The Ivory Tower Lectures Us on Liberty. Seriously?

The real threat to higher ed is higher ed.

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It’s rich to hear lectures on liberty from institutions that blacklist speakers, purge dissenters, and punish unpopular views. Yet on 22 April 2025, that’s exactly what the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) shared with the world in the form of a public statement titled A Call for Constructive Engagement. 

Harvard Sues, AAC&U Whines

This conflict kicked off after the Trump administration’s move to withhold funding from Harvard over the treatment of Jewish students, to which Harvard answered with a lawsuit. In this video, Steven Pinker makes the case for constitutional concerns.

Pinker is a beloved figure, Jewish, and usually a guiding voice of rationality in an ocean of alarmism. He may be right about the legal technicalities–and thefire.org agrees–but it’s the job of the courts to sort that out. The problem of Executive Orders didn’t start back in January, but that’s another post.

This is where it all goes sideways.

Pinker would have us believe these actions are following the playbook of dictatorship.

If the Trump administration really is the fascist nightmare Pinker fears, it will suspend the court. Then all bets are off. We can all scream hair on fire.

Come on, history shows us a real dictator wouldn't bother with any of these moves. That’s not where we are.

In this statement, what Pinker fails to mention is Harvard’s own long, undeniable record of censorship, corruption, totalitarian behavior, ideological strong-arming, and history of anti-semitism.

It’s not like this is out of the blue, unprovoked one-sided aggression.

Even local periodicals have started noticing Harvard’s moral decay.

All this prompted the AAC&U’s letter.

Most Americans, busy cutting lawns, braiding hair, and working real jobs, would take one look at this letter and wonder: Who exactly is this supposed to impress?

It’s hard to imagine a more entitled and whining tone.

Let’s take a look at some highlights.

Higher Ed’s Hilarious Love Letter to Itself

As leaders of America’s colleges, universities, and scholarly societies, we speak with one voice against the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education. We are open to constructive reform and do not oppose legitimate government oversight. However, we must oppose undue government intrusion in the lives of those who learn, live, and work on our campuses.

If any of this were true, you’d think these colleges would have taken bold action by now. Heck, you’d think the AAC&U might have had the decency to retract its strategic plan calling for “promoting equity… in liberal education.”

By ‘equity’, are they hinting at enforced ideological conformity? The word is not clearly defined–and that’s no accident.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the AAC&U were clearer about that? Its strategic plan also mentions making a ‘model for institutional transformation’ without stating anything concrete other than that they will “Define institutional transformation.” One hopes it will achieve that by the end of 2027.

The letter continues:

Yet, American institutions of higher learning have in common the essential freedom to determine, on academic grounds, whom to admit and what is taught, how, and by whom. Our colleges and universities share a commitment to serve as centers of open inquiry where, in their pursuit of truth, faculty, students, and staff are free to exchange ideas and opinions across a full range of viewpoints without fear of retribution, censorship, or deportation.

Down south, they’d call this a knee-slapper. What I hear the AAC&U saying is academia likes its role as gatekeeper of both economic mobility and moral authority. Got it.

We could spend hours detailing the lack of viewpoints, culture of retribution, and censorship that define modern campuses. If we got tired, we could start reading the National Association of Scholars' (NAS) list of those affected by cancel culture. I could keep going with those I know who didn’t make that list but were harmed just the same, including myself, Lauren Holt, and Leslie Boyce.

Because of these freedoms, American institutions of higher learning are essential to American prosperity and serve as productive partners with government in promoting the common good. Colleges and universities are engines of opportunity and mobility, anchor institutions that contribute to economic and cultural vitality regionally and in our local communities. They foster creativity and innovation, provide human resources to meet the fast-changing demands of our dynamic workforce, and are themselves major employers. They nurture the scholarly pursuits that ensure America’s leadership in research, and many provide healthcare and other essential services. Most fundamentally, America’s colleges and universities prepare an educated citizenry to sustain our democracy.

Universities are an anchor, alright. Nearly 40% of students fail to finish their degrees, but they are saddled with debt nonetheless, while university administrators take home solid salaries.

You can’t claim fostering creativity and innovation while canceling speaking engagements, shouting down speakers, and creating a climate of self-censorship, especially among conservative students.

In 2004, Congress passed a Democrat-sponsored law requiring any educational institution receiving federal funds to teach about the U.S. Constitution on September 17, Constitution Day. Yet a 2021 survey of the highest-ranked Universities showed that barely half had programs, and even fewer of those programs had educational content.

Brown, Georgetown, and MIT were among those who came up short. Please, AAC&U, explain how. “America’s colleges and universities prepare an educated citizenry to sustain democracy.”

Resistance to Real Change: An Entrenched Problem

Former college president Brian Rosenberg highlights how bad the entrenched resistance to change is in his book, “Whatever it is, I’m Against It”: Resistance to Change in Higher Education. Therein he states:

The irony of defending the role of research by ignoring the research (that there is no positive correlation between research productivity and effective teaching skills) on this topic is exquisite… because it is emblematic of a widespread problem within higher education in the United States. The resistance to anything like serious change is profound.

Universities Want Your Money—But Not Your Questions

The AAC&U letter closes with this paragraph:

The price of abridging the defining freedoms of American higher education will be paid by our students and our society. On behalf of our current and future students, and all who work at and benefit from our institutions, we call for constructive engagement that improves our institutions and serves our republic.

Students and society are paying the price of a system of higher education that has gone off the rails and refuses to acknowledge the impending crash.

The AAC&U’s statement currently has over 500 signatures from College and University presidents, with rolling updates coming every few hours. 

Signatories include officers from Oberlin–well known for slandering local bakeries as racist, Evergreen State College–birthplace of mostly peaceful racialized riots, Sarah Lawrence College–welcome center of anti-semitism, and Columbia University–the heart of handwringing anti-semitism.

No Money for Moral Decay

However these court battles shake out—and Diogenes in Exile stands firmly for the rule of law—higher ed should consider themselves on notice: as long as its ‘freedom’ means teaching hate, silencing students, bloating costs, cranking out junk science, and gutting students’ constitutional rights, these institutions are entitled to neither taxpayer funds money nor respect.

Higher ed can whine and complain all it wants. Until it remembers what freedom means, it hasn’t earned respect–or a hot red taxpayer cent.

Right back at ya!

Further Reading

Accreditation on the Edge: Challenging Quality Assurance in Higher Education by Susan D. Phillips

A Call for Constructive Engagement - AAC&U

The AAC&U’s Strategic Plan

Lawless: The Miseducation of America's Elites by Ilya Shapiro

“Whatever It Is, I’m Against It”: Resistance to Change in Higher Education by Brian Rosenberg

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About

Diogenes in Exile began after I returned to grad school to pursue a Clinical Mental Health Counseling master’s degree at the University of Tennessee. What I encountered, however, was a program deeply entrenched in Critical Theories ideology. During my time there, I experienced significant resistance, particularly for my Buddhist practice, which was labeled as invalidating to other identities. After careful reflection, I chose to leave the program, believing the curriculum being taught would ultimately harm clients and lead to unethical practices in the field.

Since then, I’ve dedicated myself to investigating, writing, and speaking out about the troubling direction of psychology, higher education, and other institutions that seem to have lost their way. When I’m not working on these issues, you’ll find me in the garden, creating art, walking my dog, or guiding my kids toward adulthood.

You can also find my work at Minding the Campus