Cancel Culture and New Institutions
As I write this, I’m pondering Bobby Duffy’s Why We’re Wrong About Nearly Everything, reminding myself that “the world…is frequently not anywhere near as bad as we think.”[1]
But even if we ARE wrong about a lot of things, the effects of Cancel Culture are real, particularly on college campuses, especially over the past several years. The numbers seem to support this. According to authors Gred Lukianoff and Rikki Schlott in their book The Canceling of the American Mind, “more professors have been terminated during the era of Cancel Culture than in the era of McCarthyism.”[2] In fact, “16 percent of professors say they were threatened or investigated for their speech, and there have been more than 1000 professor cancellation attempts since 2014.”[3]
Of course, the tentacles of Cancel Culture stretch beyond the lecterns of professors. Reports of self-censorship among students abound. One student who wrote a piece for the New York Times in 2022 declared, “‘My college experience has been defined by strict ideological conformity…When criticism transforms into a public shaming, it stifles learning.’”[4] Lukianoff, an attorney, states that his organization, F.I.R.E. (the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression), has seen “hundreds of cases of students being targeted for their speech every year.”[5]
But what is Cancel Culture? Lukianoff and Schlott describe it this way: “the uptick beginning around 2014, and accelerating in 2017 and after, of campaigns to get people fired, disinvited, deplatformed, or otherwise punished for speech that is—or would be—protected by First Amendment standards and the climate of fear and conformity that has resulted from this uptick.”[6] Escalated by social media, this phenomenon worked its way beyond college campuses into corporations and other institutions, but according to the authors it’s in the academy where “Cancel Culture originated and runs most rampant.”[7] In fact, the authors believe that it may be time to start new institutions in addition to reforming what already exists.[8]
For some, that time is now. Over the past year, I’ve learned about several new endeavors. New efforts include The University of Austin[9] (UATX), Ralston College[10] (Savannah, GA), and The Alliance for Responsible Citizenship[11] (ARC), just to name a few.
Leaders of these efforts are trying to fly the flags of academic/intellectual freedom, free speech, or philosophical liberalism in response to ideologies supported by Cancel Culture and other challenges. Ralston and UATX have been given permission to grant degrees in their respective states (Georgia and Texas), and each institution is pursuing accreditation. I would like to see how the narrative plays out for these schools. Will they be known for what they are FOR (“classical liberal education”[12] that embodies free speech and academic freedom), or will they define themselves by what they are AGAINST (Cancel Culture and components of the identity synthesis[13]). Founding UATX board member Bari Weiss, founder of The Free Press, stated, “‘We got sick of complaining about how broken higher education is. So we decided to do something about it.’”[14]
What’s interesting is that, according to historian Niall Ferguson in a recent interview on CNN, the founding of new colleges in recent times has been somewhat of an anomaly. Ferguson states, “I think there have been only three (colleges) founded in all of the United States this century.”[15] Like Weiss, Ferguson serves as a founding board member (Board of Trustees) for the University of Austin, and he will also be a member of the faculty. The school’s first official semester begins in the fall of 2024.
The University of Austin intends to “renew the mission of the university, and serve as a model for institutions of higher education, by safeguarding academic freedom and promoting intellectual pluralism.”[16] That vision seems straightforward enough, perhaps even compelling (or an old idea now renewed), but just as Duffy was sitting on one of my shoulders, I had Francis Fukuyama sitting on my other shoulder, reminding me how leaders and their tribes and organizations often craft a politic of resentment.[17] They seek to validate themselves and their ideas over/against what they perceive to be the bad people or their bad ideas on the other side. Their brand is built around a narrative of WHO THEY ARE NOT.
That being said, with relatives in Austin, l will be interested to see how UATX navigates the present and future. The most obvious question is “Will it be sustained?” Lukianoff and Schlott believe it’s possible, calling the effort to create this entirely new institution an “especially promising experiment.”[18] And “of course, as soon as the initiative was announced, cancel mobs formed to denounce or otherwise try to discredit it before it ever got off the ground.”[19]
I’ll close with an observation which begs more questions. It’s a name: Jonathan Haidt. Before The Canceling of the American Mind, Lukianoff co-authored The Coddling of the American Mind with Haidt. Haidt, of course, wrote the foreword for Lukianoff and Schlott’s new book. Haidt also endorsed Yascha Mounk’s book The Identity Trap, and he serves on the Board of Advisors for the University of Austin. He has seemingly popped up everywhere and appears to be a key node in a growing network of philosophical liberals and advocates for academic freedom. I know he has been around for a while, but I was not aware of Haidt until last year. He was even interviewed via video at Jordan Peterson’s (another author we’ll read later this semester) recent ARC (Association for Responsible Citizenship) conference.[20] Last week, while walking our dog, I listened to an interview with Haidt and Andy Crouch on the Trinity Forum.[21] It’s a great interview so I’ve put a link in the notes.
How this network of people has come together – from places like Stanford’s Hoover Institution, Harvard, NYU, and elsewhere – is intriguing.[22] Will they be able to push back, with lasting results, against what they believe to be a “crisis of self-censorship”[23]? At the very least, it seems that new institutions are underway. We shall see.
[1] Bobby Duffy, Why We’re Wrong About Nearly Everything: A Theory of Human Misunderstanding, (New York: Basic Books, 2018), 241.
[2] Greg Lukianoff and Rikki Schlott, The Canceling of the American Mind, New York: Simon and Schuster, 2023, 59.
[3] Ibid., 59.
[4] Emma Camp, “I Came to College Eager to Debate. I Found Self-Censorship Instead,” New York Times, March 7, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/07/opinion/campus-speech-cancel-culture.html, quoted in Lukianoff and Schlott, The Canceling of the American Mind, 20-21.
[5] Lukianoff and Schlott, 28.
[6] Ibid., 31.
[7] Ibid., 10.
[8] Lukianoff and Schlott write, “Given that higher education is…ground zero for Cancel Culture, the case for reform could not be stronger. And small changes around the edges aren’t going to cut it. We need big changes—and even brand-new institutions.” (Lukianoff and Schlott, 283)
[9] https://www.uaustin.org/
[10] https://www.ralston.ac/
[11] https://www.arcforum.com/
[12] Lukianoff and Schlott, 290.
[13] The identity synthesis involves an identity-based ideology that claims “the key to understanding the world is to examine it through the prism of group identities like race, gender, and sexual orientation.” (Yascha Mounk, The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time, New York: Penguin Press, 2023, 243)
[14] Lukianoff and Schlott quote Bari Weiss on page 290 from Weiss’s Twitter account where Weiss announced the launching of UATX in 2021.
[15] See the interview here: https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2021/11/20/university-of-austin-niall-ferguson-intv-sot-smerconish-vpx.cnn
[16] See UATX’s principles here: https://www.uaustin.org/our-principles
[17] Francis Fukuyama, Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2018),
[18] Lukianoff and Schlott, 290.
[19] Ibid., 290.
[20] See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1SyCZwMqfY.
[21] https://www.ttf.org/portfolios/online-conversation-with-andy-crouch/
[22] I thought of something James Davison Hunter wrote in To Change The World: “The impetus, energy, and direction for world-making and world-changing are greatest where various forms of cultural, social, economic, and often political resources overlap. In short, when networks of elites in overlapping fields of culture and overlapping spheres of social life come together with their varied resources and act in common purpose, cultures do change and change profoundly. Persistence over time is essential; little of significance happens in three to five years. But when cultural and symbolic capital overlap with social capital and economic capital and….these resources are directed toward shared ends, the world, indeed, changes.” (James Davison Hunter, To Change the World (New York: Oxford, 2010), 43.)
[23] Jonathan Haidt quotes Rikki Schlott in the forward to Lukianoff and Schlott’s book, The Canceling of the American Mind, page xiii.
About the Author
Travis Vaughn
9 responses to “Cancel Culture and New Institutions”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Travis, You so astutely note: “How this network of people has come together – from places like Stanford’s Hoover Institution, Harvard, NYU, and elsewhere – is intriguing.[22] Will they be able to push back, with lasting results, against what they believe to be a “crisis of self-censorship”[23]? At the very least, it seems that new institutions are underway. We shall see.”
You are making a keen observation that deserves our attention. It’s almost as if it’s a new kind of “leadership” team we are seeing coming together. Where do you think higher education is heading?
Pam, this is such a great question. In terms of Christian/faith-based education, I think the question is even harder to answer, though I would suspect that you would have more knowledge than I would in that regard. In the same way that U. of Austin founders are hoping to carve out a new path forward by returning to what they believe to be higher education’s roots (in some ways)…a context for academic freedom, traditional/philosophical liberalism, free speech, etc., free from what they believe to be the trajectory of higher ed, particularly in ivy league – type schools…I’m guessing there will be those who want to pursue an alternative to what they currently see in Christian higher ed. But I’m not sure what the future will look like. I know I’ve enjoyed my time at George Fox, but we are doctoral students. I am considering pulling together 7 – 11 leaders this summer to have a conversation related to this, to discuss a number of issues. Maybe I’ll have a better answer for you in a year?
I sure do hope you record that conversation or at least report back what you find out! What kind of leaders will you pull together?
This thread has caught my attention because just this week, when interviewing an expert in my topic, I received the recommendation to use college students as a pilot for hosting conversations in areas of doctrinal differences.
Your discussion here has added additional encouragement for me to think through how to create spaces for discussion on disagreements. Thanks for the inspiration, you two!
Two things come to mind in reading your excellent post Travis…
1. Social media…I think antidotally one could make a strong case that there is a correlation between the rise of the cancel culture and the rise of social media. No question in my mind. They are kissing cousins. Social media has given the platform for a degree of anonymity, and unfettered/unfiltered public reprisal. What used to be limited to a “letter to the editor” in a local/regional/national periodical, now is 24/7 access to the whole world.
2. Institutions of higher education…like social media, which I have to believe began with the pure motive of connecting people with one another, higher education started with pure motives – educate and equip. Both have devolved. Seriously, and badly devolved. Higher education now sees itself as THE, not A, Cultural Gatekeeper. That pride will lead to a downfall, unless it rightsizes itself. I don’t have much hope, a little but not much, for the newer institution coming onto the scene, because, like others, they will start out noble and strong, but again, devolve into what others have experienced. The culture is far too powerful – and they will cave, like so many others have in the past and currently.
I wish there was better news. 🙁
Bummer…and, to think, I used to be such an optimist!
P.S….way to kill it on the footnotes. Good work!
Well, as I was reading through your post I was going to ask a question related to Jonathan Haidt, a name that keeps popping up within our cohort. But then you maybe answered the question right at the end of your post. I’m going to check out the interview you linked to. Do you have any other recommendations for where to get started with Haidt’s writing, etc.?
Thanks Travis….interesting developments down in your neck of the woods. The question that came up for me as I read your blog was less about the viability and necessity of new institutions of higher education, but the longer-term outcome: Will the creation of these ‘alternative institutions’ help to heal and reconcile a divided country (in this case the USA) or further exacerbate the problem? We already see the fights between left and right on university campuses (well documented in the book)…assuming the old institutions continue to exist and the new ones are sustainable, how will the country start taking steps back towards being a ‘civil society for the common good’ as each institution graduates young adults further convinced of the correctness of their worldview/perspective and the limitations of the other? Might the next generation just remain ‘separated from each other’ just a little longer, acquire more ammo for a particular position, and then be released into society where others have been radically formed in different ways? That sounds pretty dystopian! I guess the other way to ask the question is: I wonder how these new institutions will form people in such a way as to bring healthier and more cohesive relationships within society? At this point, it’s worth a try….but it’s going to be a tricky dance from my perspective.
Thank you for drawing attention to what they are trying to do in Austin. I wonder if there will be power in numbers and having big players like Harvard and NYU, perhaps they will give pause to immediate canceling. I may try to listen to that podcast. Thanks.