Part Three of a Four Part Series In December 2008, Denis Rancourt was suspended from his tenured professorship in physics at the University of Ottawa—an action that resulted in his termination a few months later. This occurred after a five-year …
Self-Hatred and Victimization: Addressing Indoctrination in Canadian Universities
On many Canadian university campuses, students are told that they need to be “allies” to marginalized groups. Today, we often focus on Indigenous populations, the LGBTQ+ community, and people of colour. Indigenous people are given, by far, a bigger spotlight …
William Brooks: To Defend Academic Freedom, a Canadian Professor Calls for ‘Dangerous Universities’
Mark Mercer is a professor of philosophy at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, who has served as president of the Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship since 2015. SAFS is a Canadian organization whose members are devoted to “academic rigour, scholarly …
Independent Thought, Courage, and Commitment
Independent thinkers believe what they do on the basis of evidence and argument and not as a result of psychological or social pressure. One way in which Critical Thinking courses help students to become independent thinkers is by making the …
Why Frances Widdowson Matters
Frances Widdowson probably isn’t someone most Canadians recognize. I’m here to tell you why they should. In terms of Canada’s intellectual culture, Frances Widdowson matters because she is a classic and prolific academic. In a time when demagoguery easily flourishes, …
By Keeping Draconian Pandemic Rules in Place, Universities Are Signalling Their Out-of-Touch Elitism
Proof of vaccination is required for students who want to live in residence at the University of Toronto. No, this wasn’t cut-and-paste from a 2021 article—it’s an actual requirement for the fall of 2022. Anyone who plans to live in …
A Message to My Students on Expression in the Classroom
Students might naively think that because they are at a university, they are free from the threat of official sanction to express their beliefs, ideas and emotions during classroom discussions; in this essay, I warn that, sadly, they are not. …
Why University?
In this essay, I explain that young people should come to university to be educated, and not to become credentialed; the public should support universities because universities educate young people, not because they produce credentialled workers. Why should a …
MEDIA RELEASE – New Frontier Centre Book Calls on Universities to be Dangerous
A Collection of Sharp and Insightful Challenges to Higher Education in Canada WINNIPEG, August 4, 2022 – The Frontier Centre for Public Policy has just published In Praise of Dangerous Universities and Other Essays, by philosophy professor Mark Mercer. Universities …
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