Nils Gilman at Persuasion:
The question that leaders of research universities must grapple with is this: How can we preserve and enhance what is uniquely valuable about the research university? To do that, we must begin by defining what is “uniquely valuable”—that is, what research universities do better than any other existing institution, and without which society would suffer badly. I take those uniquely valuable attributes to be: (a) the creation of highly well-trained experts; (b) path-breaking knowledge creation; and, crucially, though often ignored or even denigrated, (c) knowledge preservation and transmission.
You will note that I do not list “remediation of historic wrongs” or “promotion of social justice” as among the unique value-adds of research universities. This is not because I do not regard these goals as worthwhile but rather because I do not regard those objectives as ones that research universities are “uniquely” suited to pursue. Those projects, I would argue, are much better implemented either through an explicit political process or through civil society actors with explicit moral missions such as churches, charities, and so on.
More here.
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