Three Yale University professors have reportedly moved to the University of Toronto in response to the Trump administration's significant cuts to US research funding. This migration underscores the growing concern among academics over politically driven funding policies and highlights U of T's emerging role as a refuge for scholars facing authoritarian pressures.

On October 30, 2024, the University of Toronto hosted a discussion with political scientists Janice Stein and Lucan Way to address the rising threat of authoritarianism in the U.S., fostering dialogue on democratic resilience.

On March 1, 2024, the University of Toronto provided an update on its ongoing collective bargaining negotiations with five CUPE bargaining units. The update emphasized the university’s commitment to reaching negotiated renewal agreements while preparing for potential strike actions, ensuring the rights of unionized employees and academic continuity.

The Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto released a report detailing how Netsweeper’s internet filtering technology is being used by a range of authoritarian regimes to censor content, including news, LGBTQ+ content, political campaigns, and more. The report calls on the Canadian government to regulate the export of such technology to protect free speech and human rights.

Researchers at the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab published a report detailing how WeChat employs differential censorship policies, targeting Chinese accounts and blocking notifications of censored messages. The report provides transparency into the authoritarian controls imposed on digital communication platforms.

An open letter dated August 31, 2021, from UTFA President Terezia Zorić and other university officials urged University of Toronto President Gertler to denounce the Council of Ontario Universities’ lobbying efforts to exempt universities from indoor occupancy limits, arguing that such moves undermine public health and safety during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Researchers at the University of Toronto published a study revealing that food industry interactions with the government on Bill S-228 vastly outnumbered those by non-industry stakeholders. The study highlights how over 80% of the lobbying interactions, including meetings with high-ranking government officials, were conducted by industry, prompting calls for increased transparency and a rebalancing of influence in public health policy.

A study conducted by University of Toronto researchers revealed that food industry lobbying interactions with government far outnumbered those from public health and non-profit sectors on Bill S-228, underscoring the heavy corporate influence in the policy process and calling for greater transparency in governmental consultations.