Make the Academy Great Again Right-Wing Think Tanks and the 'Crisis' in Universities

Abstract

In recent years, there has been an increase in reports declaring Canadian universities are suffering from a ‘viewpoint diversity crisis’ that purportedly compromises their ability to serve as bastions of open inquiry. This article contextualizes this narrative, tracing its historical roots and examining its production within a right-wing infrastructure that has long targeted the academy and sought to undermine public faith in higher education to further an ideological agenda reflective of Friedrich Hayek’s reverence for free market fundamentalism and concomitant contempt for social justice. To the degree that universities are imperiled as proponents of viewpoint diversity claim, the tangible threat stems from externally coordinated assaults on academe and not the contrived crisis projected onto it.

Keywords:

• academic freedom,
• culture wars,
• neoliberalism,
• political correctness,
• think tanks,
• viewpoint diversity