Academic Violence

The systemic harm inflicted within academic institutions through practices like gatekeeping, harassment, exploitation of junior scholars, suppression of dissenting ideas, and the weaponization of peer review. Academic violence can be interpersonal (a senior professor blocking a junior’s career) or structural (the pressure to publish in prestigious journals that enforce ideological conformity). It often targets scholars who challenge dominant paradigms, hail from marginalized groups, or propose interdisciplinary work. The violence is in the betrayal of the university’s mission of free inquiry.

Example: “Her paper questioning the consensus was rejected by three journals without peer review, and her department chair warned her to ‘stop making waves’—academic violence, using institutional power to enforce orthodoxy.”

Academic Violence by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal April 15, 2026