To give oneself the law is the highest freedom. The much-lauded ‘academic freedom’ will be expelled from the German university; for this freedom was not genuine because it was only negative. It primarily meant lack of concern, arbitrariness of intentions and inclinations, lack of restraint in what was done and left undone. The concept of the freedom of the German student is now brought back to its truth. Henceforth, the bond and service of German students will unfold from this truth.

Martin Heidegger “The Self-Assertion of the German University,” May 27, 1933

If I am right in believing that Heidegger’s teachings are the most powerful intellectual force in our times, then the crisis of the German university, which everyone saw, is the crisis of the university everywhere.

Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind

It’s in a way ludicrous to mention in the same breath the childish idiocy at Yale, the Lord-of-the-Flies frenzy at the University of Missouri, and the embrace of National Socialism by the great philosopher Martin Heidegger. We’re tempted to say, “First time tragedy, second time farce,” and leave it at that.

But isn’t farce sometimes a kind of sugar-coated tragedy? Farcical illiberalism is still illiberal. Soft nihilism is less intimidating than hard nihilism. Self-pity is less threatening than self-assertion. But the damage to the American university — and to America — can still be great.

Let’s be clear about what is happening at Yale and Missouri, and at colleges and universities all across the nation: Freedom is under assault.

Read the article “The Self-Destruction of the American University” on weeklystandard.com.