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Many will feel an immediate impulse to answer in the affirmative. Universities should be places of exploration and discovery. They should foster lively intellectual exchange. They should create a space in which people feel emboldened to pursue the truth to surprising or unexpected places, potentially moving against the grain of the surrounding culture. These goods can only be realized in an environment where scholars and students enjoy some measure of freedom. That sounds like an open society.

On further reflection, complications arise. Some freedom is needed for discovery and debate, but what happens when a sizable contingent of society wants to shut down debate? Are they welcome too? Certain qualities, such as honesty, intellectual curiosity, and a genuine concern for truth, are vital for a healthy scholarly culture. Universities may need to be “closed” to individuals who clearly lack those qualities. Then there are questions about formation and cultivation. If universities seek to educate students, forming their minds in salutary ways, might they not need to be discerning about which faculty will be equal to that task? But a society that carefully chooses worthy members is surely “closed” in some meaningful ways.

This forum is adapted from a live debate hosted on the campus of the University of Austin (UATX). Four faculty members offered their views on whether, and in what ways, the university should be a free society. The participants diverged somewhat in their attitudes towards openness. All agreed, however, that the university must continually strive to facilitate the pursuit of truth.

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Law and Constitutionalism

Constitutional Government After Chevron by Adam White
How might the judicial, executive, and legislative landscape change in a post-Chevron world? (A forum lead essay written just before the Loper Bright decision also featuring contributions from Christopher Walker, Michael S. Greve, and John O. McGinnis.)

Constitutional Imagination in the “Long Founding” by Aaron N. Coleman
Alison LaCroix’s new book reveals the vibrant debates over federalism and the Constitution in the years before the Civil War.

A Scholar-Justice by John O. McGinnis
Contrary to accusations that Amy Coney Barrett is drifting left, she is doing the hard work of building up the originalist legal culture.

Political Theory and Public Philosophy

Toward a Politics of Truth by Aaron Zubia
The politics of truth affirms the order of human nature and our civilizational heritage.

Do We Need a “Politics of Truth”? by Phillip A. Wallach
Politics is its own sort of endeavor in free societies, quite distinct from either utility maximization or truth-seeking. A response to Zubia.

Why We Need Gardeners by Brian Lee Crowley
Gratitude and humility are more important to a conservative outlook than plans and “first principles.”

Politics and Policy

Hayek Among the Post-Liberals by Rachel Lu
The past two decades on the American right have been an extended exercise in mapping out Hayek’s road to serfdom.

Lowering the Temperature by John G. Grove
It would require far more than just a change in rhetoric. (Written just after the Trump assassination attempt in Butler, PA)

The Perils of Pure Populism by Mark Pulliam
Despite the Supreme Court’s turn against racial preferences, special interests in California seek to gut the state’s non-discrimination protections.

Economics

Rebooting Market Liberalism in a Populist Age by Samuel Gregg
Advocates of the free market must build their themes into wider messages about the need for political and social renewal.

Still Trudging Towards Serfdom by Richard M. Reinsch II
Eighty years after its initial publication, Hayek’s masterpiece still resonates.

Understanding the Unseen by Dominic Pino
Journalists are often quite good at seeing and describing things, but they are bad at economics, a science of things unseen.

Culture

A Comedy of Bureaucratic Errors by G. Patrick Lynch
Slow Horses is a spy thriller worthy of Gordon Tullock.

A Comedian of Order by Titus Techera
Bob Newhart was someone modern Americans especially need: a funnyman with dignity.

Plutarch’s Gift by Rebecca Burgess
By blending Greek and Roman traditions into a single, inspiring work, Plutarch persuaded countless thinkers and statesmen that there was a “Graeco-Roman” tradition worth preserving.

History

Are We Focused on the Wrong Rome? by Jonathan Leaf
The comparison between the decline of the Roman Empire and the contemporary United States is misplaced.

How (Not) to Study Hitler by Max J. Prowant
The new documentary’s loud dog whistles equating Adolf Hitler and Donald Trump betray a desperation that goes beyond the limits of acceptable bias.

Into the Reactionary Abyss by James M. Patterson
Some critiques of contemporary liberalism are worth our consideration, but those rooted in antisemitism, conspiracism, and authoritarianism are not.

International Affairs

China as It Is by David P. Goldman
Americans imagine that inside every Chinese person is an American struggling to get out. But China defies Western categories.

Affirm NATO’s High Performers by Kennedy Lee
Communicating a lack of commitment to NATO will harm allies who have done everything we’ve asked.

The Return of Great Power Competition by Jerry Hendrix
A multipolar world order is emerging, and America must prepare to meet it. (The lead essay from our July forum, also featuring essays by William Ruger, Max Prowant, Christopher Parry, and David P. Goldman.

Society

An Honest Diversity Statement by James Hankins
Sometimes diversity is our strength, but more often it isn’t.

A Liberal and Civic Education for All by J. Michael Hoffpauir
In a liberal democracy, civic education is a salutary part of liberal education. (Part of a forum led by Paul O. Carrese.)

Merit, Inclusion, and Raygun at the Olympics by Helen Dale
Raygun emerged from a tradition that does not enshrine excellence. That tradition is the academy.

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