In this special conversation, Emeritus Professor Cary Nelson discusses the state of university discourse after October 7. He argues that the university – an institution dedicated to the search for truth, knowledge and freedom – became overrun by a toxic and dangerous fervour. Civil discourse was abandoned, as campuses became the epicentre of hate speech, bigotry, conspiracy theories, denialism and antisemitism.

Yet, as Cary Nelson reveals, this betrayal of the university’s ideals was decades in the making.

In his groundbreaking essay in the latest Jewish Quarterly, Nelson, an academic and writer whose years of involvement in university organisations has made him a leading expert on higher education, explains the causes of the institutional failure that has been evident on campuses worldwide.

Cary Nelson will be in conversation with Professor Kim Rubenstein from the Faculty of Business, Government and Law at the University of Canberra. Kim is Australia’s leading expert on citizenship and constitutional law, a lawyer, academic, author, and distinguished human rights advocate.

Presented in partnership with Jewish Quarterly and the Jewish Museum of Australia.

Contact the host of Global Conversations: Mindless: What’s Happened to Our Universities?