The Opinionated University: Academic Freedom, Diversity, and the Myth of Neutrality in American Higher Education
Can a university ever truly be neutral in today’s social and political climate? Pushing against the tide of universities increasingly pledging to stay neutral about contentious issues, law professor Brian Soucek argues that their promises are doomed to fail—universities can’t help being opinionated.
Soucek says that neutrality is a myth, and he takes a deep dive into several prominent campus controversies of the day, including diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts and restrictions on campus speech and protest. Each issue requires universities to choose a side in what they do, if not also in what they say. In everything from curricular and admissions decisions to their response to outside rankings and their evaluation of faculty, universities express the values at the heart of their mission. Soucek argues that those pushing for neutrality are only preventing universities from standing up for their values, whether in today’s current moment of crisis or in periods of political calm.
Join us to discuss Soucek’s timely and deeply engaging call for universities to dispense with neutrality as a governing principle and to focus instead on what their mission should be, and who should determine it.
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In association with the American Constitution Society.
Brian Soucek
Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law, University of California, Davis; Author, The Opinionated University: Academic Freedom, Diversity, and the Myth of Neutrality in American Higher Education
In conversation with Henry “Hank” Reichman
Professor Emeritus of History, California State University, East Bay
Introduction by: George Hammond
Author, Conversations With Socrates
