University of Toronto

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.