The Politics of Institutional Neutrality in Higher Education: Ambiguity, Fear, and Democratic Erosion

• In Event: The Politics of Autonomy: Academic Freedom and Governance in Global Higher Education

Abstract

This paper interrogates the rise of institutional neutrality as a defensive strategy in U.S. higher education. Drawing on policy theory, cultural analysis, and the politics of fear, we argue that policy ambiguity enables fear-based narratives that obscure the university’s public mission and erode academic freedom. Through a critical, historically-grounded, discursive analysis, we show how neutrality is not apolitical but rather a contested, ideologically loaded construct shaped by decades-long conservative efforts to delegitimize higher education. We also examine institutional and collective acts of resistance, from faculty organizing to legal challenges, as efforts to reclaim higher education’s democratic purpose. The paper contributes to urgent debates about leadership, speech, and the future of higher education in a climate of rising authoritarianism.

Authors

• Curtis Anthony Brewer, University of Texas - San Antonio

• Michelle D. Young, University of California - Berkeley