Lee Bollinger | University: A Reckoning

In Conversation with Ali Velshi The American university—one of the most successful institutions in human history—is facing an unprecedented assault from the President of the United States. Experts on authoritarianism have drawn comparisons to Turkey and Hungary, where strongmen subdued universities as part of their power grabs. Yet as former Columbia president Lee C. Bollinger points out in his powerful account of the university’s significance, in such dire times one has no choice but to state clearly and forcefully what one stands for. Defenses of the university usually emphasize the practical benefits it offers to society: highly skilled graduates who can thrive in an information-saturated world; scientific research that leads to important advances in health; technological breakthroughs that contribute to the American economy being the envy of the world. Bollinger offers a more original, and more sweeping, account. He reveals how the seemingly unwieldy structure of the university actually contributes to the success of the American system— providing those who study and work within it a degree of creative freedom hard to find elsewhere—and why that structure is both impossible to re-create and vulnerable to outside attack. The fundamental mission of the university is to enhance knowledge, but this is not merely a high-minded idea. It is, as Bollinger demonstrates, a notion rooted deeply in the Enlightenment ideas of the nation’s founding documents, specifically the First Amendment to the Constitution, the basis of our political and civic life. The university helps realize the First Amendment; the First Amendment helps make the university. Bollinger argues that, in a challenging era for journalism, it is more essential than ever that the university stands strong as an essential source of truth-seeking for those who still believe in democracy. The stakes are self-evident: The university, like the press, must be defended if the American experiment is to continue. Lee C. Bollinger is an American legal scholar and educator who served as the nineteenth president of Columbia University, from 2002 to 2023. He is currently president emeritus and the Seth Low Professor of the University. He also served as the president of the University of Michigan from 1997 to 2002. A renowned expert on the First Amendment and freedom of speech and press, he lives in New York City. Ali Velshi is an award winning journalist, host of "Velshi" and Chief Correspondent for MS NOW, and a weekly economics contributor to NPR's "Here And Now." He hosts the "Velshi Banned Book Club” on MS NOW, and the "Velshi Banned Book Club" podcast. He has been nominated for multiple Emmy Awards, and is the recipient of two National Headliner Awards and a Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Award. Recorded January 28, 2026 Facebook: / authorevents Instagram: / flpauthorevents Twitter: / authorevents Podcast Archive: https://libwww.freelibrary.org/progra... The views expressed by the authors and moderators are strictly their own and do not represent the opinions of the Free Library of Philadelphia or its employees.