The Future of Higher Education and the Jews: A Symposium

Leading thinkers situate the Jewish question in a larger discussion about how to strengthen, reform, and renew American universities.

By The Editors

For over a decade, Mosaic has been publishing essays and analysis on the prevalence of anti-Semitism in the universities, and other problems of intellectual and civilizational unravelling on campus. In the past few years, and especially since October 7, these concerns have become even more mainstream.

Now that the alarm bells have been heard far and wide, and even in the halls of Congress, it’s time to move the conversation forward. And that’s what we aim to do this month at Mosaic. Eric Cohen and Sam Helyar’s essay, “A College Guide for the Perplexed” kicks off a monthlong conversation on the state and future of higher education in America. We’ll pay due attention to the unique dilemmas that Jewish students face, and also attention to the opportunities that Jewish ideas have to contribute. But we aim to situate these Jewish questions in the larger discussion about higher ed reform.

We’ve convened some remarkable people from inside and outside the universities—professors, college presidents, students, rabbis—to take up these questions.

Our first installment of symposium contributions include:

Ruth Wisse, “How Jewish Studies Became a Tool of Adversarial Culture”
Daniel Diermeier, “The Future of Universities Must be Built on Firm Values”
Steven H. Frankel, “Western Civilization and the Jews: A Shared History”
Jonathan J. Sanford, “The Quest for Wisdom, Truth, and Virtue at the University of Dallas”
Bella Brannon, “Universities Need Teachers Who Want to Teach, and Students Willing to Learn”
Ben Sasse, “The Universities and the American Crisis”
Ari Berman, “To Make the Academic Desert Bloom, Look to Religion”
Danielle Pletka, “Saving American Universities Requires Cracking Down on Foreign Funding”
Eitan Webb, “Jews Shouldn’t Give Up on Universities, and Neither Should America”
Alexander S. Duff, “The Moral Collapse on Campus Is a Result of the Hollowing Out of the Humanities”
Liel Leibovitz, “Return American Universities to Their Religion-Friendly Roots”
Avi Shilon, “The Campus Intifada Is a Golden Opportunity for Those Who Study Israel Seriously”
Robert Satloff, “With No Easy Fixes for Middle East Studies, It’s Time for New Programs”
Michael Hochberg, “The Perverse Microeconomics of the American University”

Tikvah Ideas subscribers will enjoy access to the entire symposium. If you're not yet a subscriber, we invite you to join here. There are monthly and annual plans available.

Information about the Menorah Index, a bold new model for guiding Jewish students, parents, and donors on the universities they ought to attend and support, can be found here.

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We’ve convened some remarkable people from inside and outside the universities—professors, college presidents, students, rabbis—to take up these questions.