How Business Metrics Broke the University

In a recent interview with New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, the conservative activist Christopher Rufo pivoted from his usual focus on the ideological biases of higher education—the prevalence of “critical race theory and gender ideology and liberatory pedagogy”—to remark on the broader restructuring of universities that has taken place in recent years. “Our universities are no longer liberal arts universities,” Rufo noted. “They are these mega complexes that have scientific arms, research arms and financial arms.” In contrast to this, he highlighted the “community of scholars and learners that have a shared commitment to a culture of civil debate” at New College of Florida, where he is a trustee.