Academic freedom is under siege all over the world. Both right and left leaning scholars are facing the brunt not only from those outside the university but also from colleagues within the university. The neoliberal transformation of the university, rise in far-right populism, massification of higher education, anti-intellectualism and too much emphasis on economic, utilitarian and pragmatic values has added to the woes of the academia. There is no dearth of those on the political spectrum who accuse the university culture for misusing academic freedom in the name of political correctiveness. The general feeling is that the universities today are merely producing human resource to meet the market needs instead of cultivating the intellectual capacities of their learners as social critics. Under academic capitalism, the higher education institutions today are under pressure to focus on the output and needs of the market and investors at the cost of academic freedom. This chapter seeks to highlight the various causes of decline in academic freedom. An attempt is also made to emphasize the need for restoring academic freedom by linking it with public responsibility. The modern universities have to strike a balance between ‘equity, accessibility and quality’, on the one hand, and ‘efficiency, competition and relevance’, on the other. No wonder, the academic freedom has become a contested terrain and needs to be redefined to serve the current interest(s).