University, and free speech

[Hawkins001]

"Does anyone think that certain universities, should be given a timeline for closure, when it could be debated that some institutions no longer upheld the basis of free speech, within a democracy, by allowing no-platforming and refusing or cancelling speakers, due to some students objecting ?"

That's a quote on an article that I read, about different leaders that have been no-platformed and thought it made a good point, about what's the purpose of a university if they don't have different speakers, free speech and an environment of learning, ?

I may have been able to word my perspectives better. But that's the gist of it.

Universities in theory are places where the boundaries of human knowledge are explored and expanded. In such an environment there's no idea that can't be expressed and debated. Those ideas that stand up to scrutiny add to human knowledge. Abhorrent ideas are ultimately debunked and disproven and then anyone who continues espousing them just looks stupid (eg holocaust deniers, climate change deniers)

Two things have gone wrong.

Firstly, universities are seen by the government no longer as establishments to expand human knowledge, but as training facilities for workers in a high skill economy. Fulfilling that need requires students to be fed the facts they need rather than being taught to question and debate, as that would be detrimental to a cooperative workforce. In theory universities are independent, but the vast majority of their funding comes from governmental sources so there's a heavy influence.

Secondly, the rise of post-factual reinvention of ideas of "knowledge" in some academic disciplines where philosophical questions of "what is truth?" "Can we ever truly know anything?" are spilling into sciences where actually yes we can know things and facts do exist. Which makes it more difficult to debunk the obviously lunatic theories.

Much appreciated for your perspectives, all intriguing points.