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How Gender Studies Broke the University
An emerita professor of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies delivers a searing account of how the modern university lost its way. A decades-long insider in the academy, she argues that the progressive disciplines she once devoted her life to helped erode intellectual freedom and open inquiry.
From the classroom to the dean’s office, she shows how faculty and administrators fostered a culture of grievance, elevated activism over scholarship, and enforced ideological conformity in the name of social justice. The result is a campus environment where illiberal practices were institutionalized, dissent was discouraged, debate was constrained, and students were taught what to think rather than how to think.
Writing with unusual honesty about her own complicity in today’s higher-education crisis, she traces how these changes unfolded and why so few were willing or able to resist them. Yet this is not only a critique—it is also a call to action. As she concludes, if universities are to survive as places of genuine learning and knowledge production—and to have any standing to challenge illiberal ideas on the right—they must acknowledge what went wrong and recommit to free speech, academic freedom, and the open exchange of ideas.
From the classroom to the dean’s office, she shows how faculty and administrators fostered a culture of grievance, elevated activism over scholarship, and enforced ideological conformity in the name of social justice. The result is a campus environment where illiberal practices were institutionalized, dissent was discouraged, debate was constrained, and students were taught what to think rather than how to think.
Writing with unusual honesty about her own complicity in today’s higher-education crisis, she traces how these changes unfolded and why so few were willing or able to resist them. Yet this is not only a critique—it is also a call to action. As she concludes, if universities are to survive as places of genuine learning and knowledge production—and to have any standing to challenge illiberal ideas on the right—they must acknowledge what went wrong and recommit to free speech, academic freedom, and the open exchange of ideas.
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Published September 10, 2026
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October 10, 2026
A magisterial analysis of how progressive illiberal ideology has come to permeate the academy and how it undermines and opposes the very principles of academic freedom and freedom of speech. A wealth of detailed examples support the arguments laid out in clear, easily understandable prose that is blessedly devoid of jargon.
A concise summary of what is explored in the book might be well captured in this quote:
“…we can fruitfully interpret what’s become of the progressive academy as what transpires when left-wing authoritarians are behind the higher ed steering wheel and ordinary identity progressives fill the car.”
The author is clear that right-wing authoritarianism and illiberalism is a greater threat to both the academy and our democracy, but that this is not a sufficient reason to avoid criticism of illiberalism in the academy. Indeed, a left-wing version of authoritarianism/illiberalism is not going to, cannot possibly, save the academy from the right-wing version.
The audio version of the book is read by Helen Pluckrose - an excellent reading voice, she makes the text easy to follow.
A concise summary of what is explored in the book might be well captured in this quote:
“…we can fruitfully interpret what’s become of the progressive academy as what transpires when left-wing authoritarians are behind the higher ed steering wheel and ordinary identity progressives fill the car.”
The author is clear that right-wing authoritarianism and illiberalism is a greater threat to both the academy and our democracy, but that this is not a sufficient reason to avoid criticism of illiberalism in the academy. Indeed, a left-wing version of authoritarianism/illiberalism is not going to, cannot possibly, save the academy from the right-wing version.
The audio version of the book is read by Helen Pluckrose - an excellent reading voice, she makes the text easy to follow.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review