Younger Canadians most divided on academic freedom protecting political views: poll - National Post

Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty ImagesArticle contentPolitical advocacy in a post-secondary classroom where it does not relate to the subject matter could become a “threat to academic freedom” if left unchecked, warns Association for Canadian Studies president Jack Jedwab.

While new polling for the organization indicates the majority (60 per cent) of Canadians firmly feel academic freedom shouldn’t protect a professor who uses class time to push personal political views unrelated to the curriculum, the 18-24-year-old cohort was the most conflicted, with only 38 per cent sharing that opinion, 32 per cent in support of protection and 30 per cent unsure.

Generation Xers between 55-64 (70 per cent) and boomers 65 and over (73 per cent ) were most likely to disagree.

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Jedwab isn’t surprised most respondents feel “there’s a line” for academic freedom protection and reasoned the youngest cohort, predominantly students, are divided due to their exposure.

“It’s hard to contend when your professor advocates a particular cause,” he told National Post in an interview. “It can be very challenging to reflect on whether this is crossing a line or not.”

Article contentHe highlighted the recent Campus Anti-Semitism Student Experiences report commissioned by Heritage Canada, which he co-authored, which found that 34 per cent said a professor brought up Jews, Judaism, Israel, or Zionism when unrelated to the course subject.

“In a course that had nothing to do with Israel, my professor spent three weeks talking about Gaza and the creation of the State of Israel,” one Jewish student told researchers. “He never mentioned the Holocaust as a precursor to its founding, repeatedly calling the state a ‘Zionist political project.’”

Jedwab, a Ph.D. himself, stopped here to stress the critical importance of academic freedom, but said it’s also critical to have a frank conversation about the checks and balances “when it comes to the roles and responsibilities of academics around controversial issues that are not within the purview of what they’re being asked to teach.”

“The risk is that academic freedom is being abused by some parties in pursuit of a particular cause,” he added.