September 25, 2018
In response to the ongoing pressure upon the status of Gender Studies as an academic discipline in Hungary, the CEU Department of Gender Studies wishes to express its vehement opposition to any political efforts to interfere with academic freedom or impose restrictions of any kind on academic research and teaching at CEU or elsewhere, and our steadfast solidarity with all our colleagues facing such attempts in Hungary or elsewhere.
For over twenty years, the CEU Department of Gender Studies has been educating outstanding scholars and professionals to critically analyze the social and cultural construction of gender across many spheres of human life and forms of expression, and to interrogate multiple dimensions of gendered and other intersecting social hierarchies. In the face of political moves that mischaracterize and question the academic legitimacy of Gender Studies, we stress that the concept of gender, as a fundamental component of the human experience, has proven its importance in and across many areas of academic research and teaching for effectively addressing the complex and fundamental questions of selfhood and social relations, of power and politics, and of the production of knowledge that we all face every day. This history and contribution cannot and must not be erased: the category of gender, and the interdisciplinary domain of gender studies, are an integral part of contemporary scholarship and have profoundly contributed to its intellectual power.
We are heartened by the outpouring of support from academic associations and colleagues around the world who join us in advocating for the continuation of Gender Studies programs and academic autonomy in general currently under threat in Hungary. Here you can find links to many of those statements.