"Beyond Academic Sectarianism"
21 June 2024 at 12:42
Political scientist Stephen Teles is a self-described "liberal institutionalist" who argues that "the university should be institutionally neutral" so that academia may pursue its "distinct competence: subjecting society's orthodoxies to empirical and theoretical scrutiny."
However, "American higher education has grown increasingly closed minded." The numbers of "conservative faculty ... are low and continue to fall. ...merit needs to co-exist with pluralismβ ββ a commitment to accepting diverse ways of studying reality and basic moral precepts. Liberal-institutionalist faculty members should be explicit in arguing that moderates and conservatives would enrich their intellectual communities." (As befits a discussion of academia, the argument is more nuanced than this summary might suggest.)
However, "American higher education has grown increasingly closed minded." The numbers of "conservative faculty ... are low and continue to fall. ...merit needs to co-exist with pluralismβ ββ a commitment to accepting diverse ways of studying reality and basic moral precepts. Liberal-institutionalist faculty members should be explicit in arguing that moderates and conservatives would enrich their intellectual communities." (As befits a discussion of academia, the argument is more nuanced than this summary might suggest.)