The danger of an institutional view on The Treaty

ACT MP Parmjeet Parmar writes:

From next year, the University of Auckland will require all first-year students to complete a ‘Waipapa Taumata Rau’ course covering the Treaty of Waitangi and traditional Māori knowledge systems. …

Finally, the course risks a dangerous uniformity of perspective on Treaty issues.

Whatever you may think about the current Treaty principles debate, it’s clear these issues are controversial and politically contested.

Having a small group of academics in consultation with local iwi prepare a course on Treaty issues will leave graduates with a narrow, one-sided view of the history of the Treaty and its implications for our rights and democracy.

I would go as far as calling the planned courses a form of indoctrination.

As a university student learning about the scientific method, I was taught that knowledge is contestable.

This is actually a huge threat to academic freedom and freedom of thought on campus.

In most disciplines, you will come across a variety of views on the issue. Takes economics – you’ll have some lecturers who are Keynesian, some who are monetarist, some who teach Milton Friedman etc etc. Over the course of your degree you will be exposed to different views on economics. The same will apply in law to a degree, philosophy etc etc.

But here the University as an institution is going to state an institutional view of the Treaty of Waitangi, that will be mandatory for every student to attend, and take on board if they want to get a degree. There will be no diversity of views taught to student s through the mandatory paper. And it is inconceivable that any individual academic or course would dare to have a view that was at odds with the mandatory paper. To do so would get them cancelled.

So this is a very big deal. Mandatory papers should be for fundamental stuff such as ethics, plagiarism etc – not a highly controversial and contested political issue.