Institutionalize University Neutrality

Universities should adopt formal, enforceable rules that restrict institutional political advocacy, require separation between scholars' private political positions and their academic work, and mandate objective, merit‑based criteria for hiring, promotion, grading, and public statements. These rules would not ban individual beliefs but would proscribe institutional activism and codify when and how academic bodies speak to the public. — Framing neutrality as a formal institutional reform turns episodic critiques of campus politics into concrete policy proposals that could reshape funding, governance, and public trust in higher education.