Be it resolved, modern universities are a threat to democratic freedoms.

By now we’ve all heard of ‘cancellations’ across North American campuses – professors who face reputational and professional damage due to deviating opinions – or students who are forced to recant for behaviour deemed problematic by contemporary culture. A new institution of higher learning is hoping to change all that. The newly created University of Austin aims to prioritize and protect freedom of expression and intellectual diversity. Its supporters argue that universities are fundamentally broken. They currently operate like authoritarian regimes more interested in promoting left-wing intellectual orthodoxy as opposed to teaching students how to think for themselves and consider contrary viewpoints. They maintain that protecting young adults from ideas which offend them impedes their development and their understanding of basic democratic principles.

Others argue that today’s hysteria about what is being taught in universities is overblown. A few examples of intolerance – amplified by the media and shared on social media – do not represent how these institutions actually operate, nor what takes place in the average university classroom. Furthermore, those railing against universities, including the founders of UATX, are part of a privileged class who are threatened by emerging voices that have traditionally been excluded from public institutions, universities included. Welcoming new voices into the universities has made these institutions more diverse, more democratic, and freer than ever before.

“A democracy requires that people don’t be censored, and that they don’t be self-censored. If higher education isn’t the place to explore wild disagreements, then I’m not sure what we have left.”

– HEATHER HEYING

“If college is so stifling of speech, why are people coming out of it with greater appreciation for free expression than those who haven’t had that opportunity?”

– AARON HANLON