Statement by the Austrian Association for American Studies Regarding the Current United States Administration’s Limitations on Academic Freedom
On his first day as President of the United States of America, Donald Trump signed over 200 executive orders. Among them were promises to end birthright citizenship and to crush laws ensuring the safety of transgender people. The orders also included vows to change the American education system by punishing those teaching critical race theory or gender studies, among other topics. Academic and Educational freedom—at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels—is being strategically undermined, as evidenced in the Executive Order “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,” issued on January 20, 2025.
The Austrian Association for American Studies sees it as its responsibility to uphold and support academic freedom as well as safety and equality for all students and staff. The rights of women, sexual/gender minorities, BIPOC people, immigrants, and disabled people, among many other minorities, are not matters of political debate—they are prerequisites for an equal education system and, thus, the foundations for a just society. As an association dedicated to transatlantic understanding and academic exchange, we cannot ignore these developments but have to speak out against them; as Americanists abroad looking at the U.S., we see it as our duty to remain both critical and vigilant, to take an explicit stance against racist, sexist, and queerphobic agendas that impinge upon human rights, and to insist on democratic freedoms like freedom of speech and research. The current administration has already cancelled funding for the German Association’s for American Studies annual conference, which is only one example how academic research has already directly been affected by U.S. politics overseas.
The Austrian-American Partnership Fund (AAPF), which has previously supported AAAS conferences and the Austrian-Bavarian Postgraduate Workshop in 2023 and 2024, is currently on hold. In solidarity with the recent letter sent out by the Board of the German Association for American Studies, we want to emphasize that the AAAS has, like our partner associations throughout Europe, always supported transatlantic academic and educational exchange. As a bridge between Austria and the US, we promote dialogue, understanding, and collaboration for a more democratic society. As our German colleagues insist: “Let us now reaffirm this commitment by taking a proactive stance against threats to academic freedom and by supporting those whose voices are being silenced.”
We will address these pressing issues in the Roundtable discussion at our annual conference in Vienna (Oct. 3-5, 2025), aptly (but somewhat eerily) titled “Ruptures, Cycles, (Dis)continuties in American Studies.” We invite everyone to discuss this major rupture with all our members, guests, and a round of speakers from different generations of Americanists during the conference and beyond.
The Board of the Austrian Association of American Studies