Description

Universities have recently been at the centre of heated controversy and debate that raises fundamental questions about the nature of universities and of their place within a democracy.  This lecture brings the insights of constitutional law– a discipline squarely focussed on the nature and distribution of power and on the place of institutions within democracies – to the fore. It advances an understanding of universities as institutions of democratic government by virtue of the role they play in supporting civil society and enabling democratic government through teachings and research.

This perspective raises questions as to the purpose, nature and extent of the university’s core commitments to academic freedom and open inquiry and the role of academics in protecting those norms. This lecture will advance a conception of a university as a central institution in democratic government and explore the rights and responsibilities that attend that role.