Colleges have strayed from their higher purpose — now they are paying the price 

There was a time when colleges and universities had enough sense to stay in their lanes and focus on their historic mission to teach, learn and do research.  

That objective has been derailed over the years, with higher education institutions now smugly assuming they should indoctrinate the nation on a laundry list of sociopolitical hobby horses. That misguided and self-righteous repositioning has turned out to be a blunder of great proportion.  

Colleges and universities are now reduced to morally confused and pompous agencies of activism. These high-priced entities have become generally detached from the rational and practical aspects of the society these schools were established to serve. The offshoot is that colleges have effectively pulled the plug on free expression and inquiry. Free speech necessarily suffers in any culture in which the powerful have clearly established “correct” positions. 

Campuses across the country have erupted in chaos this spring as students follow their administrators’ lead in trying to force their opinions across the campus and into the broader society. Sure, the student demonstrations are more disruptive, messy and angry, but their objective of trying to demand acceptance of their ideas is consistent with dogmatic modeling that has been coming down from the higher education hierarchy for years.  

The befuddled administrators’ response to this current raucous student activism has been to hide behind a newfound commitment to an old idea called “institutional neutrality,” designed to prevent the politicization of universities. It was articulated in a 1967 report from the University of Chicago’s Kalven Committee. But administrators long ago abandoned that approach in favor of condescending crusaderism that assumed high-brow deans and provosts knew more than regular Americans. Thus, “the enlightened” could use their institutions to force conclusions instead of studying and deliberating on issues. 

Colleges like the idea of institutional neutrality for this particular moment in time, but they have been far from neutral on other hot-button topics in recent years.  

Whether it’s immigration, abortion, globalism, climate, gun rights, gender or diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), college administrators have been eager to express their approved opinions. Curricula reflect the campus mob mentality, as course titles and syllabi clearly show. Hiring practices make sure all employees, from professors to dorm coordinators to groundskeepers, salute the prevailing mindsets. “Diversity offices” keep an eye out for wayward thinkers, making sure everybody stays of one mind. 

Check out the list of invited speakers to any campus and odds are there will be no presenters with views contrary to the accepted campus dogma. And if an unapproved speaker does show up, be ready for shout-downs and disruption. 

The Kalven report warned colleges that to remain mission focused, the institutions must “maintain an independence from political fashions, passions, and pressures.” It further warned that “collective action on the issues of the day” would endanger “the conditions for its existence and effectiveness.” The report advocated for free inquiry and diversity of viewpoints. It concluded that a university cannot “permit itself to be diverted from its mission into playing the role of a second-rate political force or influence.” 

College presidents who have perched for years on the tops of ivory towers to espouse “political fashions” now suddenly find it difficult to argue back against student agitators. They have put up the smokescreen of institutional neutrality and tried to explain away disruptive behavior as free expression. This approach, of course, is not neutrality, but rather “institutional gutlessness.” 

It is little wonder that public confidence in higher education is in steep decline. A Gallup survey makes that point quite clear, and those results were tabulated before this spring’s turmoil. High school parents and their students have many reasons to doubt the value of an expensive college education. From bureaucratic bloat to vacuous degree programs, colleges have lost their way. 

College administrators have been misreading the market for years, stifling free speech at their respective campuses and wanting to become sociopolitical provocateurs. They are now holding a losing hand. A recent survey from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression indicates a majority of Americans disapprove of colleges taking stands on political fashions. It is, indeed, sad to see how American higher education has deteriorated under the condescending “leadership” of highly educated, but not very smart, administrators. 

Jeffrey M. McCall is a media critic and professor of communication at DePauw University. He has worked as a radio news director, a newspaper reporter and as a political media consultant.