In this special conversation, Emeritus Professor Cary Nelson discusses the state of university discourse after October 7 in conversation with Professor Kim Rubenstein. Nelson 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 Nelson reveals, this betrayal of the university’s ideals was decades in the making.