The United States has long been famous for its world leading universities. But in the face of research funding cuts, government attacks on free speech, DEI and the right to protest, and the persecution of foreign students, could all that be changing?

The speech, Poison Ideas: Universities and other Antidotes to Authoritarianism, was recorded at the 2025 conference of the Australasian Council of Deans of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (DASSH) representing 350 deans and associate deans from Australian and New Zealand universities.

Speakers

Simon Adams - President & CEO, Centre for Victims of Torture, Professor of Human Rights, Murdoch University