As we all know, Canadian universities are supposed to be bastions of freedom of thought and critical thinking, where controversial ideas are explored and debated in a framework of civility.
OK, who are we kidding, right?
The reality today is that Canadian universities undermine academic freedom because they are dominated by group-think, left-wing academics who intimidate their conservative colleagues into silence, while university administrators do nothing.
It’s not just us saying that.
So does a new study by professors Christopher Dummitt and Zachery Patterson for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, “The Viewpoint Diversity Crisis at Canadian Universities: Political Homogeneity, Self-Censorship and Threats to Academic Freedom.”
Surveying 1,043 professors across Canada in polling conducted by Leger, they concluded that, “Professors, especially the 9% of conservative professors whose views differ from the overwhelmingly dominant left-leaning views held by 88% of professors, are increasingly self-censoring for fear of reprisal.”
They found 44% of right-leaning professors feared negative career consequences if colleagues, students or others on campus learned of their political opinions, 40% said they face a hostile work environment and 57% said they have self-censored their views.
Disturbingly, a third of all professors polled said they were prepared to limit academic freedom and “cancel” colleagues who disagreed with their political views on social justice.
The progressive orthodoxy is so bad, they found, that even 34% of the majority of left-leaning professors say they have censored their views.
“That academic freedom and viewpoint diversity are under threat suggest that existing protections at universities are insufficient in preventing the formation of a monoculture” the authors conclude, warning “this has significant negative impacts on the quality of education students receive.
“Deliberation in homogenous organizations like universities can lead to even greater polarization precisely because there aren’t divergent voices to offer counter perspectives, or bring to light useful information that might otherwise be overlooked.
“We need to trust that universities are places where different perspectives can be aired openly and collegially, fostering the highest quality debate on pressing issues.”
The authors recommend creating an Academic Freedom Act that would remove provincial funding from universities that fail to protect academic freedom but what’s really needed are university administrators committed to academic freedom.
Good luck finding any.
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