J.D. Vance stood behind the podium at the National Conservatism Conference three years ago as a U.S. Senate candidate and exclaimed, “We have to honestly and aggressively attack the universities in this country.” He was met with applause.
Vance, a graduate of The Ohio State University and Yale University, was fresh on the political scene with a streak of blunt tenacity. Universities, he claimed, were adversarial to conservative values and stifled free thought.
Most importantly, according to Vance, universities “control” knowledge and truth.
To underscore the sentiment, the end of Vance’s speech directly echoed Richard Nixon’s five simple words from 1972, claiming the importance of the quote’s “wisdom”: “The professors are the enemy.” This serves as a reminder. The American right’s critique and condemnation of universities has long been a part of modern history — and it hasn’t been abandoned.
Nixon’s quote came amidst the domestic political unrest during the Vietnam War, a time in which many American universities were deeply involved in protest. Before that, the era of McCarthyism put a microscope on many professors, and often inaccurately, accused of communist sympathies.
History has shown us academic suppression.
From the blacklists of McCarthy to the book burnings of Nazi Germany, it’s always centered around what Vance said himself: control. And even though Vance’s speech was three years ago, it’s more relevant today than ever.
Universities have been framed as “Marxist indoctrination camps,” only interested in promoting liberal ideologies. The recent removal of DEI programs has caused an eruption of chaos, uncertainty and distrust within our nation’s most accredited universities.
That chaos is the attack against universities in this country. The removal of funding, even the threat of doing so, undermines academic freedom and institutional stability.
At the heart of all this, academia is the scapegoat for a liberal society; it always has been. Feminism, diversity values and progressive thought are all traced back to universities because, after all, that’s where the young people go.
On the surface, the right has a fear of academia. Underneath that, really, is a fear of change, complexity and loss of control.
These are all facts of life in academia and, really, everywhere. Our understandings are constantly shifting and dominant narratives or ways of thought can be continuously reassessed — that is the beauty and freedom of academia.
But J.D. Vance gets it wrong. Universities certainly lead the societal intellectual conversation, but they don’t — and can’t — control truth and knowledge itself.
No one can. And sometimes it seems like the right wishes it could.
There’s an understandable hesitance to the elitism surrounding university campuses. A degree costing thousands of dollars is unattainable for many, and academics are certainly imperfect when it comes to the accessibility of knowledge.
Additionally, liberals are easily overrepresented on college campuses across the board. Conservative students often feel they have to self-censor, and many conservative faculty fear backlash for their beliefs.
If this is the concern, though, the solution is not taking universities’ feet right out from under them. Sending these academic institutions — as liberal as they may be — into a spiral will only create further division and dysfunction.
What’s wrong is the right feels as if it’s getting left behind. Or, more specifically, like their values, the way they understand the world, is getting left behind.
However, in order for a society to move forward, for us to thrive, it’s necessary for things to change. For thought to change.
And what is more familiar with shifting thought than academia?
Professors are likely the most-equipped individuals to engage with truth and knowledge. There’s an understanding that truth is only to be found, rather than created, controlled or otherwise.
The notion that the United States’ political and social systems have systematically oppressed Black Americans resulting in lasting impacts on modern society is the truth, backed by countless facts and accounts. No academic created that truth: It simply is reality.
To be able to approach truth, you must be open to it in the first place, whatever it may look like.
Academia doesn’t have the perfect hold on truth. That’s why scholars argue about it all the time. But, if I can guess one thing for sure, a group of professors is more likely to grasp it than a kiss-the-ring politician.
Rather than being an institution of control, the university is an institution of challenge and debate, a necessary component of a democracy. Demonizing and suppressing academia is inherently dangerous, not only to the institutions themselves but to the livelihood of a democratic society.
An uneducated society — or at least a society without reverence for intellectual curiosity and debate — is an endangered society.
The right’s attempt to plunge universities into a state of chaos and force them to roll on their backs to cater to the ideological demands of the government creates a dangerous precedent.
Acting on fear of what doesn’t align with ideological or personal narratives will only stunt innovation and jeopardize democracy. If we really want to encourage free thought, banning words and threatening universities isn’t particularly the way to go.
American academia needs to change; it’s becoming increasingly clear. Fostering ideological diversity is crucial, but there have to be stable, respected institutions where that diversity can grow. “Attacking” and sowing fear in universities will do the opposite.
Marie Curie, a pioneering physics professor, once spoke of “understand[ing] more, so that we may fear less.” It’s time for us to create more space in universities for understanding diverse perspectives. And, on the other hand, it’s also essential to be open to understanding the truths academia nobly seeks.
Truth has never been about power. It’s about courageous discovery.
I urge you to shy away from cowardice.
