No Two Minds Alike: How Trustees Can Promote Intellectual Diversity

American universities ought to be places where intellectual diversity thrives, and students and faculty can freely express, debate, and research different ideas. Unfortunately, too many schools have abandoned these core principles by policing viewpoints that violate campus orthodoxies and hiring faculty from too narrow a range of perspectives. If American universities are to reclaim their status as places where students and faculty can freely pursue truth in service to our society, then systematic change must come.

ACTA hosted a webinar examining the importance of intellectual diversity in American higher education. Dr. Steven McGuire, ACTA’s Paul & Karen Levy Fellow in Campus Freedom, moderated the event. Panelists included William Inboden, executive vice president and provost at the University of Texas–Austin; John Tomasi, president of Heterodox Academy; and Ramsey White, trustee at the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill. They discussed the biggest challenges and opportunities for promoting intellectual diversity on campus, including reforming faculty hiring practices to ensure that universities do not become ideologically siloed or intellectually limited.