ACT’s Claim of “Victory” at Auckland University is a Far-Right Assault on Our Democracy: We Must Fight Back Now
The Assault is Here Here in Aotearoa, the far right has breached the walls of our universities. As I write this piece, I am well aware of the concerted effort at silencing critical academic speech: political interference threatens not only our positions as academics, but the very foundations of academic freedom in this country. The ACT Party is celebrating a supposed “victory” at the University of Auckland. Their prize? The gutting of the Waipapa Taumata Rau (WTR) courses—the core, compulsory first-year offerings on Aotearoa New Zealand history, Te Tiriti o Waitangi and te ao Māori. ACT MP Parmjeet Parmar now goes further, demanding student refunds for supposed waste of credits. What she frames as liberation for students is in fact political influence, designed to delegitimize Māori knowledge and dismantle the democratic function of our universities. Now most new courses go through consideration of student feedback, which further shapes the delivery of the course, the course desig...