“After years of pronouncing on social and political events, from the murder of George Floyd to the Supreme Court’s decision on abortion, campus leaders suddenly found themselves tongue-tied in the wake of Hamas’s terror attack on Israel.”
The public’s response was fierce. Alumni and donors revolted, and lawmakers launched investigations. Americans were shocked by the hypocrisy.
McGuire asks, “How could university presidents condemn the criminal invasion of Ukraine but not the horrific massacre committed by Hamas of Oct. 7?”
Now schools have started refraining from taking official stances on controversial matters.
McGuire agrees with universities’ newfound respect for institutional neutrality. He says it “will help to solve the reputational crisis facing higher education.”
But universities must not stop at institutional neutrality, he writes. They must foster viewpoint diversity across their campuses.
“Otherwise, skeptical Americans will be justified in seeing neutrality as a face-saving measure to mask their ongoing ideological activities.”
Read the op-ed at TheHill.com.
