> This academic silence also comes after many universities course-corrected following years of administrators weighing in on global and political events outside

> This academic silence also comes after many universities course-corrected following years of administrators weighing in on global and political events outside a school's basic mission. When that practice finally caused problems for institutions, as it did following the Gaza/Israel fighting, numerous schools adopted a posture of "institutional neutrality" and stopped offering statements except on core university concerns. This may be wise policy, but unfortunately, schools are clinging to it even though the current moment could not be more central to their mission. > ... > In an age of polarization, parts of society have grown skeptical about the value of higher education. Some of these people are your friends, family, and neighbors. And that's why the universities are weak, and I don't think the kind of maximum resistance the article advocates for will work. It will just make the universities seem more sectarian, when that sectarianism is at the root of the problem. It's a fantasy that Trump and MAGA can be defeated by doubling down on the same partisan and sectarian attitudes that both lead to him and failed to contain him. An actual effective response will need an extreme broadening of the tent in a way that should alienate the most extreme partisans (because, for one, that proves the attempt at tent-broadening isn't a sham).