Occasionally, one’s lived experience is more than a simple personal story and is, instead, a paradigmatic example of a pervasive and hugely consequential societal malaise.

My recent decision to resign from senior fellowship in one of Canada’s finest and most venerable institutions following its establishment of a committee to supervise, curate, and “approve” my conference, “Antisemitism in Our ‘Free and Democratic Society’: A Canary’s Song,” offers up just such an opportunity. The institution is Massey College, situated on the University of Toronto’s campus.

The malaise is the replacement of truth-seeking by activism as the overriding mission of the academy. The most alarming indication of that malaise is the meteoric rise of anti-Zionism and its transformation from an ancient into a modern hatred—a transmutation—that has become both an established social science paradigm and comprehensive ideology.

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Peter L. Biro is a senior fellow with the Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy. To read the full column, click on The Hub.