How did universities transform from bastions of liberal education to its opposite? Was this a revolutionary change, erupting seemingly overnight?
In a recent report for the American Enterprise Institute, Robert Manzer argues that the universities have been on a long path to illiberalism, and that the present moment is actually the culmination of a decades-long assault on the institution of the prerogatives and autonomy of the college faculty. The university’s trajectory to illiberalism has been driven by accreditation agencies, which have shifted from their traditional role of quality assurance to political activism, undermining faculty prerogatives in the process. Turning the university away from illiberalism will require political and regulatory intervention of accreditation.
This event will feature Robert Manzer, the President of the American Academy for Liberal Education, an alternative college accreditor. Previously, he cofounded the ed-tech company Acadeum and served as Vice President for Academic Affairs at St. Edward’s University, Dean of Arts and Sciences at Ohio Northern University and Dean of University College at Nebraska Wesleyan University.
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