Good evening, everyone:

So many of you responded to John Fry’s Investiture speech and my distillation of Lee Bollinger’s talk about the role of higher education in the tumult of national events that I thought I might offer a brief follow-up. Kathy Ko-Chin called my attention to a remarkable opinion piece in The New York Times entitled “I’m Cornell’s President. We’re Not Afraid of Debate and Dissent,” written by Dr. Michael Kotlikoff.

Dr. Kotlikoff begins by describing the University’s decision to convene a panel discussion among Israeli and Palestinian voices, held in front of an in-person, open-to-all audience. Kotlikoff had written to the student body stating that the event sought to demonstrate

[That free and open discussion] is the antidote to corrosive narratives – [an opportunity] to see and respect other views, work together across differences and conceive of solutions to intractable problems.”

The university was prepared for the protests that followed. As Kotlikoff notes: “The few students and staff members who had come only to disrupt were warned, warned again, and then swiftly removed. They now face university discipline.” But the event played to its conclusion. He writes:

If Cornell were a business, we might have called the event a failure: The news coverage displayed only the disruption, and ignored the rest. Fortunately for our students, Cornell is not a business. We are a university. And universities, despite rapidly escalating political, legal and financial risks, cannot afford to cede the space of public discourse and the free exchange of ideas.

Lee Bollinger made the case that it is the fundamental role of universities to preserve, protect, and advance the pursuit of inquiry, knowledge, and democratic norms. Kotlikoff echoes that view, quoting the president of Johns Hopkins, Ronald Daniels:

[Colleges and universities are] “institutions committed to freedom of inquiry, to the contestation of ideas through conversation and debate, to the formation of communities that gather and celebrate a diverse array of experiences and thought, and to individual flourishing achieved through diligent study.

Kotlikoff goes on:

Democracies are not silent places, and neither are universities. . .  There are some who feel justified in violating norms of respectful interaction, who seek to advance their own agendas by silencing individuals and ideas with which they disagree. When that happens, we respond in ways that protect the rights of all to speak and learn.

What is key to our commitment to open inquiry is ensuring that all voices — from every point on the political spectrum — can be heard. When student groups invite controversial speakers to campus, we don’t intervene and we don’t weigh in, as long we are confident the events can be held safely.

I’m reminded of when then-president Bollinger acquiesced to the Columbia University faculty’s speaking invitation in 2007 to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Lee agreed to introduce the president. But his introduction was a scathing rebuke, stating that the Iranian president’s policies and rhetoric were reprehensible. Calling particular attention to Ahmadinejad’s Holocaust denials, Lee observed that these views would ensure Ahmadinejad was seen as a petty, cruel, and ignorant dictator. It created a firestorm. Lee was both praised for his candor and integrity and criticized for not being a gracious host. But nobody could doubt his commitment – or the commitment of the institution he was charged with stewarding – to free speech.

Kotlikoff concludes with the observation about how very difficult it is now to be a university president  

A messy event that turns into viral videos causes understandable concern to trustees and alumni, and adds more fuel to already burning fires. But if we are to preserve our value and our meaning, we cannot let our caution overtake our purpose. Our colleges and universities are cradles of democracy and bulwarks against autocracy. Only by defending democratic values and norms and educating our students to carry them forward in all their complexity and challenge will we safeguard the future of our institutions — and our nation.

We desperately need academic leaders like Kotlikoff (and John and Lee). I can only hope that others of his colleagues will take his message to heart even as the heat is turned up by the day.  

Rip

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