of 5%), widespread early school leaving (14.5% with peaks of 21% in Sardinia), quite low numbers of graduates per year, 28% among 25–34-year-olds, also because “University fees in Italy are higher than in many other European countries” and teachers’ starting salaries are still below the OECD average. See Calvano (2020).

  19. 19.

    For some of the initiatives promoted at global level in the field of law, see the Global Pandemic Network (https://www.globalpandemicnetwork.org/) and the Lex-Atlas COVID-19 (https://lexatlas-c19.org/, last accessed 10.2.2021).

  20. 20.

    Caso (2020), p. 3.

  21. 21.

    Corso and Mazzamuto (1994) and Merloni (1989).

  22. 22.

    Vrielink et al. (2011), p. 126.

  23. 23.

    Resolution of the Council of Ministers of 31.1.2020 adopted pursuant to Decreto Legislativo no. 1 of 2018 (Civil Protection Code), G.U. no. 26 (1.2.2020).

  24. 24.

    DPCM is a generic format for any sort of administrative content delegated to the President of the Council of Ministers (hereafter PM) by ordinary law. The DPCMs issued during the pandemic had the legal nature of ordinanze allowing the PM to adopt them “by way of derogation from every legislation in force, while complying with the general principles of the legal system”. Apart from “general principles”, the only legislative sources that apply to DPCMs are the Italian Code of Civil Protection, which gives the PM power to enact such regulatory measures, and the Decreto Legge that envisages use of such measures (see Aperio Bella et al. 2021, para II.1).

  25. 25.

    Calvano (2020).

  26. 26.

    See Art. 101 of Decreto Legge no. 18 (17.3.2020), later converted into Law no. 27 (24.4.2020), G.U. no. 110 (29.4.2020).

  27. 27.

    Extension of the mandate of commissions to temporarily overcome the problem of appointing new commissions in the emergency situation.

  28. 28.

    See Art. 101 (6-bis) of Decreto Legge no. 18 (17.3.2020), stating that “Universities and research institutes promote, in their autonomy and even through agreements, remote access tools to bibliographic resources, to databases and software currently accessible only through university networks”. See also Art. 236 of Decreto Legge no. 34 (19.5.2020) targeting specific funding to digital resources.

  29. 29.

    Zuddas (2020), p. 1.

  30. 30.

    See, for example, the explanatory memorandum of the CFR linking the freedom of the arts and sciences under Art. 13 to the freedoms of thought and expression posed by Art. 10 and Art. 11 of the Charter.

  31. 31.

    Following the Declaration of the state of emergency, when it was clear that the coronavirus was circulating in Lombardy, the Italian Government approved Decreto Legge no. 6 (23.2.2020), G.U. no. 45 (23.2.2020) vesting the President of the Council of Ministers and other “competent authorities” with wide ranging powers to handle the emergency by issuing emergency administrative orders (ordinanze) both typical and atypical, the latter referring to measures to be adopted even beyond the occurrence of conditions described by the primary source. Decreto Legge no. 6 (and the following measures) constituted the basis for the Decrees of the President of the Italian Government (Decreti del Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri or DPCM) that imposed severe limitations on constitutional freedoms. For a definition of DPCM see information in fn 23.

  32. 32.

    Calvano (2020).

  33. 33.

    This specific initiative, coordinated by the MID, has given concrete substance to the constitutional principle of “horizontal subsidiarity” (Art. 118 of the Constitution), thus demonstrating its vitality and importance at a crucial moment for the social and economic stability of the country (Zuddas 2020, p. 1).

  34. 34.

    Later converted into Law no. 41 (6.6.2020), G.U. no. 143 (6.6.2020).

  35. 35.

    Calvano (2020).

  36. 36.

    Wirth (2021).

  37. 37.

    Gibbons et al. (1994), p. 59.

  38. 38.

    Ball (2021), p. 16.

  39. 39.

    Moranduzzo (2021), p. 29.

  40. 40.

    Wirth (2021).

  41. 41.

    The assessment through surveys started on 14 December 2020. See https://www.anvur.it/news/?attivita=ava, last accessed 10.2.2021.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Law, Roma Tre University, Rome, Italy

    Flaminia Aperio Bella

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  1. Flaminia Aperio Bella
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Correspondence to Flaminia Aperio Bella .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. German Research Institute for Public Administration, German University of Administrative Sciences Speyer, Speyer, Germany

    Margrit Seckelmann

  2. University of Milan, Milan, Italy

    Lorenza Violini

  3. German Research Institute for Public Administration, German University of Administrative Sciences Speyer, Speyer, Germany

    Cristina Fraenkel-Haeberle

  4. University of Milan, Milan, Italy

    Giada Ragone

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Aperio Bella, F. (2021). The COVID-19 Pandemic as a Challenge for Academia and Academic Freedom: An Italian Perspective. In: Seckelmann, M., Violini, L., Fraenkel-Haeberle, C., Ragone, G. (eds) Academic Freedom Under Pressure?. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77524-7_7

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