This article originally appeared in the National Post.
By Peter MacKinnon, February 10, 2026
The Jan. 31 edition of the Economist tells a depressing story of the academy in peril. An instructor of an introductory philosophy course at Texas A&M University — one of America’s largest post-secondaries — faced reassignment unless he excluded Plato from his reading list; another professor at the same school was dismissed for discussing gender fluidity; and 200 courses are under administrative review for prohibited content. At the University of Texas at Austin, 40 per cent of faculty reported being pressured to make changes to their curricula, and the university’s faculty council, elected to advise the administration on academic matters, was dissolved last year.
These are not exceptional cases. PEN America revealed that in 2025, lawmakers in 32 states filed 93 bills censoring higher education, and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression found a record number of U.S. students who were punished for their speech. Left-wing efforts to curb right-wing speech have been joined by right-wing efforts to curb left-wing speech, and politicians are in on the act with officious university insiders.
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Peter MacKinnon is a former law professor who has served as the president of three Canadian universities and a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.
