Dr. Marc Spooner

In Episode 75, Dr. Nicholas Ng-A-Fook hosts Dr. Marc Spooner, Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Regina. His research examines audit culture, academic freedom, the neoliberalization and corporatization of higher education, social justice, activism, and participatory democracy. Dr. Spooner has published extensively across academic and public forums. He is co-editor, with James McNinch, of the award-winning Dissident Knowledge in Higher Education (2018) and the recently published Knowledge Under Siege: Charting a Future for Universities (2026), both published by University of Regina Press. Our conversation begins with Dr. Spooner’s formative experiences in teacher education, graduate studies, student governance, and political activism at the University of Ottawa, where he learned to connect critical theory with collective action. We discuss the role of universities in sustaining democratic societies, the importance of academic freedom, tenure, union advocacy, and community-engaged scholarship, and the growing pressures of chronic underfunding, performance-based funding, political intervention, and corporate managerialism. Drawing on Knowledge Under Siege, we consider how universities have historically reproduced colonialism, exclusion, and institutional inequalities while also providing spaces for resistance, intellectual freedom, and social transformation. Dr. Spooner also reflects on the expanding influence of private consultants in reshaping higher education and the importance of Indigenous and decolonial knowledges, public engagement, and collective advocacy in imagining more equitable futures for universities. Throughout our conversation, we return to a central question: What are universities for, and how might we reimagine their responsibilities toward democracy, social justice, and the public good? Listeners can access the free, open-access PDF of Knowledge Under Siege: Charting a Future for Universities through University of Regina Press and CBC Ideas podcast episode.