By David Robinson

In March 2021, Boise State University took the unusual step of suspending the teaching of the required course, Foundations of Ethics and Diversity. The shock decision came after a state legislator complained that a student in the class had allegedly been forced to apologize for their “white privilege” and was subjected to taunts and verbal attacks from other students. An investigation into the matter found no evidence to substantiate the complaint, but that fact did little to quell the outrage machine which had shifted into high gear. More than a year later, the attacks on the teaching of critical race theory, equity, and diversity have only grown louder.

Across the United States, elected officials are ramping up efforts to impose their political views on universities and colleges through legislation targeting equity and diversity initiatives and the teaching of the history of racism. It is an extraordinarily blatant assault on university autonomy and academic freedom, and astoundingly hypocritical. Even as they decry the censorious nature of “cancel culture,” these same politicians are simultaneously threatening to de-fund institutions that refuse to sanitize their teaching of American history.

While in Canada we have to date been spared the worst of the American-style culture wars on campus, we have not been entirely immune. The provinces of Alberta and Ontario have imposed so-called “free speech” requirements on universities and colleges, a not-so-subtle toss of a bone to a political base that is convinced post-secondary institutions are overrun by zealous and illiberal leftists. In Quebec, the Legault government recently passed Bill 32, An Act respecting academic freedom in the university sector, requiring universities to establish panels to review complaints of “censorship.” And then there is Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre who has promised that as Prime Minister he would appoint a “Free Speech Guardian” tasked with protecting “academic freedom and free speech from campus gatekeepers.”

It may be tempting to dismiss these developments as simply cynical political posturing. But as recent experience in the United States has shown there is a real danger that top-down legislative efforts to “protect” campus speech and academic freedom can easily drift into becoming fully-fledged educational diktats and gag orders. When politicians mandate what can or cannot be taught and discussed in the classroom, or what research may or may not be pursued, they directly violate academic freedom. And they also breach the principle of collegial governance by which academic staff play the primary role in educational decision-making.

Universities and colleges cannot fulfill their mission of preserving, sharing, and advancing knowledge if governments circumscribe the content of classroom discussion and research. That means the academic community needs to aggressively resist any political intrusion into its academic affairs. By that measure, it is troubling that few if any university and college administrators in Canada have publicly spoken out against political interference, whether it be “free speech” requirements, performance-based funding, government-imposed mandates, or partisan board appointments. We collectively need to be far more vocal in denouncing and pushing back against these intrusions so that robust academic inquiry and teaching can be free to thrive.