But at its heart, performance-based funding is not only a budgetary tool—it’s a statement of belief about what public institutions should be and how they should operate. About 40 years ago, with the rise of neoliberalism, universities across North America increasingly became subject to the demands of economic and market rationalities. The modern European version of advanced learning was the teaching and research university, born in Germany and greatly influenced by Alexander von Humboldt’s ideas. The work to retain a public, comprehensive teaching and research university is vital to the province and the ship’s course can be corrected. If universities do not stand up for truth, critical thinking, reason, and the public good, they risk becoming quiet tools of a loud and dangerous agenda.