Former Education Secretary Bill Bennett reacts to ongoing protests on college campuses and statements from Biden’s education secretary on the unrest.

I have been a vocal critic of university administrators who seem unable or unwilling to maintain order on their campuses, and particularly those who struggle to use plain language about the difference between right and wrong. I have also questioned whether our "elite" universities really earned or deserve that status when, increasingly, they have become engines for indoctrination on only one side of the political spectrum. It remains to be seen whether their latest time in the spotlight with the vitriol of anti-Americanism and antisemitism will produce needed change.

But while acknowledging that these are real problems that demand attention, it would be very wrong to let this moment devolve into the ugliness of anti-intellectualism or a crude attack on American higher education generally and its mostly positive history.

It is a fact that America’s global dominance in the 20th Century was powered in very significant part by our universities. From the Manhattan Project to the eight million veterans who were educated under the GI Bill, America’s universities led the way. Today, American universities are without equal in science and technology research, and the fruits of that ripple across our society and economy. For example, if you or one of your loved ones ever received lifesaving medical treatment or medicine, you can bet that it emerged from a laboratory at an American university.

Consider also the importance and influence of American higher education on our export economy. To paraphrase a recent Forbes article, America’s two greatest exports are Hollywood and higher education. International students contribute about $40 billion in annual revenue........

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