Academic Freedom — Audrey Truschke

Standing Up to Hate

Audrey Truschke advocates knowledge, equality, and human rights. This has earned her hate from far-right groups and individuals.

Academic institutions, colleagues, and human rights and civil society organizations stand in solidarity with Professor Truschke. With their support, Professor Truschke withstands assaults that imperil herself, her family, and academic freedom.

For more on the types of assaults that Professor Truschke faces and how you can help, please see the Hindutva Harassment Field Manual, a project of the South Asia Scholar Activist Collective (also, listen here and watch here).

Audrey Truschke also advocates for academic freedom on behalf of others at Rutgers as Chair of Rutgers AAUP Academic Freedom Committee (2022–). E.g., see this video from Dec 2023.

Attacks on Prof. Truschke

SLAPP lawsuit by HAF (2021–22)

Slay the Demon (2023)

Professor Truschke was the youngest of ten scholars and thinkers named as the ten heads of Ravana—an evil demon that is killed by the hero Rama in Hindu mythology— in a far-right book and subsequent talks.

Reporting here and here

One targeted scholar responded with a poem

Don’t Say Plagiarism (2022)

Service to the academic profession of calling out Dr. Vikram Sampath’s plagiarism (also here); additional examples

Reporting here and here

Plagiarized scholar calls for retraction and apology

Open letter of support by 150+ concerned scholars; Academe blog of AAUP on retaliatory censorship by the Indian state in February. As of May 5, 2022, Twitter is declining to censor further tweets.

SLAPP lawsuit by HAF (2021–)

SLAPP lawsuit by HAF against Audrey Truschke (2021): Explainer and Religion News Service article. Abbreviated Timeline (see full timeline and list of documents) —

Early 2021: Professor Truschke begins a research project on the Hindu Right in the US.

May 2021: HAF files a lawsuit against five people, including Audrey Truschke

Spring 2021: Condemnation of lawsuit by 300+ scholars + writers; condemnation of lawsuit by global rights groups

August 2021: Motion to dismiss.

March 2022: court order expressing skepticism of HAF’s claims and allowing limited discovery of HAF’s financials (provided in early May 2022).

Summer 2022: Defendants’ brief supporting motion to dismiss based on discovery into HAF’s financials and depositions of its executive director

HAF’s response

Defendants’ reply

December 2022: Motions to dismiss are granted, on multiple grounds, for all five defendants. Read Dr. Truschke’s attorneys’ press release here.

Hindu Right Blitzkrieg (2021)

Hindu Right Blitzkrieg (early 2021)

Support for Audrey Truschke: Rutgers administration (statement, article); Rutgers faculty-grad union statement; Faculty of South Asian origin letter; South Asian Studies program statement; Human rights and civil society groups letter; Rutgers University Senate Executive Committee resolution.

Professor Truschke writes about the threat such attacks pose to academic freedom.