Barrie Davis: Science and Universities

The ironic decision to cancel a meeting to discuss free speech at Te Herenga Waka University was because some students were ‘freaked out’ that there were some rightist speakers. That was not an isolated case but rather an example of mass hysteria on the Left and mass decadence on the Right that has taken hold in the West.

In recent times various people have been stopped from speaking in New Zealand because they hold rightist views: In 2018 Don Brash was banned from talking about Treaty issues at Massey University by Vice-Chancellor Jan Thomas after a complaint by some students. Also in 2018 commentators Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux were stopped from coming to New Zealand to speak by Auckland Mayor Phil Goff. In 2023 Kelly-Jay Keen-Minshull abandoned her tour of New Zealand without speaking after being booed, heckled and doused with tomato juice at Auckland.

Penn Raine: ‘A little learning…’

And how dangerous ‘a little is’ was displayed this week when Sean Plunkett and Michael Laws interviewed Victoria University’s Student Union President, Markail Parkinson and Salient editor, Henry Broadbent respectively on why the Free Speech Union’s debate on free speech had been postponed. The debate had sought to explore the role that our universities have in supporting, or not, free speech and was to have featured Jonathan Ayling , CEO of the Free Speech Union. It may yet not go ahead as the interview revealed that Ayling might be considering bringing up subjects from no-go areas of co-governance and trans-gender politics.