Ariel Kaminer Sian Beilock, Jennifer L. Mnookin and Michael S. Roth
Jennifer Mnookin: I think that many universities, not all, but many, were for a period of time deeply focused on identity diversity, and really not so focused on viewpoint diversity or belief diversity. I think there’s a danger of a pendulum swinging too far in the other direction, and we need to worry about that. But I think universities should be spaces where ideas, and different ideas, embodied by people from different backgrounds, come together, and where it won’t always be comfortable, but where we will learn and do better from that engagement.
Roth: I do think this is a perilous moment for universities. I believe that Project 2025 makes very clear that the administration intends to capture higher education for ideological purposes. I do also believe that science can only be done at the level to which we’ve been accustomed through intense federal funding. But I would hate to see us pretend that the agenda of the White House, which is clearly laid out by its practitioners and by its officials, doesn’t exist.