Brook No Argument

A friend recently sent me David Brooks’ article in the Atlantic entitled “How The Ivy League Broke America”, in which Brooks argues that a new definition of “merit” would solve the supposed leadership crisis the country faces, and asked me to comment on it. [Here is a link to a free version if you don’t get the Atlantic.] I normally avoid reading Brooks for my own mental health but did so as a favor to my friend. Here is my response:

As usual, I find myself once again infuriated by the inexecrable Brooks and his phony and facile arguments. Some initial context for the piece is needed here since, although Brooks doesn’t come out directly and say it, it comes across as a critique of current higher education. That theme has been a hobby-horse of the Atlantic for a few years now, largely focusing on the issues of free speech and censorship, and it increasingly appears the magazine’s editors have an agenda that is more focused on attacking the supposed failures of university leadership and less about maintaining the independence and ideals of higher education.

This focus seems increasingly incongruous with the actual reality of most higher education institutions in this country. US universities are probably the most diverse institutions in the country today. They are bastions of free speech, free inquiry, and free association, despite what the Atlantic editors continually claim, and more committed to those ideals than any other institution in the country. Meanwhile, conservative leaders like Rufo and DeSantis in Florida are engaged in dismantling those…