Viewpoint Diversity in Higher Education Should Mean More Conservatives

Aseries of events running from the universities’ lackluster response to the October 7 attacks through the Trump administration’s battle against Harvard have brought higher education to a state of crisis. This has prompted needed self-reflection as university leaders ask themselves how their institutions can earn back the nation’s trust and preserve the independence and public support they have long enjoyed.

A commonly proposed reform is to increase viewpoint diversity among faculty. As the argument goes, higher education has turned into an intellectual monoculture. The lines between teaching, scholarship, and activism have blurred. Slant and censure in and out of the classroom have dampened the free exchange of opinions central to the university’s mission. This lamentable situation can be remedied via the fostering of a greater diversity of viewpoints that allows people to check one another’s biases, creating an environment more closely approximating a marketplace of ideas.

JS

About the Author

Jesse Smith

Jesse Smith is an incoming assistant professor at Ohio State University’s Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society.

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Aseries of events running from the universities’ lackluster response to the October 7 attacks through the Trump administration’s battle against Harvard have brought higher education to a state of crisis. This has prompted needed self-reflection as university leaders ask themselves how their institutions can earn back the nation’s trust and preserve the independence and public support they have long enjoyed.

A commonly proposed reform is to increase viewpoint diversity among faculty. As the argument goes, higher education has turned into an intellectual monoculture. The lines between teaching, scholarship, and activism have blurred. Slant and censure in and out of the classroom have dampened the free exchange of opinions central to the university’s mission. This lamentable situation can be remedied via the fostering of a greater diversity of viewpoints that allows people to check one another’s biases, creating an environment more closely approximating a marketplace of ideas.