University of
Toronto
The HxA Campus Community at the University of Toronto will reinvigorate the norms of academic freedom, free expression and open inquiry across the university.
We are concerned that our university, like many others in North America, is experiencing an erosion of longstanding norms of constructive disagreement and tolerance of a range of viewpoints. In particular, we are disturbed by an emerging practice in which our administration is requiring faculty and staff to essentially declare their loyalty to certain doctrines as a price for teaching and for conducting research. Multiple personal experiences, as well as surveys of Canadian academics, suggest these requirements are hampering academic freedom and free inquiry at our institution and at others.
The HxA approach for fostering constructive disagreement and viewpoint diversity aligns with our goal to build a Campus Community that will provide a forum for UofT’s current HxA members and other like-minded faculty members to meet and discuss their views. This includes regular workshops and information sessions with internal and external speakers to develop strategies for dialogue among faculty by appealing to open-minded persuasion and evidence. Ultimately, we aim to present our ideas to the administration, with the goal of ensuring that its policies support and nurture viewpoint diversity and constructive disagreement across UofT.
Do you believe in open inquiry? A group of courageous professors and students have come together on the University of Toronto campus because they believe in open inquiry, too. Will you help them? Your donation will help the HxA Campus Community at the University of Toronto put on events that support the cause of open inquiry. As a supporter, you will receive invitations to HxA campus events, and updates on HxA activities on your campus and on other campuses all around the country.
Meet the leaders building the University of Toronto Campus Community
Scott Davies
Professor, Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult EducationStephen Reich
PhD student at the University of Toronto, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Educational Policy and LeadershipFind HxA Members On This Campus
Your generosity supports our non-partisan efforts to advance the principles of open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and constructive disagreement to improve higher education and academic research.