I had the pleasure this week of visiting the University of Northern British Columbia in Prince George, B.C. It’s a beautiful campus where the buildings feature exposed wood and a lot of natural light. I was there to speak with academics who are interested in writing for The Conversation. On my trip up the long hill that leads to UNBC, there was a sign that warned drivers to be on the lookout for moose that could be crossing the road. And when I got there, I heard staff and professors tell tales about occasionally seeing bears around the university. As someone with familial roots in Northern Ontario, I could relate.

The academic year is winding down, so there weren’t a lot of students on campus at UNBC. I asked the people I was meeting with if there had been any protests like the ones currently taking place on campuses across Canada and the United States. There hadn’t. In fact, the biggest worry among university staff was the coming wildfire season. Emergency planning is already underway in the event that one of UNBC’s campuses (they have several across the region) is impacted by fires that have ravaged British Columbia over the last few summers.

There’s a different kind of fire burning at other universities. Tensions are raw as protesters supporting Palestinians in Gaza have occupied several universities over the last week. The protests have rekindled a number of issues: when does free speech become hate speech; the challenge of having difficult discussions in a polarized society; should universities bring in police to deal with protesters?

We’ve published a number of stories this week about the unrest on university campuses. As always, we’ll leave it to other media outlets to tell you what is happening. We attempt to offer insights on why it’s happening, what can be done to bring down the tensions and why, in many cases, the current protests are reminiscent of student demonstrations from the 1960s.

Have a good weekend. We’ll be back in your Inbox on Monday.