Things should be what they are, in higher education as elsewhere. Colleges advertising a liberal-arts curriculum should immerse their students in literature, history, and philosophy. STEM giants such as Georgia Tech should provide, to the extent possible, world-class labs. Community colleges should offer affordable credits to local residents. The University of Alabama should teach football. (I’m joking. Mostly.)
This principle is particularly true for religious schools, which have a special obligation to be faithful to their stated purposes. Zaytuna College, a Muslim institution in California, should (and does) teach the Koran. Jewish Yeshiva University ought not to shill for “Palestine.” Christian colleges, buffeted by declining religiosity and the contempt of Democratic administrations, must take extraordinary care not to devolve into secularism. Do they? In some cases. Yet the story of Christian higher education in America is increasingly a narrative of faithlessness, compromise, and decline.
Read Full Article »