Christopher L. Eisgruber:
Yes, I think if you look back at American history, one of the important developments in making America’s research universities the strongest in the world was this partnership that originated around World War II.
The United States government recognized that by asking research universities to perform research on behalf of the American people and the American government, it could strengthen our economy, improve our health, increase the security of the country by making us a world leader in innovation. And it has.
But, in doing so, the government also became a uniquely powerful patron of all these universities. It was supplying large amounts of dollars to universities. And this partnership created a kind of interdependence. For decades, leaders and politicians, government officials from both parties respected the academic freedom of those universities.
And that’s what’s made our universities so great. What concerns me so deeply about what’s happening at Columbia and elsewhere right now is that the government seems to be using that funding stream to force concessions that are violations of academic freedom.
