Danielle Smith wants ideology 'balance' at universities. Alberta academics wonder what she's tilting at

From the exam-marking trenches to the ivory tower executive suites, Premier Danielle Smith has injected nervousness throughout Alberta's post-secondary sector.

It initially seemed her Bill 18, the Provincial Priorities Act, was intended to make her government play checkstop or gatekeeper whenever the federal government and mayors made deals without provincial involvement.

Then it became apparent that Smith's government would apply the same scrutiny to the higher-learning sector, and the premier's remarks made it clear she had federal research grants and notions of ideological «balance» in her targets.

«When the government of Alberta states that it wants to align research funding with provincial priorities, it risks colouring research coming from Alberta post-secondary institutions as propaganda,» wrote Gordon Swaters, a University of Alberta mathematics professor and academic staff association president.

«Students are caught in the UCP's forever war with Ottawa,» stated James Steele, head of the University of Calgary Graduate Students' Association.

Bill Flanagan chimed in on his University of Alberta president's blog Wednesday: «I will continue to do all I can to advocate for a regulatory framework that does not impede our ability to secure federal funding and operates in a manner consistent with the university's core commitment to academic freedom.»

An academic world, wondering jointly: what's Smith going to do?

It doesn't appear even she knows, not yet revealing any clear direction.

Campus improv night

Several signs, in fact, suggest that the UCP government did not initially conceive of the post-secondary realm to be a major player in this Bill 18 drama — at least, not until journalists began asking last week how those