Senate is probing Yale’s involvement in a possible self-censorship movement in Singapore.
Senate probes “Dialogue and Dissent” class by Yale
The Faculty Senate is still debating over the withdrawal of a controversial course last year at Yale-NUS. Yale-NUS is a liberal art and science college in Singapore founded by a collaboration between Yale University and the University of Singapore.
Late last year, Yale-NUS canceled a course from Yale University about Dialogue and Dissent. This prompted the College in Singapore to address the Yale University Faculty of Arts and Sciences about the proper handling of courses related to free speech and academic freedom in Singapore.
The course to be offered at Yale-NUS would have included a discussion about self-censorship, and life documentary of Hong Kong student activist Joshua Wong titled Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower.
Self-censorship and academic freedom
The term self-censorship is an act of censoring one’s own disclosure from an issue to escape any form of incrimination from offended parties.
Concerning the course on “Dissent and Resistance in Singapore” by Yale University, Singapore’s education minister, Ong Ye Kung, has something to say about it.
The worry we have is that our institutions of higher learning may be used as a medium by partisan political groups to extricate disagreement against the government.
The government drew criticism over this issue from academians and journalist, thinking that they have any involvement with the cancellation. To clarify, Yale’s vice-provost for global strategy, Pericles Lewis, was sent to investigate.
Hindrance to college’s academic independence
According to Lewis’ report,
The decision to cancel the course was due to internal matters, and no relevance to any government-issued order that hinders the college’s academic independence.
Instead,
Academic rigor and legal risks to risks to students are most likely the reason for the decision.
Singaporean economist, Linda Lim, saw the whole picture as just a small internal issue between Yale University and Yale-NUS. But with Ong’s parliament address, things blew out of proportion, making it look like a national concern on the policy issue,
