J Street Musings

Why Charles Murray will speak at Notre Dame

"Tolerance and inclusion are the watchwords and standard-bearers of academia’s modern crusade, however recent student protests prove these ideals ring hollow when applied to free speech and intellectual diversity." "It is crucial that our university communities are able to distinguish between tolerating differing opinions, i.e. allowing them all to be heard, and validating opinions, i.e. agreeing (or not) with the merit of the speaker’s argument. Merely providing someone wi

Teaching the "Habits of Democracy"

“Politics isn’t dysfunction because of polarization, per se, so much as political detachment…'I think there’s some causation that American higher education has stopped, in the main, thinking of citizenship and democracy as its basic purpose and begun to think in a much narrower sense of ‘college is good for career.’ If kids lack faith in, or appreciation for, the principles of self-government, then politics will naturally atrophy.” On this Independence Day, it’s easy to fee

Why Free Speech Matters on Campus

“Our advice is this: Stop stifling free speech and coddling intolerance for controversial ideas, which are crucial to a college education - as well as to human happiness and progress.” "The purpose of a college education isn’t to reaffirm students’ beliefs, it is to challenge, expand and redefine them - and to send students into the world with minds that are open and questioning, not closed and self-righteous. This helps young people discover their talents and prepare them fo

A Confession of Liberal Intolerance

"We progressives believe in diversity, and we want women, blacks, Latinos, gays and Muslims at the table — er, so long as they aren’t conservatives. Universities are the bedrock of progressive values, but the one kind of diversity that universities disregard is ideological and religious. We’re fine with people who don’t look like us, as long as they think like us.” "Universities should be a hubbub of the full range of political perspectives from A to Z, not just from V to Z.

The Erosion of Free Speech on Campus

"This sanitization of our campuses from unfriendly ideas is inimical to student growth and impedes the education process. Once students leave sheltered campuses, they will confront many ideas with which they will disagree. The goal of a university is to teach students to respond with reasoned debate, rather than to silence others." Yale University was the most recent in a long list of institutions of higher education to come under public scrutiny for offensive comments made b

What is an Education Worth?

"Universities...that strive for something more than mere return on investment — notably the education of the entire person — are given short shrift by examining mere financial metrics." "Education is not merely about finding the right answer; it is knowing how and why we arrived at that conclusion in order to appreciate the process. Campus should be a place where complex issues are confronted, preconceived notions are challenged and faculties of critical thinking are stimulat

Universities Embrace Gender-Neutral Pronouns

"The distinction of male and female, accompanied by the respective pronouns he and she, has been expanded on these campuses with a nebulous vocabulary of invented pronouns. As fluid as the 'gender continuum' they represent, these pronouns represent those individuals who feel that they are 'genderqueer,' or do not fall into the categories of male or female." How far does academia go to accommodate the demands of every individual? Are inventing new words and rewriting the rule

Welcome to College -- Now Be Quiet!

"Once bastions of free expression and open debate, modern American universities prohibit speech in a variety of ways to protect students from ideas some deem 'offensive,' 'harmful' or 'upsetting.'" Throughout the past year, conservatives and liberals alike have warned of the deteriorating state of discourse in our nation's universities. With students increasingly protesting and demanding protection from "offensive" ideas, is the American university in crisis? If even the hall

about

Much like the absence of J Street in Washington, DC, we provide what is too often lacking from today's politics--substantive research and thoughtful discourse.

J Street Musings is a collection of essays and articles on a variety of issues and genres. Authored by our team and by scholars and thinkers across the world, each post highlights a few key quotes and fundamental questions to direct our minds toward a thoughtful engagement of the article.

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The Liddell Group

Where Innovation Meets Strategy

Why Charles Murray will speak at Notre Dame

Teaching the "Habits of Democracy"

Why Free Speech Matters on Campus

A Confession of Liberal Intolerance

The Erosion of Free Speech on Campus

What is an Education Worth?

Universities Embrace Gender-Neutral Pronouns

Welcome to College -- Now Be Quiet!

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recent posts

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Why Charles Murray will speak at Notre Dame

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