Over recent decades, the American university has been on a conveyor belt toward higher costs, less intellectual diversity, and less relevance to contemporary American life. Will Inboden, a decorated historian of foreign policy and newly appointed provost of the University of Texas at Austin, is here to change that. Will and Peter discuss how higher education got into a rut, how universities can lead us out of it, the point of Shakespeare, and how to build lifelong friendships.

Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:02:30 - Why choose a career in academia

00:05:00 - Shaken public trust in institutions of higher learning

00:13:00 - The role of a university

00:16:50 - Academic freedom

00:20:26 - STEM research and the CCP

00:29:00 - Decline of the liberal arts

00:40:15 - The pursuit of truth

00:42:30 - Viewpoint diversity

00:48:00 - Life as provost

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Host: Peter Robinson

Peter Robinson Unbridled is a podcast of the Civitas Institute of the University of Texas at Austin

Executive Producers: Mat Hames Beth Hames

Researcher: John Masko

Producer: Laura Utt

Editor: Josh Meyers

Post Production: Jacob Estrada

Camera: Josh Harwick, Nathan Jennings

Music by Brandon Shufflebarger