On a gray winter afternoon in 2018, activists gathered in front of the Hungarian parliament in Budapest. Huddled around a coffin marked “Academic Freedom,” they gave speeches and reflected. Some even shed tears. 

The loss being mourned was that of Central European University (CEU). After a long and bitter campaign, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his far-right Fidesz party had managed to effectively force the institution out of the country. Two days later, on December 3, CEU announced that it would begin to move its staff and U.S.-accredited degree programs to Vienna in the fall of 2019. 

In recent years, Orbán has systematically undermined liberal educational institutions as part of a far-sighted plan to create a generation of citizens rooted in traditional Hungarian values. The ostracization of CEU formed the main focus of this strategy. 

Founded in 1995 by the Hungarian-born investor and philanthropist George Soros, CEU’s stated mission is to foster values of “socially and morally responsible intellectual inquiry.” The institution has also gained a reputation for diversity, recruiting many of its students from the developing world.