The mission of a research university is to discover and create knowledge and impart knowledge to its students. As teachers, we work in partnership with our students to build a culture of excellence. Our job as professors is to transform possibility and opportunity into reality in terms of creating knowledge and giving our students the tools and confidence to take our insights further.

Our students not only explore the world but also imagine the world as it could be. They see the world with fresh vision, and they think about how they can broaden our understanding of our diverse world. Their active and creative minds do not parrot the thinking of others.

If we teach our students by example to listen carefully and respectfully to the ideas of others and to appreciate the views of those who may be from different cultures and socio-economic backgrounds, we will have done even more as teachers and mentors. Teaching students how to respectfully partake in the give-and-take of informed discussion is to create citizens who sustain democracy and contribute to our communities.

We are living in a time when intimidation is rife, fear is endemic and some educational, political and media leaders have been cowed into silence and succumbed to threats. 

We must address the crisis and peril that universities face from an authoritarian regime that threatens the independence of our major universities. We need to be fully aware of President Trump’s war on universities, which often wears the mask of concern........

© Cornell Daily Sun