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Presale begins March 3 | Public onsale begins March 5

A CBC IDEAS live recording featuring Randy Boyogoda, Davide Panagia & Malinda S. Smith
Introduced by Marc Spooner, co-editor of Knowledge Under Siege: Charting A Future for Universities.

Defining the value of universities has never been so urgent. Academic institutions now face existential threats, from slashed budgets and shuttered programmes to explicitly political attacks as they struggle to define their role in a rapidly changing world.

CBC IDEAS host Nahlah Ayed moderates a discussion with Randy Boyogoda, Provostial Advisor on Civil Discourse, University of Toronto, Davide Panagia, Chair of Political Science at UCLA, and Malinda S. Smith, Associate Vice-President Research (Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) University of Calgary, who will confront the crises currently facing universities, identify what’s at stake for everyone, and examine how they must remain autonomous spaces where truth and learning can continue to thrive.

Books will be available to purchase courtesy of The University of Regina Press.

TIFA Presents is generously supported by Presenting Donors Beth Nowers and Jack Curtin.

Participants:

Randy Boyagoda is a novelist and Professor of English at the University of Toronto, where he also serves as Vice-Dean, Undergraduate in the Faculty of Arts and Science and as the university’s advisor on civil discourse, the first such position in Canada. He was named one of Toronto’s fifty most influential people by Toronto Life magazine because of his work in civil discourse. He is the author of seven books, including four novels that have been nominated for the Giller Prize, the IMPAC Dublin Literary Prize, and named New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice selections and Globe and Mail Best Books of the year. A frequent contributor to CBC Radio, including as a national columnist on civil discourse, and former President of PEN Canada, he writes opinions, essays and reviews for publications including the Atlantic, the New York Times, the Financial Times of London, the Globe and Mail, and The Walrus. His new novel, Lords of Serendipity, comes out later this year.

Davide Panagia is a leading political theorist and Professor and Chair of Political Science at UCLA whose work bridges philosophy, media, and democratic life. A Rhodes Scholar educated at the University of Manitoba, Oxford, and Johns Hopkins, he is internationally recognized for advancing the field of political aesthetics—examining how perception, emotion, and culture shape politics. Author of numerous books and academic articles, Panagia’s current work explores algorithmic governance, data justice, and democracy in the digital age. Born in Italy and raised in Winnipeg, his work is informed by his experiences of immigration and neurodiversity and brings rigorous scholarship to urgent public questions about social belonging and collective life.

Malinda S. Smith is the Associate Vice-President Research (Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) at the University of Calgary. Dr. Smith holds a PhD in political science from the University of Alberta, an MA, MDA, and a BA magna cum laude in political science and criminal justice, from Western Michigan University. A member of the Senior Leadership Team at the UCalgary, Dr. Smith sits on the Vice President Research-Ops, serves as the Co-Chair, President’s Task Force on EDIA, Chair, Dimensions EDI Executive and Steering Committees, and Lead on the One Child Every Child Equitable Pathways Accelerator and Equitable Pathways Council. Nationally, Dr. Smith serves on SSHRC Council and Executive, Statistics Canada’s Immigration and Ethnocultural Statistics Advisory Committee, and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) External EDI Advisory Board. She is the vice chair of the Scarborough Charter Steering Committee. Dr. Smith is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships.

Knowledge Under Siege: Charting a Future for Universities

At a time when universities are being defunded by governments and vilified by ultra-conservative pundits, defining their value has never been more urgent For decades, efforts to quantify the value of universities in dollars and cents led to the corporatization of institutions that are meant to serve their students and society by creating knowledge and teaching—not by turning a profit. Now more than ever, the role of the university in advancing discovery, democracy, equity, and in contributing to its students’ success is under siege and needs to be defended. Knowledge Under Siege picks up where Spooner and McNinch’s Dissident Knowledge in Higher Education left off and analyzes today’s volatile higher education landscape—one where hostility towards the academy is a growing trend across the globe.

Read more about Knowledge Under Siege: Charting a Future for Universities

Published by University of Regina Press

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