As U. S. President Donald Trump's funding cuts and ideological crackdowns hammer American universities, many commentators see a moment of opportunity in which Canada becomes a destination for disaffected and defunded American academics.
But hang on just a minute before we roll out the red-and-white carpet.
The Americanization of Canadian higher education is already a problem; anecdotal evidence suggests that academics with PhDs from American institutions are often preferred by hiring committees over their Canadian counterparts. Meeting the current crisis in the U.S. with calls to intensify this process risks entirely squeezing out Canadians from their own labour market. After all, unlike family doctors or nurses, we have no shortage of Canadian PhDs vying for Canadian academic jobs. As we all know, we have a shortage of academic positions, especially given the current widespread underfunding of our university system.
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