According to The Washington Post, undergraduate enrollment nationwide dropped by over 3% last year—some 465,000 students. Maybe the pandemic led more students to stick closer to home, or maybe a job-friendly labor market tempted more to work instead.  

Either way, it’s forcing the question of what college is actually for? In too many universities, true critical inquiry has been replaced by ideological conformity. For example, Republicans comprise just 4% of historians, 3% of sociologists, and 2% of literature professors. But the problem isn’t just that there are more Dems than GOPers, but that there are more admins and “Diversity Equity and Inclusion” officers than students. It’s that schools are indoctrinating instead of educating. 

Christians have a new challenge—and opportunity: to preserve the best of classical liberalism. After transferring to Hillsdale College, one surprised former Ivy Leaguer atheist liberal put it this way:  

“I was confronted with the fact that these religious institutions were, in practice, far more aligned with my values like individual liberty, critical inquiry, and diversity of thought than the place that explicitly claimed [those] things.” 

That’s a great report card—and an even better goal.