Congressional Hearings Are a Pretext for Assault on Higher Education

A personal essay by Peter Balakian and Cathy Caruth that examines how anti-intellectualism can be the precursor to authoritarianism.

From left: Harvard president Claudine Gay; Penn's Liz Magill; Pamela Nadell, a professor of history and Jewish studies at American University; and Sally Kornbluth, president of MIT. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images. www.cnn.com/2023/12/11/business/university-leaders-testimony-nightcap/index.html

We need to be clear-eyed about the hidden agenda of the grilling …