Editor's note: Jeremy Suri is the Mack Brown Distinguished Chair in Global Affairs Leadership at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is a professor in the Department of History and the LBJ School. He is the author and editor of 11 of his books, most recently Civil War By Other Means: America's Long and Unfinished Fight for Democracy and Power and Protest: Global Revolution and the Rise of Detente. doing. He is co-host of the podcast “This is Democracy.” The views expressed here are his own. Read more opinions on CNN.
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In May 2001, President George W. Bush spoke at my Yale commencement ceremony. He knew that very few students or faculty members in the audience voted for him. But Mr. Bush still expressed “gratitude” to liberal professors who modeled “dedication and high standards of learning.” “They are what keeps Yale going,” acknowledged the president, an alumnus of his family full of alumni. He proudly called himself “Aleman.”
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Jeremy Suri
Many prominent Republicans have graduated from the same elite universities as Bush, but few demonstrate the respect for campus life that the president expressed in 2001. On the contrary, some Republican leaders have spent the past two decades denouncing everything about universities. Their expertise on subjects like climate change, their values around diversity and inclusion, and even their commitment to teaching the entire history of our country have propelled their careers.
This Republican war on universities is the essential history behind current campus conflicts. The student protests and police repression are the result of attacks on universities since President Bush took office. These attacks have undermined university leadership and provoked students, staff, and faculty for years. As witnessed last week across the country, outside pressure has led to an over-presence of police on campuses.
My own campus, the University of Texas at Austin, is a case study in this crisis. In 2008, Gov. Rick Perry, who succeeded former Gov. George W. Bush, announced “seven breakthrough solutions” for higher education in the state, all of which involved research on college campuses. It undermined the mission and freedom of inquiry. When William Powers, president of the University of Texas at Austin and a former Perry supporter, pushed back, the governor launched a campaign to fire academic critics.
Thanks to the support of donors and friends in the state, Powers retained his position as president and protected the university's autonomy, but at a great cost to the university's relationship with elected Republican leaders. Distrust and open hostility toward universities became commonplace in state legislatures, especially as the far-right Republican Party gained influence. Many university professors, staff, and students responded with distrust and hostility toward elected officials who seemed out of touch with campus life.
In 2015, Greg Abbott, a proud University of Texas alumnus, replaced Perry as governor. Expectations for improved relations temporarily rose. Accused by far-right Republicans of not being conservative enough, Mr. Abbott quickly sought to shore up his anti-establishment credentials, and universities became easy scapegoats. He joins a chorus of critics accusing the University of Texas of excluding and degrading conservative voices.
With a focus on diversity of viewpoints, conservative donors and the Texas Legislature have moved further on campus to advance conservative causes, including free markets, traditional constitutional principles, and strong national security policies. They asked for more space. University leaders responded positively and helped build a center for this research that is more dynamic and better-funded than any other campus in the country.
These centers continue to grow, including the Clements Center for National Security, Salem Policy Center, Civitas Institute, and most recently, the Civic Leadership School. I attest that these centers have enhanced my research and the education of hundreds of students, whether liberal, conservative, or somewhere in between.
But at the same time that conservative centers grew on campuses, the Texas Legislature banned training and hiring that considered racial, gender, and ethnic diversity. With the passage of Senate Bill 17 of 2023, Texas universities can no longer “engage in diversity, equity, and inclusion activities.”
On my campus, this meant the abrupt closing of offices that had helped minority students, faculty, and staff adjust to college life. Veterans and first-generation students will continue to receive targeted aid, but African American students in Houston, Latino students in the Rio Grande Valley and transgender students in Dallas will not. In early April, more than 40 staff who had been working on diversity, most of them from minority backgrounds, were let go.
At the same time, new staff were hired at the maintenance center. They continue to provide a comfortable and valuable space for their students. This dynamic clearly whitened the University of Texas at Austin, as evidenced by immediate difficulties in recruiting and retaining faculty and students of color.
This context is critical to understanding the recent protests on my campus and across the country. Many students, faculty and staff, especially those from minority backgrounds, find themselves experiencing setback after setback at the hands of hostile politicians and pious administrators. They feel they have less influence over universities than at any time in recent decades, and that's largely true.
Leaders of public and private universities are increasingly moving away from their campuses to focus on fundraising and testifying before hostile Congress and state legislatures. They are very cautious about doing anything that could antagonize powerful politicians and donors.
Demonstrations on behalf of Palestinians are rooted in concerns about campus governance. After all, no one really believes that universities can somehow end this war.
Of course, there are good reasons why university leaders should not yield to protesters on these and other points. Many of the demands are naive and one-sided. Some protests have turned into anti-Semitic and other hateful acts, which can be punished under the Campus Code of Conduct when the evidence is clear and the perpetrators are afforded due process. Should.
But attacking demonstrators (trying to “stop” them), as happened when my university's leaders brought police to campus last week, intensifies conflict and It only encourages more violence. Protesters already feel under siege from right-wing politicians and university administrators. Police actions reinforce that sentiment and spark further protests. So are developments like the Republican House speaker's announcement that he is considering cutting or eliminating federal funding for college campuses as protests continue.
We were in a similar situation in the late 1960s and early 1970s. At the time, students, staff, and faculty across the country felt ignored and attacked by politicians who supported the Vietnam War and university leaders who followed them. The most notorious police crackdowns occurred at Kent State University and Jackson State University in May 1970, resulting in student deaths and injuries, widespread damage to campuses, and bringing the conflict home. We cannot allow the current self-serving campaign that some politicians are waging against universities to have the same outcome. We took a risky step in that direction last week.
What we need are politicians willing to stand up for the benefits of their college education, despite their disagreements with liberal professors. Elected leaders in Texas and other states, like President Bush, value “dedication and high standards of learning” on campuses and advocate for students, staff, and students on how to reform their universities for mutual benefit. , must strive to uphold those values by involving faculty and staff in the dialogue. . Political leaders should encourage university administrators to get out of their offices and speak directly to the people who teach, research, and learn every day.
Not all demonstrators will be open to dialogue, but many will. I know this from my own experience. The time has come to end the long political war against universities. By suppressing the free speech of a young and talented population, it is no longer in anyone's interest except those who truly want to destroy higher education and build a career.
