Another chaotic school year has ended at universities, and the graduates have danced across the stage waving diplomas that are shrinking in significance. Here’s hoping college administrators find time during their leisurely summer breaks to recognize their roles in diminishing the academy, largely because they have lost a commitment to rigorous truth-seeking that can only happen when ideas are freely debated.

Americans should all be concerned about the sad condition of higher education. Confidence in these previously esteemed institutions has cratered. Perhaps the saddest aspect of this decline is that the supposed intellectuals in charge of these colleges and universities have created this crisis themselves. “Enlightened” administrators and boards of trustees have mismanaged what should be among the most productive and joyful places on earth. The root cause of this growing catastrophe is the utter abandonment of higher education’s commitment to free expression and free inquiry.

Oh, sure, college administrators still pay lip service to the principle of free expression, but they really don’t seem to mean it. They hope their bold paper pronouncements about free speech will be sufficient sleight of hand to distract sensible students, their parents, alumni and employers. These constituencies, however, have figured out that academic cultures determined to push indoctrination are incapable of preparing graduates who can think critically and function effectively in today’s complex world.

The focus of any college or university should be to advance knowledge through intellectual inquiry. That can only happen when free, wide-ranging debate and expression are allowed to examine all perspectives and evidence.........

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