Home | Abstracts | Keynotes | Location | Preconferences | Registration
What is a Reasonable Question? A Workshop to Explore Academic Freedom and Facilitate Constructive Conversation in Universities
Contact person:
Niki Harré, University of Auckland:
Presenters:
Professor Niki Harré, Professor Jamin Halberstadt, JD Bowman, Elizaveta Zhuravleva
Abstract
Academic freedom is a key feature of universities and has recently been subject to debate and scrutiny. For example, in New Zealand, The Education and Training Amendment Act of 2025 requires universities to “protect and promote academic freedom and freedom of expression”. Given conflicting views on what academic freedom and freedom of expression even look like in university settings, this is far from easy. This workshop explores constructive conversation, and in particular the willingness to ask and listen to “reasonable questions” as necessary conditions of these freedoms. But what makes a question reasonable? In this workshop, we lead participants in facilitated group exercises and discussions to collectively identify the features of “reasonableness”, underpinned by a commitment to genuine engagement with all viewpoints. By the end of the workshop, we hope to have a working definition of reasonable questions and strategies for how they, and constructive conversation more generally, can be encouraged in university settings.
Sign-up: https://auckland.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1ImFBHXHcwwV3g2
You are also welcome to get in touch by emailing Niki Harré () or Jamin Halberstadt ().
For updates and further information, please visit:
https://sasp.org.au/events/conference/sasp-2026-conference/