The American university is facing an unprecedented assault from the president of the United States. Defences of the university usually emphasise the practical benefits it offers to society such as highly skilled graduates, scientific research and technological breakthroughs. Bollinger offers a more original account, revealing how the structure of the university contributes to the success of the American system, and why that structure is both impossible to re-create and vulnerable to outside attack. The fundamental mission of the university is to enhance knowledge but this is not merely a high-minded idea. It is, as Bollinger demonstrates, a notion rooted deeply in the Constitution. Bollinger argues that, with the press diminished, the university remains the only source of truth-seeking for those who still believe in democracy. The stakes are self-evident: the university must be defended if the American experiment is to continue.

Lee C. Bollinger is an American legal scholar and educator who served as the nineteenth president of Columbia University, from 2002 to 2023. He is currently president emeritus and the Seth Low Professor of the University. He also served as the president of the University of Michigan from 1997 to 2002. A renowned expert on the First Amendment and freedom of speech and press, he lives in New York City.