“If you can survive Mao Zedong, you can survive anything. These universities will be around a long, long time.”
Harvard professor and historian William C. Kirby explores the role of universities in a democratic society—and what happens when that role is threatened. Kirby draws on his sweeping global perspective to examine the political pressures facing universities today. From 19th-century Berlin to Cold War America to modern China, Professor Kirby reveals how higher education has both shaped and been shaped by state power—and why the independence of universities has never been more vital.
As new laws, culture wars, and geopolitical tensions close in on campuses around the world, Kirby warns that academic freedom is not guaranteed. It is something we must defend—again and again.
This interview draws on the themes of his acclaimed book, Empire of Ideas: Creating the Modern University from Germany to America to China, which traces the rise of the research university and its future in a shifting global order.
