Get the Federal Government Out of Higher Education
He who pays the piper calls the tune.
On November 28th, I was called to be witness before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Science and Research, to talk about federal research grants to universities. Some witnesses, including prominent academics in Canadian universities, argued that we needed to reform the system in order to turn away from woke practices that they deem harmful to the institutions, such as DEI policies. In my view, that’s not enough.
This is what I said:
Madam Chair, the members of your committee may be familiar with the Big Bang Theory. Not the explosion, the television sitcom. It’s about four scientist nerds who work at a research university. In one episode, they argue with the university president, who says to them, “Let me ask you something. What do you think the business of this university is?” “Science?” one of the science nerds replies. “Money!” the president snorts.
In Canada, the business of universities isn’t just money, but government money. The business of Canadian universities, in large part, is to get their hands on as much government money as they can. They have become chronic welfare recipients like the CBC - dependent on government largesse with no prospect of becoming self-sustaining. They are deep black holes into which gobs of money disappear.
If you are a young professor today, your university probably doesn’t care so much about your work. It cares more about whether you get federal grants. From federal grants, universities skim a cool chunk off the top. To get the grant, you must pitch research that the granting councils like. Universities have whole departments of administrators dedicated to getting their academics to pitch their research in a way that will please the people holding the purse strings. Federal research money corrupts the intellectual enterprise of universities.
My academic colleagues and I are among the many, many Canadians feeding at the public trough. The public sector is 40 percent of this country’s economy. That’s not sustainable. It’s one of the many reasons this country is becoming poor.
He who pays the piper calls the tune. Government money always comes with strings. Ideological strings. Political strings. The way to have politically neutral research is not to have government granting agencies.
You are studying whether to reform federal research funding. Don’t reform it. Abolish it. Get rid of it.
“You are studying whether to reform federal research funding. Don’t reform it. Abolish it. Get rid of it.”
Universities fall under provincial jurisdiction. Please stop interfering.
Please stop taking money from truck drivers and cashiers and giving it to elite institutions.
Please stop corrupting the intellectual enterprise.
Please stop requiring and funding discrimination against white people, Asian people, and men.
Please stop dictating how research is done and by whom.
Please get federal money out of the business of Canadian universities.
Bruce Pardy is executive director of Rights Probe and professor of law at Queen’s University.
AFUERA!!!
It seems like Canadians can't imagine a country without constant government interference. Pity.