The radical right and the university: Reclaiming value neutrality in higher education

Radical right parties, movements, and actors on both sides of the Atlantic have reproached universities for creating an intolerant left-wing intellectual and institutional climate. They have made repeated calls to restore neutrality in higher education to protect freedom of speech and academic freedom. A closer analysis reveals that these critiques are less about neutrality and freedom, and more about exerting their own politico-ideological influence on universities. Yet, the insincerity of many such critics should not obscure the broader fact that a problem of excessive normativity (and relatedly, growing public disconnect) may indeed exist in higher education. Rather than engage in political polarisation and partisanship, universities – both at the professorial and administrative levels – could benefit from mobilising a principled notion of value neutrality, as conceptualised by Max Weber, as an academic value in itself.