At a recent meeting of the HxA Board of Directors, I compared public opinion about our universities to a dragon that, for at least a decade, slumbered outside the gates of our campuses. That sleep was not entirely peaceful; campus outrages would occasionally stir the beast. But, by and large, the scene was quiet. The dragon slept, and the campus status-quo prevailed.

A little over a year ago, on the day three Ivy League presidents testified on Capitol Hill, the dragon’s eyes snapped open. Fixing on images and slogans from campus encampments over the spring, those eyes narrowed. With the election of a president and congress who campaigned on a promise to “fix” our “broken” universities, the dragon took flight and is now circling above us. When it lands, will it prove to be a friendly dragon, empowering thoughtful insiders to guide their universities back to principles of open inquiry and the search for knowledge? Or will it be a senseless lizard, bent primarily on destruction?

Since its founding in 2015, HxA has been growing to meet challenges like the one now before us. Our Campus Community Network, launched in January 2023, already has 74 campus communities in three countries, and is poised to add more this spring. We continue to build the Segal Center for Academic Pluralism. We’ve established a new Policy Team, expanded our podcast, and launched HxA’s periodical, inquisitive, as well as our staff Substack, Free the Inquiry.

At HxA, we have been thinking hard, and talking with you, our members, about how to focus our resources to meet this moment. How can we guide our universities in the direction we seek? Is there a way to saddle this dragon? As we head into 2025, here’s what we see as key priorities:

First, academic freedom, in both teaching and research, was a top concern in our recent member survey, and it is a top concern of our staff, too, as you can see in our Free the Inquiry substack. HxA’s new policy team is actively engaging with campus leaders, and with lawmakers too, to promote the principles of academic freedom and to oppose shortsighted interventions.

Last year’s wave of adoptions of institutional neutrality is a good start, but too many college and university leaders still act as partisans in political fights, rather than platforming the ideas of their students and faculty. Whether, and how, neutrality should apply to knottier questions like institutional investing is another issue we’ll be exploring in the year ahead.

To protect truth-seeking and encourage viewpoint diversity, forced political speech should be no part of academic life. From ideological litmus tests in hiring and grants, to syllabus mandates, to required loyalty oaths, HxA will be opposing forced political speech in all its forms.

We’ll also be helping our members build curious classrooms, spaces where students can learn to cultivate intellectual virtues and professors can practice the HxA Way.

Finally and most urgently, in a year of political action we will be focused on the dangers and opportunities of government power. With a close focus on our principles and a recognition of the viewpoint diversity present even among our members, we’ll be analyzing specific proposals and wrestling with the deeper questions of Truth, Power, and Responsibility in higher education. That will also be the theme of our annual conference, June 23-25 in New York City. Registration opens January 15!

So, defending academic freedom, institutional neutrality, and curious classrooms; opposing forced political speech; and urging prudence and sophistication in any governmental policy reforms. In the year ahead, look for HxA to be active across these five areas. And look for us to be creating opportunities for you, our members, to leverage your insights and experiences to help make our universities better in all these areas, too.

As always, thank you for all your commitment, energy, and ideas. We see dangers in the year ahead, but opportunities abound, too. Most important: we are honored to be riding this dragon with you.

-John Tomasi