University: A Reckoning - Hardcover

by Lee C. Bollinger (Author)

The American university--one of the most successful institutions in human history--is facing an unprecedented assault from the president of the United States. Experts on authoritarianism have drawn comparisons to Turkey and Hungary, where strongmen subdued universities as part of their power grabs. Yet as former Columbia president Lee C. Bollinger points out in his powerful account of the university's significance, in such dire times one has no choice but to state clearly and forcefully what one stands for.

Defenses of the university usually emphasize the practical benefits it offers to society: highly skilled graduates who can thrive in an information-saturated world; scientific research that leads to important advances in health; technological breakthroughs that contribute to the American economy being the envy of the world. Bollinger offers a more original, and more sweeping, account. He reveals how the structure of the university contributes to the success of the American system--because it provides those who study and work within it a degree of creative freedom hard to find elsewhere--and why that structure is both impossible to re-create and vulnerable to outside attack. The fundamental mission of the university is to enhance knowledge, but this is not merely a high-minded idea. It is, as Bollinger demonstrates, a notion rooted deeply in the Constitution, specifically the First Amendment, the basis of our political and social life. The university helps realize the First Amendment; the First Amendment helps make the university.

Bollinger argues that, in a challenging era for the business of journalism, the university remains an essential source of truth-seeking for those who still believe in democracy. The stakes are self-evident: The university must be defended if the American experiment is to continue.

Back Jacket

This is a moment of grave significance if you care about universities and believe, as I do, that they are one of the wonders of the modern world. When you are under attack, however, one clear benefit is that you are forced to dig deeper and be clearer in your own mind about what you believe and why you believe it to be true. You can see vividly that the fortifications and barriers erected in the past to protect our values are now clearly insufficient. The premise of this book is that we need to consider, not just react to, the current attacks and plan for a better future, a more secure nation and world. We can see how unprepared we have been at every level, from the university to the U.S. Constitution itself. --from the Introduction