Activism has always been a valued part of our colleges and universities. Indeed, many departments have long incorporated advocacy subjects in their course of study, including in law schools. My concern is the degree to which advocacy is now overwhelming academics in some of these programs. It is often hard to tell the difference between advocacy groups and advocacy programs in these universities. For some schools, a new B.A. model — a Bachelors of Advocacy — is emerging in higher education.

[All due respect to Professor Turley, whom I esteem greatly, but this is part of the problem. Advocacy is not education, full stop. The proper role for the academy is to educate students to think and reason with a full comprehension of the contexts of their civilization and the subject matters at hand. After graduation, students can then decide for themselves whether to turn into advocates, and there are plenty of organizations by which they can form themselves to that purpose. Higher education doesn’t belong in the activism business, because activism requires choices that close off alternate perspectives and contexts. It’s this incorporation of advocacy into higher education that leads directly to the outcomes that Turley laments here. — Ed]