Freedoms Under Assault is a powerful full-length documentary that chronicles the systematic destruction of a world-class university and the politically motivated culture war against its faculty over a two-year period. A perfect storm of an autocratic university president collaborating with a supermajority reactionary state legislature following the cultural wars agenda of the White House has effectively curtailed the institutional autonomy of Indiana University as well as shared governance structures, academic freedom, free speech and assembly rights, tenure, and the viability of arts and humanities programs.
The film shows the extent to which a university administration conspired to silence, intimidate, scare, persecute and even exile faculty members accused of violating , absurd, and mean spirited “new rules.”.
Co-directed and produced by award-winning documentarians Jacky Comforty and Robert Arnove, the 77-minute film artfully assembles footage of daytime demonstrations and nighttime vigils, in-depth interviews with key protagonists, and archival photos to provide a compelling view of how authoritarian regimes across the country and globe are bent on destroying universities as centers critical to the functioning of democratic societies. In turn, the documentary illustrates how repression leads to resistance.
Directors’ statements
Jacky Comforty
For 35 years, I have dedicated myself to documenting inclusive education practices and historical events, particularly the holocaust in Bulgaria. I have gathered countless testimonies and observed firsthand the mechanisms of authoritarianism. The ever escalating oppressive practices we have documented in Indiana over the past two years strikingly echo the tactics employed both by WWII and post WWII regimes to silence and intimidate critics and intellectuals, and persecute decent individuals for violation of draconian laws and rules, meant to target and punish dissent.
