Category: academic freedom

PREMIERING May 23, 3 PM ET (8 PM UK): Doug Stokes: ‘The West Needs to Rediscover Its Identity so We Can Save Our Culture’ | British Thought Leaders

NTD’s Lee Hall sits down with Professor Doug Stokes, Director of the Strategy and Security Institute at University of Exeter. Doug talks about the damage that wokeness is inflicting on university life, how the new Higher Education Freedom law will remedy this, and his new book on the decline of the West. Doug also talks…


London Ontario’s Public Library Bans Society for Academic Freedom

Commentary In mid-May, True North columnist Andrew Lawton reported that the London Public Library in Ontario refused to rent space for an annual public lecture organized by the Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship (SAFS). Founded in 1992, SAFS is a Canadian academic organization with a mandate to “defend freedom in teaching, research and scholarship.”…


What I Learned When Students Tried to Cancel Me

Commentary Even being attacked can be educational and enlightening. In November 2020, eight official student groups published a public letter demanding that the McGill Administration rescind my Emeritus status. This was allegedly necessary in order to honor “the right of Muslims and People of Colour have to feel safe. [sic]” The groups endorsing this demand…


Laval U Prof Gets Second Suspension for COVID Vax Comments, 4 Months No Pay

A professor at Laval University in Quebec City has been suspended for the second time by the institution for comments he made regarding the risks associated with COVID-19 vaccination in children. Patrick Provost, a full professor in the Department of Microbiology, Infectious diseases and Immunology at the Faculty of Medicine, said in a statement the…


Experts Take the Pulse of Free Speech in Canada

Some political leaders maintain Canada’s free speech rights are in jeopardy. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has proposed having a “Free Speech Guardian” on university campuses. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has created a new position—parliamentary secretary for civil liberties—for a similar purpose.  Free speech advocates, too, have said speech rights and free expression are being infringed…


The Lessons of Hamline University

Commentary After showing a painting of the Prophet Muhammad in her art history class, professor Erika López Prater was informed that her teaching contract at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, would not be renewed. Those who condemned the professor’s actions were convinced that what she did wasn’t only offensive to Muslim students, but that such…


Hate and Fear Are Now Major Motivators on Campus

Commentary Almost every university in North America has committed to what is called “social justice,” which is the implementation of identity politics through the mechanisms of “diversity, equity, and inclusion.” Identity politics divides everyone into one of two categories: evil oppressor or innocent victim. Through official mandatory policies, universities have transformed academic culture from a…


87 Percent of Canadian Professors Lean Left, Says Survey

A new paper released by a Canadian think tank suggests the vast majority of Canadian professors identify as left-leaning on the political spectrum, while 40 percent of professors on the right said they face a “hostile work environment.” The findings were published by the Macdonald Laurier Institute on Sept. 15 in a paper [pdf] entitled,…


Laval University Professor Suspended for Child COVID Vaccination Criticism Faces New Disciplinary Threat

A Quebec university professor of infectious diseases who was suspended during the summer for calling into question the need to vaccinate children against COVID-19 is facing a new disciplinary threat for similar comments he made on a radio show while under suspension. Patrick Provost, a full professor at the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at…


University Professors Love ‘Social Justice’ and Critical Race Theory, but Hate Israel

Commentary The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) earlier this year courageously took a stand against “threats to academic freedom.” The AAUP statement identifies the most serious threats to academic freedom today. No, the threat to academic freedom, according to the AAUP, is not the “social justice” political ideology that has become mandatory for all…