University autonomy and freedom of thought are under attack from the authoritarian resurgence in Eastern Europe, but free thinking is also under pressure within the universities in Western Europe. What lessons do these stories have for the United States? The European Union Center's 20th Annual European Union Day keynote talk was given by Michael Ignatieff on November 18, 2021. Michael Ignatieff is a Canadian historian, writer and former politician, and public voice for human rights. He is currently Rector Emeritus of Central European University, Budapest and Vienna, and professor of history at Central European University. He was a faculty member at the Harvard Kelly School of Government, where he also directed the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy. He has recently published On Consolation: Finding Solace in Hard Times (2021), and has also edited the volumes Academic Freedom: The Global Challenge (2018) and Rethinking Open Society: New Adversaries and New Opportunities (2018). Between 2006 and 2011, he served as an MP in the Parliament of Canada and then as Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Leader of the Official Opposition. He is a member of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada.
