Abstract
<jats:p>The sanctions regime imposed upon Russia after the annexation of Crimea in 2014 was modified and reached hitherto unimagined levels after the Russian full-scale attack on Ukraine in 2022. This article covers the Norwegian debate on academic sanctions, how the government’s statements are mirrored in the discourse of university rectors and pro-sanction academics, and how this pro-sanction discourse is opposed by academics articulating an anti-sanction discourse. Employing Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory, this article argues that this conflict manifests in a discursive struggle where the soul of the university and academic freedom are at stake. While the issue of academic sanctions has been studied in detail by numerous scholars in recent years, the literature tends to focus upon the strategic and normative value, or lack thereof, of sanctions in specific cases. This study moves beyond these important issues by exploring what these discourses for and against sanctions mean for university autonomy and academic freedom, by exploring the discourses and their socially constructive capacities.The pro-sanction discourse defines the university as also having political functions, necessitating sanctions, whereas the anti-sanction discourse defines the university in a more autonomous fashion. Keywords: Discourse analysis, sanctions, new cold war, Russia, Norway</jats:p>