Abstract

ExcerptAs we consider the recent turmoil at our colleges and universities, it seems nearly incomprehensible that college students, faculty, and many politicians have been supporting Hamas’s terrorism against Israel. The disconnect between the anti-Israel and the pro-Israel perspectives has revealed to the world both that there is a profound rift in our educational establishment and that what is happening is symptomatic of a larger problem that has grown over many decades. Since the problem has exceeded the limits of the academy and has begun to influence foreign affairs, in ways that have undermined allies such as Israel, and domestic policy, for instance in our approach to the freedom of speech, the problem of higher education is in fact a problem of our entire constitutional order. I would like to describe the problems at our colleges and universities, some of the causes, and possible strategies for reversing the deterioration of higher education.