New reality dawns for academics ACADEMICS have been living in a fool's paradise, assuming their autonomy was sacrosanct, but now it is in play as four crises unfold in universities around the world, according to leading sociologist Michael Burawoy. "We have been thinking that our university autonomy and academic freedom is somehow God-given and that it will be with us forever more," Professor Burawoy, from the University of California, Berkley, told a seminar at the University of Sydney this week.