The American university is in distress. Enrollment is declining, tenure is disappearing, administrative costs are ballooning, and public trust in academia is eroding. More concerning, however, is the deeper structural crisis that has transformed universities from bastions of knowledge into battlegrounds of ideological warfare and administrative overreach. At the heart of this crisis lies a fundamental shift: the weakening of faculty authority and the erosion of academic freedom, driven by political polarization and the corporatization of higher education.
University as a Culture War Battlefield
American universities have become ground zero for the nation’s ongoing culture wars.
Once seen as institutions dedicated to reason and empirical inquiry, universities now find themselves under attack from both the left and the right. Conservative politicians, emboldened by the populist distrust of “elites,” have sought to defund academic programs, impose ideological tests on tenure, and surveil faculty for perceived biases. State legislatures in Florida, Indiana, and Idaho, among others, have passed legislation directly forbidding types of speech, degrading tenure, and defunding programs that they find problematic. Meanwhile, postmodern academic currents, rooted in identity politics, have questioned the legitimacy of objective truth itself, sometimes using administrative mechanisms to censor dissenting voices.
The result? A climate where neither the political right nor left fully supports open inquiry.
Instead, faculty are squeezed between reactionary state legislatures that punish ideological nonconformity and progressive administrators who enforce ideological orthodoxy through “diversity, equity, and inclusion” mandates and speech codes. The once-proud tradition of shared governance between faculty and administration has been systematically dismantled in favor of top-down bureaucratic control, further weakening the university’s mission as a space for free intellectual exchange.
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The Administrative Takeover of Higher Education
Beyond ideological battles, a quieter yet equally destructive force is reshaping universities: administrative expansion.
Over the past several decades, the number of non-teaching university administrators has skyrocketed, often outnumbering faculty. Some institutions, such as Yale, now employ more administrators than undergraduate students.
Administrative growth has been accompanied by a shift in power, with university leaders exerting increasing control over hiring, research priorities, and even faculty speech. The rise of contingent faculty—part-time adjuncts and full-time lecturers without tenure protections—has further weakened faculty influence. Today, nearly 70 percent of faculty are in contingent positions, leaving them vulnerable to administrative retaliation and less able to engage in controversial or groundbreaking research.
At the same time, universities have embraced a corporate logic prioritizing profit over intellectual freedom. Online education, a lucrative industry, has become a tool for stripping faculty of curricular control, allowing universities to commodify and resell their intellectual labor while hiring adjuncts to deliver standardized content.
The Politicization of Science and Knowledge
The war on academia extends beyond the university walls. Public trust in science and higher education has become deeply polarized, with conservatives increasingly viewing scientists and professors as ideological threats. While professions like engineering and medicine still command public respect, professors have seen a sharp decline in perceived ethical standards, particularly among Republican respondents.
Meanwhile, once driven by scientific merit, federal research funding has been politicized. Under Democratic administrations, funding agencies like the National Science Foundation have prioritized research tied to diversity and inclusion, sometimes at the expense of scientific rigor. Under a potential second Trump administration, the pendulum could swing hard in the other direction, with funding decisions dictated by ideological loyalty rather than empirical merit.
The consequences of this politicization are dire.
When research funding and academic hiring are subjected to ideological tests—whether from the left or the right—the pursuit of knowledge becomes secondary to political expediency. Scientists self-censor, choosing “safe” topics that align with prevailing orthodoxies. Once the stewards of intellectual inquiry, faculty become employees subject to ideological litmus tests.
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The Future of the American University
If these trends continue, the American university as we know it will cease to exist. Without the protections of tenure, fewer scholars will dedicate themselves to research. Without academic freedom, knowledge will be curated and controlled by political and administrative interests. Without public trust, universities will struggle to maintain legitimacy in an increasingly anti-intellectual culture.
The threats are clear. Conservative legislatures are imposing political control over faculty hiring and curriculum decisions. Liberal administrators are using progressive policies to justify greater bureaucratic power. Federal funding agencies are prioritizing ideological agendas over scientific discovery. Wealthy donors are exerting influence over research priorities. Together, these forces are undermining the fundamental purpose of the university: the pursuit of truth.
To preserve the integrity of higher education, faculty must reclaim their authority. Universities must resist the bureaucratic bloat that has turned them into administrative fiefdoms. Politicians must stop using academia as a battleground for cultural grievances. Above all, we must reaffirm our commitment to academic freedom—because without it, the university is nothing more than a tool for power and propaganda.
Prometheus brought fire to humanity and was punished for it. Today, the American professoriate is chained to the rock, its autonomy and purpose under siege from all sides. The question remains: Will we fight to break free, or will we watch as the fire of knowledge is extinguished?
Image of Syracuse University – Hall of Languages After Dark by takomabibelot on Wikimedia Commons
Couldn’t agree more. We need to be able to support all areas of research and faculty instead of just the ones whose importance is measured on immediate impact to GDP or somebody’s political agenda. Otherwise it is just a propaganda business with our brightest youth as the primary target market.
As the late writer Midge Decter said long ago, as I recall: “Between the Left and the Right, there’s no where to go but down.” I think this was on her own way to the Right. I have to wonder whether she would go that way now. For what it’s worth, I’ve made the path to the Right, and then back into the sunshine, allegiant to neither side.
I doubt that the faculty have the spirit or capability to “reclaim their authority.” The people I see are in panic. Certainly there is now a real prospect of large and lasting damage very soon to science, I mean natural science. The NIH and especially the NSF seem to be in the deranged crosshairs of Musk and his pals.
I only hope that natural science will, if need be, move to more hospitable places, Europe, China, other homes. The U.S. has had a great run as the leader in modern science. Unfortunately, it may be ending now. Once leadership has been lost, it seems unlikely to return; just look at former leaders. Perhaps Europe collectively can do it.
Between our deranged presidency, the vindictive Republican legislators, the Democrats when they are in power again, if that is allowed; and the administration of academia, things really look bad.
One thing the faculty could do is broadcast that they are distinct from the university admistration class, and that they have distinct goals.