University: A Reckoning

by Lee Bollinger

Genres: Nonfiction

176 pages, Hardcover

Published January 20, 2026

Reviews

[Stetson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wasn't sure what to expect with this book, having only limited familiarity with Lee Bollinger as a public figure. His argument here is a stereotypical center-leftish/liberal defense of our ailing university system mixed with some very mild constructive criticism of its recent failings, e.g. there is a notable focus on the campus climate of elite universities after 10/7/2023. However, most of Bollinger's criticism is directed externally, making for a stodgy and insular defense of the liberal arts project. This error likely arises from Bollinger's over-emphasis on "rights" rather than "duties" when examining what comprises the bedrock of our social institutions.

Bollinger contends the university system is foundational to a liberal democracy because it is a bulwark protecting free inquiry, a catalyst for innovation, and a guarantor of institutional maintenance and recapitulation or reform. This is a very generous, idealistic characterization of the performance and roles of higher education in our era. I only levy this critique myself out of necessity as I have a deep fondness for the liberal arts and also agree that R&D investment through R1 research institutions has contributed to innovation.

Bollinger's argument contrasts sharply with many prior critiques of or even attacks on higher education, which usually focus on issues with campus culture, faculty partisanship or radicalism, or the curriculum itself. Further, there are empirical critiques of the effectiveness of higher education altogether including the trenchant Case Against Education by Bryan Caplan, which point out most of the function of a college degree is signaling so the value the university provides is a selection mechanism, which can be replaced with cheaper and more effective alternatives.

Bollinger's spin on the otherwise tired yet idealistic defenses of liberal education is that the Constitution, namely the First Amendment, is intertwined with this project and America should work to preserve this status, especially as journalism declines. This seems like very muddled thinking if not connected to some vision of elite politics. At most 30-40% of Americans will ever complete an undergraduate degree, and most of these individuals will not attend an elite school, completing mostly narrow career-track work. Even most of the education going on at elite institutions has pivoted away from canonical liberal arts training. Most of those who develop deep familiarity and fondness for the humanities do so in their leisure time outside of the university system. Bollinger is making an argument for something that barely exists at all and to the extent it does it is a tiny jobs program for professors and administrators.

Nothing about this book actually meets the moment. The emerging disruptions due to AI technologies is not addresses. And the reckoning the universities are actually facing now has less to do with political pressure applied by the Trump administration (a fickle, fair-weather foe) nor does it include changes to law related to Affirmative Action or Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), which were essential liberal correction to misbegotten, anti-Constitutional attempts to redress historical grievances that created new, more recent grievances. The real reckoning that universities are immediately facing is declining enrollments, which are in part a product of universities failing to play their actual role of reproducing an American elite invested in preserving and bolstering the American project for posterity.

The specific institution (Columbia) that Bollinger formerly led was a hotbed for ideas that can only be accurately described as self-hating and self-destructive. If we're to believe that "ideas have consequences"—because if we don't then we should abandon public and private financial support for higher education altogether—then the only people to blame for the problems facing higher education are universities leaders and faculty themselves.

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

No sure what I was expecting but this is a rather idealistic and unself-aware attempt to position universities at the center of American life and liberty akin to the First Amendment. As a lawyer and former university president it is not surprising that the author has some biases but he seems unable to see that the institution he loves bears a serious amount of burden for the attacks they are undergoing at the moment. This in no way excuses federal government overreach or unconstitutional attacks but it does play a role in the position of higher education in American society. Bollinger blames deregulation under Ronald Reagan for the extremes of the internet, offers ridiculously skewed takes on the cause of populism in America, and generally offers a perspective that is comfortable in a largely progressive view of all things. Not once do you get any sense that for the center to hold, a cliche but true in important ways, you have to admit the mistakes of your own side and acknowledge the validity of at least the center-right. Bollinger offers no such realization and thus the book comes off as laughably idealistic and disconnected. Those who 100% share Bollinger's politics and worldview will probably appreciate his argument that universities are critical to the search for knowledge and truth in the public sphere and therefore are closely connected to what we think of as First Amendment rights and protections. But no one to his right will likely read this or be engaged by it. /rant

[Nut Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though Bollinger waxes poetic about universities uniqueness and mission to seek knowledge, his focus is on making the argument that academia serves many of the same purposes as journalism; that they are two sides of the same coin as it were, with journalism reporting what is currently known vs academia pursuing knowledge over the long term. This is surprisingly persuasive as he roots the comparison in discussion of the first amendment and how freedom of speech is integral to both the press and the proper functioning of universities. He goes so far as to argue that universities ought to be given similar constitutional latitude; a so-called "freedom of the university" in his words, a strained play on freedom of the press which was entirely avoidable given that the phrase "academic freedom" already exists. Given that the argument for such latitude and protection is in direct response to the clawback of federal funding for universities, and ideological attacks on such institutions, the remedies proposed feel insufficient. There is only brief discussion of the university systems financial vulnerability to a hostile administration, which fails to thoroughly consider the laws inability to protect any institution from some of the bureaucratic tools being utilized. As a result, this is largely a love letter to the ideals of academia and free speech, as opposed to a practical call to any immediate action for the university systems defense in the current political climate. Bollinger's preaching will likely only reach the choir, but it's lovely all the same.

[Pauline · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has some interesting content, particularly regarding the history of the university and the history of how courts have interpreted the First Amendment over the past century. I also found the information on how the different groups/roles in the university operate interesting, as I have never attended a university myself (only colleges that later became universities but not the size/scope of the major universities). I was disappointed however in how little detail he went into regarding some of the issues for which modern American universities have been criticized. I know people who see the liberal elites at universities as being intolerant of views different from their own, rather than champions of free speech regardless of the viewpoint. Not having been at one of those universities myself I have no firsthand knowledge to know how much of an open "market" of ideas it really is, or isn't, and I had hoped to learn more of that. I also have trouble with his claim that the First Amendment depends on the American university system. It depends on a certain attitude toward knowledge and opposing viewpoints, but I don't see how that attitude depends on the university system.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insightful book on the American university and the 1st amendment and the threats of authoritarianism.