Laurentian University and the Collapse of Western Civilisation:Part 1

I’ve written over half a million words across articles and books, covering topics from artificial intelligence to history, religion, and philosophy. But this short two-part series on Laurentian University is the most important work I’ve done. These essays confront the deep socio-economic and legal challenges now facing much of Western civilisation.

As an opening remark, many Canadians believe that current issues like transgenderism, Marxism, or Post-Modernism are recent phenomena that have only seized control of the culture since 2020. However, this is not the case. These so-called ideologies have been creeping through Canadian academia since at least the 1980s. We’re only now beginning to feel their full effect — not as isolated disruptions, but as part of a broader collapse of Western Civilisation, or more precisely, a general attitude best described as “who cares.”

I turn now to the crux of the matter. It is important for any Canadian—or any member of Western civilisation—to understand this central truth: After the family, education has the second biggest influence on an individual and in consequence, society as a whole. The university is where our national leaders are formed, shaped, and selected. Whether they’re high school teachers, judges, or social policy administrators, nearly all pass through the academic system.

A deeper problem runs through Canadian universities and, more broadly, through Western society itself. To help make this clear, I’ll refer to a personal experience—altering one small historical detail for the sake of clarity.

In 1996, I enrolled at Laurentian University, hoping to earn an undergraduate degree in sociology. But my professors wouldn’t mark my papers, and one of them — Peter Suschnigg — flat-out told me, “We’re not going to give you your degree because we don’t know where you stand on the issues.” In the end, I never got my degree.

However, there was one final exchange between myself and Professor Suschnigg that always stuck with me. I had proposed Félicité de Lamennais as the focus of a four-year thesis project. The idea was simple: I wanted to explore the positive impact Christianity had on Western Civilisation, using the works of the Frenchman Félicité de Lamennais as my foundation.

The reaction from Peter Suschnigg was violent, derogatory, and disgusting, to say the least. That said, during the exchange, the professor made a statement that I was unable to answer: “Sean,” he said, “Who cares about these books. Millions of people have never read these books, and they live just fine.”

In a sense, Professor Suschnigg is correct. Millions of people, if not billions, have never read the Christian Gospels, Thomas Aquinas, or Felicite De Lamennais, and they live just fine. With or without reading the Christian Gospels, millions of Canadians eat, sleep, work and die.

But the point must be made. When Peter Suschnigg says, “who cares about these books,” he is not just dismissing Christianity or theology. He is dismissing the entire continuity of Western civilisation: Shakespeare’s plays that shaped our language of tragedy and justice, Mozart’s music that defined harmony and order, Hemingway’s novels that taught us restraint and courage, Michelangelo’s Pietà that still whispers the dignity of suffering. These works are not mere ornaments; they are the memory of a civilisation. To lose them is not simply to change religions, but to abandon the shared moral habits and collective outlook that allows Western civilisation to function. If Canadians are taught that it makes no difference whether they read Shakespeare or the Koran, Michelangelo or modern propaganda, then the very soul of the West — not only its memory, but its moral foundation, and the very ideas that frame and structure society — has been destroyed.

This experience I had was in 1996. Fast forward to 2026, and we are now feeling the effects of this general attitude of “who cares,” which has shaped two generations.

For example, the Toronto School Board has recently hosted a “Celebrate Ramadan” day, and organized a field trip to a local mosque, where grade-school children are taught the wonders of Islam. In addition, pro-Palestinian literature can now be found throughout the Canadian school system — from grade school all the way to graduate school.

Thus, if we return to Professor Suschnigg and his attitude — “who cares” if millions of people have never read the Christian Bible or Ernest Hemingway — the end result is a society that shrugs and says “who cares” if Canadians learn about the Koran or any other religion. In other words, as long as the average Canadian can eat, sleep, work, and die, does it really matter if he studies Jesus Christ or the Prophet Mohammed?

We can now take it a step further with this general attitude of “who cares.” Since 2015, Canada has added over 7 million citizens — almost none of whom are Christian or have any interest whatsoever in Thomas à Kempis or The Imitation of Christ. Yet they are brought in to eat, sleep, work, boost GDP, pay taxes, and die.

The "who cares" ethos, voiced by Professor Suschnigg in 1996, exposes a corrosive indifference eroding Western civilization's foundations. Dismissing core texts like the Christian Gospels or Shakespeare's works isn't mere apathy — it's the abandonment of shared moral habits, cultural memory, and societal structure that enable the West to thrive. Laurentian University exemplifies this decay: from denying my degree to its 2021 bankruptcy.

In the end, I suppose the Laurentian University professor was correct. What difference does it make if the Canadian soul — or the soul of Western Civilisation — is replaced by any other religion or culture, as long as tax revenue is collected and the nation’s bills are paid? Who cares?