On November 18, 2025, John Tomasi, President of the Heterodox Academy (HxA), gave a talk entitled “The University at a Crossroad – And How We Can Build Cultures of Open Inquiry.” The talk was co-sponsored by the Program on Freedom and Free Societies and the Provost’s Committee on the Future of the American University.
Tomasi sees universities as a community of imperfect learners who gather to fulfill one another. He also sees the university as a walled garden of curiosity set apart from politics and day-to-day economic activity. Ultimately, universities function to seek truth rather than seek social justice.
Over the centuries, universities were exclusionary and elitist. Recently, universities have struggled to become more inclusive. Tomasi claims that universities are struggling to become “a fully inclusive university system that is committed to searching for truth together.” Because that is such a difficult goal, academia has been messing up in various ways.
Tomasi notes that “curiosity on universities has been replaced by concerns about correctness, and whole fields of conversation, whole dimensions of pursuit, and whole possible themes for discussion have been closed out of the university at an increasingly accelerating rate.”
Studies have shown that suppression of ideas and self-suppression of voices peaked around 2021. A HxA study in 2022 shows that 74% of students were self-censoring. There has been a narrowing of acceptable political ideology.
HxA believes that the work of constructing a university is never finished. “No university is wholly bad, no university is wholly good, and no university is wholly finished.” “People as well as universities must ask: ‘How high do I aim, how high do I aspire to?’”
Trump’s election as President in 2024 is very challenging to HxA because “he sometimes uses rhetoric that we use too. So, viewpoint diversity is something we really care about for epistemic reasons.” There is a need for “intellectual humility,” which means that everyone needs to have other people with different viewpoints from which we can all learn.
“Universities could become models of toleration, models of pluralism, and serious engagement of differences for the rest of our society.” Since February 2025, HxA has been increasingly hearing from college presidents and trustees interested in building such cultures on their campuses. In response, HxA has developed “Open Inquiry U,” which is a four-point agenda for building such an institution.
HxA has developed an AI-tool called “Sway” which can be used to guide pairs of people with opposing views through an interactive conversation, to talk across differences.
HxA is a membership organization that welcomes new members and evolves as members’ interests change.
Audience Questions and Answers
Tomasi was asked if universities are reflecting the polarization in America or contributing to the polarization. Tomasi does not have good data to answer that question with confidence. Tomasi said, “Universities have made themselves a convenient target for people whose power depends upon polarization.” Our generation of professors has let universities become as one-sided as they are now. The public has also had problems with the way that universities spend their money.
Another questioner noted that President Trump is clearly fearful of universities, because, like journalists, university communities always question and don’t let things sit. Universities sit apart from the “city” with a critical distance. Tomasi responded that experts should decide how wide the degree of viewpoint diversity on campus should be. However, academics will not question their collective decision-making over the past 50 years, while universities have evolved into their current state.
The next questioner noted that in 1867, before Cornell opened, it adopted a Plan of Organization that emphasized the primary role of the faculty (instead of the central administration) in running the University. Yet, in the past two decades, more and more decision-making and responsibility have shifted to the central administration. Tomasi responded that HxA does not have a single position on that issue. “The question of the relationship between academic self-governance and open inquiry is a fraught one.” Some members believe that self-governance is sufficient and there is no role for outsiders, while others believe there should be an “exogenous shock.” Most members are really upset with what is currently happening because we are facing a generation or more of repair to recover from it.
For lasting change, a university needs to have administrators who care and professors willing to support them.
A law professor asked if there is a role for a professor to be an “activist.” Tomasi feels that universities should teach students to think for themselves. Forms of activism that stifle students’ ability to think for themselves should not be allowed.
The next questioner asked what concrete steps universities should take to increase intellectual diversity. Tomasi said that starting new universities would be a good step, but the barriers to entry are too high now. Established universities like Cornell are not going anywhere, so reforming universities is a task worth undertaking. A lot of reforms were underway before Trump was elected President in 2024. For example, 144 universities had adopted institutional neutrality before the election. In the last 10 to 20 years, university presidents have been selected based upon their ability to raise funds, often for medical facilities or science facilities, and they have not tended to the quieter task of tending to the campus culture itself. What happens in a campus dorm conversation on a Tuesday night is not something for which to raise money, but it is still very important.
HxA’s goals for its campus-based chapters are to “think organic” and “think porous.” So, if a university were to start a new civics program in order to expand viewpoint diversity on campus, it would also need to be organic and porous to succeed.
The next question, as the nation struggles to bring more manufacturing jobs back to America, are the universities teaching the right curriculum, is the career guidance given to students broad enough, and how can tuition be made more affordable? Tomasi notes that highly selective universities set up expectations among their prospective students. The admissions process produces people who are good at “jumping through hoops” rather than genuine explorers.
A student asked what the role of students should be in reforming the campus culture. Tomasi said that students do not understand how powerful they are. Two Brown students started “the Janus Forum” to debate issues, and it has grown to the largest student organization on campus.
One computer science professor asked about trolling and nihilism that shut down serious debate. Tomasi has seen this in many places. He works on trying to build good things, not fight bad ones.
The next questioner asked how HxA approaches student interest groups, protests, and activism focused around a single issue? Tomasi tries to intellectualize those groups by asking them if they want to talk to just people who agree with them or try to bring more people to their side.
The final question asked how an academic community can deal with a political figure who constantly lies. Tomasi says that this is why it is important to stand up now for universities that are dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge.
