The Ideal of an Open University

We put forward two principles of open inquiry which, together with a culture that supports such open inquiry, define what we will call the ideal of an open university. We argue that these principles of open inquiry, and the ideal of an open university, provide optimal conditions for the pursuit of knowledge. However, we acknowledge that there can be principled reasons to deviate from this ideal of an open university. We thus consider other models of university life that might make intentional commitments to epistemic positions, values, or institutionalized practices that may restrict the application of the principles of open inquiry. We argue that if a university is transparent in its mission about these commitments, such restrictions can be reasonable in advancing knowledge, as well as other ends that a university community deems important. However, when such commitments are covert or allowed to remain implicit, the resulting culture will likely impede the pursuit of knowledge. We argue that many principles of university life, including academic freedom, institutional neutrality, and intellectual and viewpoint diversity, are fundamentally connected to the principles of open inquiry, and that decisions about these other academic principles can be guided by whether an institution is aspiring to an open university ideal. We discuss the implications of this ideal of an open university for the current landscape of American higher education, practices of self-censorship, questions of funding, and the reforming of university life to better enable the pursuit of knowledge.