Conference Readings
Session 1: What is a University?
Alasdair MacIntyre, Three Rival Versions of Moral Enquiry (Chapter 10)
John Courtney Murray, We Hold These Truths (Chapter 5)
Report of the Harvard Committee, General Education in a Free Society (Chapter 2)
Session 2: What is Education?
Stanley Fish, Save the World on Your Own Time (Introduction & Chapter 1)
Jennifer Frey, “The Virtues of Liberal Learning”
Session 3: Challenges
Evan Mandery, Poison Ivy (Introduction & Chapters 1-2)
Chad Wellmon, After the University (selections)
Session 4: Possibilities
Sigal R. Ben-Porath, Cancel Wars (Chapter 5)
John Inazu, “Pluralism, Particularity, and Possibility”
Participants (selected works)
David Decosimo (UNC Chapel Hill, Philosophy)
“Why It’s Wrong to Protest at a Judge’s Home,” Boston Globe (May 14, 2022)
David French (New York Times)
Jennifer Frey (University of Tulsa, Philosophy)
“The Universe and the University,” The Point (August 15, 2021)
“This Is Who’s Really Driving the Decline in Interest in Liberal Arts Education,” New York Times (July 17, 2025)
Sara Hendren (Northeastern University, Art and Design)
John Inazu (WashU, Law)
Confident Pluralism: Surviving and Thriving through Deep Difference (2016)
“The Purpose (and Limits) of the University,” 5 Utah L. Rev. 943 (2018)
Learning to Disagree: The Surprising Path to Navigating Differences with Empathy and Respect (2024)
Elisabeth Rain Kincaid (Baylor University, Ethics)
Law from Below: How the Thought of Francisco Suárez, SJ, Can Renew Contemporary Legal Engagement (2024)
Frank Lovett (Washington University, Political Science)
The Well-Ordered Republic (2022)
Evan Mandery (John Jay College, Criminal Justice)
“They Wanted a University Without Cancel Culture. Then Dissenters Were Ousted.” Politico (Jan 16, 2026)
Roosevelt Montás (Bard College, Languages and Literature)
Rescuing Socrates: How the Great Books Changed My Life and Why They Matter for a New Generation (2021)
Johann Neem (Western Washington University, History)
Mary-Rose Papandrea (George Washington University, Law)
“The Free Speech Rights of University Students,” 101 Minn. L. Rev 1801 (2017)
“Law Schools, Professionalism, and the First Amendment,” 76 Stan. L. Rev. 1609 (2024)
Kavin Rowe (Duke University, Theology)
Abram Van Engen (Washington University, English)
Chad Wellmon (University of Virginia, German)
Other Recommended Readings
Herb Childress, The Adjunct Underclass: How America’s Colleges Betrayed Their Faculty, Their Students, and Their Mission (2019)
Andrew Delbanco, College: What It Was, Is, and Should Be (2012)
Charles Dorn, For the Common Good: A New History of Higher Education in America (2017)
Anthony Kronman, Education’s End: Why Our Colleges and Universities Have Given Up on the Meaning of Life (2008)
Stanley Hauerwas, The State of the University: Academic Knowledges and the Knowledge of God (2007)
John Henry Newman, The Idea of a University (1852)
Martha C. Nussbaum, Cultivating Humanity: A Classical Defense of Reform in Liberal Education (1998)
PEN America, Chasm in the Classroom: Campus Free Speech in a Divided America (2019)
Robert Post, Democracy, Expertise, and Academic Freedom: A First Amendment Jurisprudence for the Modern State (2013)
David Rabban, Academic Freedom: From Professional Norm to First Amendment Right (2024)
Brian Rosenberg, “Whatever It Is, I’m Against It”: Resistance to Change in Higher Education (2024)
Joan Wallach Scott, Knowledge, Power, and Academic Freedom (2019)
Brian Z. Tamanaha, Failing Law Schools (2012)
Keith E. Whittington, Speak Freely: Why Universities Must Defend Free Speech (2019)