University: A Reckoning — Lee Bollinger on why universities matter

Universities have faced unprecedented assaults from the Trump administration, which has withheld billions of research dollars in an effort to exert influence and align the institutions with their political agenda. President Trump and his allies allege that the universities are fostering antisemitism and forcing students into progressive ideological indoctrination. Lee Bollinger, former president of Columbia — one of the universities that has faced attacks — argues that what the White House is doing is more akin to authoritarian tactics to silence free speech and bring academic freedom to heel. In his new book, “University: A Reckoning,” Bollinger offers a defense of higher education as vital to the success of the United States and a healthy democracy.

Join us for a conversation with Bollinger moderated by Morning Edition host Tiziana Dearing. Copies of the book will be available to purchase from our bookstore partner Brookline Booksmith.

About “University: A Reckoning”

From perhaps the most important university leader of the 21st century, an account of the university in the age of authoritarianism and a new case for its place in the American system.

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, with the press diminished, the university remains the only 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.

Ways To Save

WBUR’s Legacy Circle, Murrow Society, Sustainers and Members save $5.00 on tickets to this event. To apply the discount to your ticket purchase online, you’ll need to enter a promo code. You can get your code by emailing [email protected].

Registrants may be contacted by CitySpace about this or future events.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher WBUR CitySpace