Universities Can’t Pursue Truth Without Viewpoint Diversity.
By Jonathan Haidt and John Tomasi
As the president of Heterodox Academy (Tomasi) and as co-founder of the organization (Haidt), we are delighted that the issue of viewpoint diversity in higher education is now being so widely discussed. We just wish the most prominent antagonists on the right and on the left understood why viewpoint diversity is essential to the mission of a university—and thus how it can, and can’t, be brought about.
As Heterodox Academy has argued since our founding in 2015, the truth-seeking function of universities does not work properly without the presence of diverse viewpoints. This is especially true when it comes to contested social and political questions. As Haidt wrote in our very first post, “We academics are generally biased toward confirming our own theories and validating our favored beliefs,” and that’s usually fine. With a culture of review and debate among scholars, “the field will gradually sort out the truth. Unless there is nobody out there who thinks differently. Or unless the few such people shrink from speaking up because they expect anger in response, even ostracism."
Over the past decade, that’s exactly the pattern we have seen, especially in the social sciences, humanities and some of the professional schools. Taboos, blind spots, groupthink and the politicization of scientific standards haven’t just made academic research narrower and worse, these trends have alienated the general public and reduced public confidence in higher education since 2015, not just on the right but across the ideological spectrum. Unsurprisingly, the increasing ideological conformity of the professoriate is reflected in the decreasing range of ideas that students encounter in the classroom. A recent national study shows a narrow range of perspectives included on undergraduate syllabi on such controversial topics as the conflict between Israel and Palestine, racial bias in the criminal justice system, and abortion.
Read the full Inside Higher Ed article.
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Jonathan Haidt is the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership.