A Solution to Campus Extremism
New programs emphasizing classical and civic education promote healthy dialogue in higher education
The ideological partisanship, dogmatism and bigotry on display in our society today are to some degree the fruit of our educational system. Too many college classrooms have become indoctrination camps. Some students buy into the leftist ideology they’re taught and become its enforcers. Others react by embracing opposing forms of extremism. Either way, radicalism and animus replace knowledge and wisdom.
So what should we do? The answer isn’t complicated, but acting on it will take determination and courage. Colleges and universities must return to offering a rigorous liberal arts education that refuses to engage in indoctrination and challenges groupthink. College courses must actively cultivate the virtues of curiosity, open-mindedness, intellectual humility, analytical rigor and, above all, dedication to the pursuit of truth.
Genuine liberal arts learning requires students to wrestle with the best that has been written and said by the most rigorous thinkers, living and dead, on all sides of the issues. The aim of such an education isn’t to tell students what to think; it is to empower them to think more deeply, more critically and for themselves.
Such an education won’t discourage or penalize students who dissent from a professor’s perspective or from views dominant on the campus. It won’t require students to accept assumptions that skew inquiry in favor of a certain position. On the contrary, it will encourage students to explore dissenting ideas, even if only as a “devil’s advocate.”
A good teacher will insist on civility but will respect the right of students to challenge dominant ideas and dissent from them. He or she will demand nothing more (or less) than that students do business in the proper currency of intellectual discourse—one consisting of reasons, evidence and arguments. And a good teacher will set an example by doing precisely that.
This might seem like an unattainable ideal, but it isn’t. I’ve seen firsthand that it’s possible. Twenty-five years ago, Princeton University authorized me to establish and direct a program in civic education dedicated to helping young men and women become determined truth seekers, courageous truth speakers, lifelong learners and responsible citizens.
The James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions provides undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral scholars with the intellectual community, opportunities and resources to dedicate themselves to the pursuit of truth. We insist, as does the university, on intellectual honesty and integrity. But the program welcomes students of all points of view. There are no political, religious or secularist orthodoxies or litmus tests. We treat no perspectives as out of bounds, nor do we exempt any idea from being challenged. In short, everything is on the table. Ideas stand or fall on their merits.
You can probably guess what happens when young people are invited to ask any questions they want, pursue any lines of thought or argument that strike them as promising, and engage with competing viewpoints: They grow intellectually. Their knowledge deepens and broadens. They become that rarest of things: critical thinkers.
The program is one of many such initiatives at leading U.S. universities. At Harvard, the Human Flourishing Program, under the direction of Prof. Tyler VanderWeele, studies and promotes human well-being and fulfillment. It deploys natural and social scientific methods to understand what advances and what impedes human flourishing. Students learn to think critically about meaning, value and happiness.
More than a dozen other universities host similar initiatives, including the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Chicago, and Johns Hopkins University. The Foundation for Excellence in Higher Education, an independent body founded in 2012 to promote high quality classical and civic education, regularly brings together the leaders of these initiatives to compare notes and share best practices. What has emerged over the past decade or so is a nationwide movement for the renewal of liberal arts education.
Public universities are also taking steps to promote civic education and robust civil discourse. States are investing in programs designed to promote respectful and productive dialogue across political, cultural, religious and socio-economic lines.
Arizona State University’s School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership, founded in 2017, was an early example of this model. It has since been joined by the Hamilton School for Classical and Civic Education at the University of Florida; the School of Civic Leadership at the University of Texas at Austin; the Institute of American Civics at the University of Tennessee Knoxville; the School of Civic Life and Leadership at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; the Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society at The Ohio State University; and the Center for American Civic Leadership and Public Discourse at the University of South Carolina. The University of Michigan recently announced that it is building such a program.
For many years, intolerance on the left produced groupthink, self-censorship, and cancel culture—all of which are toxic to intellectual life. A backlash was perhaps inevitable. Now we’re witnessing a rise in toxic ideologies on the right, such as white supremacy. Antisemitism, the most ancient and perennial of bigotries, is manifesting itself on both sides of the ideological divide.
There’s plenty of blame to go around for these baleful developments. Universities aren’t solely responsible. Politicians, journalists, celebrities, religious leaders and business leaders all bear a share of the blame. But there’s a connection between illiberalism on campus and the spread of extremist ideologies.
When universities fail to expose students to competing perspectives and don’t help them cultivate critical thinking, we shouldn’t be surprised that young people fall for dangerous ideas of the right or left. It’s up to universities to address what has gone wrong within their walls and to restore the values and practices that make for genuine liberal arts learning—and thoughtful, responsible citizens.
Originally published at The Wall Street Journal on November 30, 2025.