About a century ago, Europe was the centre of intellectual discourse. The Frankfurt School in the social sciences refers to the star-studded concentration of scholars in that German city before the Second World War. Building on a tradition established by early thinkers, they continued the custom of critical analysis on which many of the explanations of phenomena today are based.

Then, Europe turned dark. A counter-intellectual environment crept in, particularly in Germany, leading many of the scholars who were part of these discourses to flee to the free world. Of course, the free world then was the United States, which welcomed these intellectual refugees.

They moved in and continued the traditions they had carried over from Europe, and the result has been simply stunning for the US. American universities became centres of incubation, of excellence in scholarship, innovation and enterprise.

Not only did these universities excel in the tradition of generating explanations for phenomena, but years later, America would dominate the world with its creativity, much of it occurring on university campuses.

Many technologies that today dominate the world have emerged from university dormitories, garages around university campuses and seemingly absent-minded professors for whom the US provided an environment from which they could dream.

Thanks to this, we have social media platforms like Facebook and computers like Apple today. Thanks to the rigour at these university campuses, the internet and the platforms for hosting webpages preceded them all.

Over the last 100 years, America has risen to dominate the world. It is not clear whether the events of the recent past are changing the trajectory of American history. Prophets of the future are already pronouncing the end of history and noting that the old order is gone. Reports that university campuses in the US are increasingly becoming hostile to free-flowing thought characteristics of universities could be worrying.

It is probably too early to read too much into this; however, reports that American universities are increasingly intolerant of the free flow of thought could be indicative. In the past couple of weeks, it has been reported that the US government has held back nearly $400 million in funding for Columbia University.

The US government accused the university of being a centre of liberal thinking, what some have called west-leaning lunatics. Columbia is also charged with harbouring antisemitic sympathies. The university has promised to review its policies and practices.

However, Columbia is not the only university in trouble. Not too long ago, the presidents of the University of Pennsylvania and three other Ivy League universities were hounded out of their positions for not doing enough to stem liberalism. Nearly 50 others are under investigation in one form or another.

Those with a long history in Kenya are familiar with this journey. Half a century ago, the University of Nairobi was a hub of intellectual life in East Africa. That background allowed for the emergence of great literature and erudite student graduates.

Then, President Daniel Arap Moi’s government came to power and immediately developed a loathing for this free thinking at the university. Before long, established professors were running for their lives: Ngugi wa Thiongo, Anyang Nyongo, Atieno Odhiambo, Maina wa Kinyati, Micere Mugo – the list is long.

In their place emerged what later came to be known as politically correct professors. Most of them were apologists for the KANU regime. The university environment in Kenya has never been the same.

Universities in Europe and Canada are opening up to receive academics preparing to flee the conservative administration in the US. In some countries, such as France, the institutions are rolling out the red carpet in funding and teaching positions for these faculty.

The world, mainly Europe, has been trailing the US in innovation. Most leading technology companies that have reached one trillion dollars in value are US-based: Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Tesla. Could the wind be changing and the centre shifting? As they say in journalism, time will tell.

— The writer is the Dean of Daystar University’s School of Communication