Repairing Northwestern University: Saving Western Civilization

On September 4th, my phone lit up with messages congratulating me on the resignation of Northwestern University President Michael Schill. The pings came because my 2021 book, Conspiracy U: A Case Study, first brought wide attention to the intellectual and moral rot devastating my beloved alma mater. But I feel no joy in Schill’s resignation, and congratulations are not in order. His departure will neither reverse nor slow the university’s deterioration.

As I explained in my book and articles, Northwestern’s problems are systemic and longstanding. They stem from humanities faculty  in the humanities and some of the social sciences that has too often abandoned the search for truth in favor of ideological crusades. Many faculty members, and some entire departments, are fanatically committed to doctrines that cast Western, American, and Judeo-Christian ideas as the root of all evil. Others are simply terrified of transgressing these dogmas. In either case, they routinely violate their obligations as scholars.

This ideological conformity is ruthlessly enforced. Graduate applicants and potential faculty who dissent from orthodoxy on key issues are screened out, ensuring a monolithic culture that pollutes syllabi and administrative policy. As has been demonstrated repeatedly, academia is no longer a place for open debate. Too many faculty members embrace a dangerous double standard: words they dislike are “violence,” but actual violence against their opponents can be justified. Professor Ibrahim Abusharif on the Evanston campus has been directly linked to funneling money to Hamas -and is being defended by other faculty. On the NU-Qatar campus, the situation is worse.

What happens on campus doesn’t stay on campus. The ideological training masquerading as education has poisoned public discourse, leading directly to a society where political opponents are ostracized or branded as dangerous rather than engaged in debate. The results are alarming: over a third of college students now say violence is acceptable to stop a speaker they disagree with, and 20% believe it is generally acceptable to suppress political views. If you are concerned by pervasive intolerance, social media mobs, and plummeting student proficiency in basic math and reading, then we must fix our universities now.

The students are real victims here. The estimated cost of a year at Northwestern exceeds $92,000.  Overall test results at US universities, have demonstrated that students leave campus with no better reasoning skills than when they arrive.  Multiple studies demonstrate that students self-censor in both the classroom and in their personal relationships on campus.  Sadly, they leave campus not having been taught how to engage with, or evaluate opposing views, but rather charged with the ideological convictions of the faculty.

Repairing Northwestern is the right place to start.  The NU Board of Trustees must now take command to rescue Northwestern from its conversion to social justice warrior and internally centered focus. I applaud the board’s first step in appointing Henry Bienen as interim president. He is a leader who values academic standards and possesses a much-needed backbone. But this is not nearly enough. Here is an abridged “to-do” list for the board.

First, overhaul the presidential search committee. It cannot be the same group of board and faculty members who oversaw NU’s decline, chose and supported Schill long after it made any sense, and put NU’s funding and its reputation at risk. The committee must be comprised of at least 50% outside members with diverse political views, united by a commitment to restoring academia’s core mission: the ardent pursuit of evidence-based truth. The board would retain final approval, but this structure would ensure that capable, non-traditional candidates from think tanks, industry, or public service are considered. Northwestern needs a reformer, not an apologist for the status quo.

Second, terminate the contract with Qatar. Northwestern’s unhealthy relationship with the Qatari regime has subverted its integrity. NU initially claimed the partnership would help modernize Qatar; the reverse has happened. After 17 years, it is difficult to distinguish Qatar’s foreign policy, as espoused by its media outlet Al Jazeera, from mainstream faculty opinion at Northwestern. NU is contractually obligated to serve and not criticize a regime that utilizes slave labor, supports terrorist groups, denies rights to 85% of its residents, quashes free speech, and prescribes the death penalty for LGBTQ individuals. The contract must be ended at the earliest possible date.  I believe all foreign donations to universities should be scrutinized or, like political donations, banned entirely.

Third, enforce intellectual rigor. While many NU researchers, particularly in the hard sciences, do world-changing work, other departments lack meaningful peer review. Too many faculty publish books and articles built on a limited vocabulary of ideological buzzwords—settler-colonialism, Zionism, white supremacy—rehashed endlessly without regard for evidence or falsifiability. Some of this scholarship is incomprehensible without first subscribing to a conspiracy theory camouflaged as an academic theory.

Fourth, mandate a course in scholarly methods. Every Northwestern student must be required to take a class on ethics and scholarship. This course would teach the fundamentals: what constitutes evidence, how to evaluate primary sources, how to weigh contradictory data, and the principles of the scientific method. It should also include a history of how scholars have lied, misled, and falsified research in the name of ideology or personal glory.

Fifth, reform the administration. The provost’s office requires outside supervision for a substantial period to repair the deep flaws in admissions, faculty hiring, and research standards. This will likely mean that some entire “Studies” departments must be sunsetted, combined, or radically reformed.

The trustees have a clear choice. They can return Northwestern from a indoctrination training ground for activists to a world-class institution dedicated to truth, open and robust debate, and political neutrality—one that graduates students who can think for themselves.

Scott A Shay is the author of Conspiracy U: A Case Study (Wicked Son, 2021) and of In Good Faith: Questioning Religion and Atheism (Post Hill Press, 2017).  He has two degrees from Northwestern University and for many years a proud advocate of it.