Nature abhors a vacuum whether physical or moral. The equation of the modern university with “science”, which for most of the twentieth century constituted the prevailing intellectual reflex, created a moral vacuum embodied in the phrase “value neutrality.” Since no institution can long survive without some moral grounding, the abandonment of traditional liberal and religious commitments led not to “neutrality,” but to the ascendency of radically illiberal ideals. My reflections on this process and possible lines of remedy appear in “The Dubious Value of Value Neutrality,” in this week’s Chronicle Review..