Teach About Internet Freedom, Get Fired

nifty-c writes: Singapore has invested heavily in higher education partnerships with the US and launched an ambitious program of high-tech research with Western countries, but recent events have opened these links to convroversy. Prof. Cherian George at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, is a communication and information school professor and an outspoken critic of his government's censorship of the Internet. NTU recently fired him, sparking an outcry from critics who claim political interference. This week a group of faculty and affiliates at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society has 'strongly caution[ed]...colleagues working in the area of Internet and society in any dealings with Singaporean universities.' And it has led to calls by American students and academics to reconsider links with Singapore. Meanwhile, a student petition in Singapore nears 1,000 signatures and Singaporean colleagues write that they 'cannot fathom how Dr. George's output does not meet international standards.'