The American university―one of the most successful institutions in human history―is facing an unprecedented assault from the president of the US. Experts on authoritarianism have drawn comparisons to other countries where strongmen subdued universities as part of their power grabs. Yet, as former Columbia president Lee C. Bollinger points out in his account of the university's significance, in such dire times, one has no choice but to state clearly and forcefully what one stands for.

Bollinger reveals how the structure of the university contributes to the success of the American system―because it provides those who study and work within it a degree of creative freedom hard to find elsewhere―and why that structure is both impossible to recreate and vulnerable to outside attack. The fundamental mission of the university is to enhance knowledge, but this is not merely a high-minded idea. It is, as Bollinger demonstrates, a notion rooted deeply in the Constitution, specifically the First Amendment, the basis of our political and social life. The university helps realize the First Amendment; the First Amendment helps make the university. Bollinger argues that, with the press diminished, the university remains the only source of truth-seeking for those who still believe in democracy. The university must be defended if the American experiment is to continue.