No word floats without an anchoring connection within an overall structure.

I do not support abortion rights. Although what I would support in this vexed area is not clear to me.

We in universities are not in the democracy business. What we do, when we're doing it, is teach and learn.

Any idea can be brought into the classroom if the point is to inquire into its structure, history, influence and so forth. But no idea belongs in the classroom if the point of introducing it is to recruit your students for the political agenda it may be thought to imply.

Belief and knowledge are considered to be two different things. But they are not.

In general, higher education does not know how to speak for its interests. It offers a stance that is defensive, cowardly and likely to be ineffective.

Opinion-sharing sessions are like junk food: they fill you up with starch and leave you feeling both sated and hungry. A sustained inquiry into the truth of a matter is an almost athletic experience; it may exhaust you, but it also improves you.