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Thursday, July 3, 2025

Simon O'Connor: Funding silence


As a university cancelled a talk I was about to give (due to being too sensitive a topic supposedly), I ponder whether taxpayers should keep funding such censorious institutions.

I was recently asked to give a talk at a New Zealand university, sharing my impressions of my recent trip to Israel and the Gaza envelope. It would have had a political and legal perspective to it (along with the ethical), so I would assume much discussion with those attending on the nature of the conflict; whether international law is being broken; what possible solutions are possible and feasible; and more.

I was happy to accept the invite but knew in the back of my mind that it was highly likely to be cancelled.

So, I was not surprised when an email came to me stating that because the topic and timing were sensitive, that the talk would be cancelled. At one level I chuckled, possibly due to being correctly prescient yet at another level, I was deeply disappointed – not for me, but our universities as a whole.

I will quickly add, the individual organisers themselves have been great to deal with.

There is clearly something deeply wrong with universities when discussion is being actively and repeatedly stifled. My cancellation or de-platforming is just another example in a long list and it is important not to get too caught up in my particular experience. Instead, we should step back and see that universities are no longer serving their core purposes. In fact, they have not been serving their core purposes for some time now and this ultimately does raise the question why we, the taxpayer, continue to fund these institutions.

The Education and Training Act clearly articulates what we intuitively know universities are meant to be about:

“a wide diversity of teaching and research, especially at a higher level, that maintains, advances, disseminates, and assists the application of knowledge, develops intellectual independence, and promotes community learning.”

And then there is the well-known legislative (and moral) requirement that “they [universities] accept a role as critic and conscience of society”.

Sadly, many are failing in this regard. If people cannot discuss complex, controversial, and complicated issues at a university then why have universities at all. They simply become hollow echo chambers; theatres filled with highly paid actors who are not creative but simply repeat approved creeds to a captive audience.

I recall when I studied at university, it was a wonderful time exploring a whole range of ideas. My memory was of all sorts of lectures and evening talks, from the absurd to the amusing, from the far left to the libertarian right. The biggest and gnarliest of ethical issues were robustly discussed, often with a good dose of enthusiasm and entertainment.

I was initially going to write that our modern universities appear to now have a list of taboo topics. But I think it is worse than that, with certain topics only discussable if they affirm a single perspective. Whether it is Israel-Gaza, the Treaty of Waitangi, gender ideology, or ethical topics like abortion and euthanasia – only one perspective is tolerated within the universities.

The claim that some topics (like the one I was to speak on) are sensitive is incorrect. More accurately, it is that some people are sensitive to perspectives they don’t agree with.

Yet if we run with the idea that there are sensitive topics, then the greater the controversy or sensitivity, the greater the discussion should be. Instead, in the modern university environment, as something becomes controversial we see only greater suppression of discussion – usually by the radical left and progressives.

I think it was several years ago that a leaked report from the University of Auckland noted something like 85% of staff felt they could not speak freely and respectfully without fear of some form of negative repercussion. This at supposedly our foremost university!


One of the images I would have shared at the university talk - of Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem.

Which once again begs the question – why do we have universities if they cannot discuss tough topics? Why do New Zealanders work long hours to fund institutions that are scared to talk, an essential prerequisite of learning?

The government is seeking to address this damaging culture in universities. An amendment to the law is currently making it’s way through Parliament and will impose new duties on university councils to protect academic freedom and freedom of expression. These university councils will also have to report annually around complaints and I would hope, how many talks were cancelled and so on.

While a positive step, I fear the cultural rot within our universities runs deep and a legislative change is not enough. Yet the solution, at this time, is not to remove funding. As with most transformative change, it begins with people being willing to stand up and lead. In this case, it is primarily academics prepared to speak into the difficult topics and not be silenced. It means supporting an array of speakers to come onto campus. It means courage.

Certainly it comes with great risks, but that is what built the great universities – men and women who risked new ideas, often battled entrenched thinking, but whose arguments eventually won the day.

Simon O'Connor a former National MP graduated from the University of Auckland with a Bachelor of Arts in Geography and Political Studies . Simon blogs at On Point - where this article was sourced.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

So, Simon, you " suffered the same fate as Don Brash", when the Student Body at Massey Uni, Palmerston North asked him to speak to them, only to have " it scuppered" by a senior academic (female & Australian), who has since [or was asked to] move on.
NZ University's are no different, to the University's of England, America, & Canada.
I offer as examples of Uni "knee bending"
- Black Lives Matter, and the toppling of statues that were of historical significance, especially in America & England;
- the current Gaza confrontation and the [by both students & Academics] the wearing of a scarf, burning of flags, the verbal rhetoric that has similarities to German mid 1930's.
You also mention the topic of Academics [at Auckland] "feeling unsafe" not being able to speak freely, would it surprise you that this same activity has been carried out in University's in the Western World, the end result is Academics having to leave their chosen profession due to the harassment they faced.

Anonymous said...

What happens at AKL University these days if a degree holder wants to go back for some extra papers - are they forced to do the Maori indoctrination paper also ?