The past five years have been tumultuous ones for elite higher education. Campuses have been rocked by plagiarism scandals, ugly and violent protests, and revelations about admissions discrimination that went on under the guise of affirmative action. Meanwhile, reformers are trying out new approaches, from civics institutes to more robust legislative oversight of public universities to brand new private institutions. How pivotal will these years turn out to be? And what strategies are most likely to revive the mission of the university? Law & Liberty senior writer James Hankins has hope for a higher-ed renaissance.

When conservatives debate fundamentals, it does not take long for "fusionism" to come up. But it's not always clear what it is. Is it a philosophical stance or a practical coalition? Was it a historically contingent response to the Cold War or an integral part of any conservative disposition? An all-star panel joins host James Patterson to discuss and debate what fusionism really is and what the prospects are for its future. Charles C. W. Cooke, Samuel Goldman, and Stephanie Slade consider fusionism's origins in mid-century America, its culmination in the 1980s and its current status.

Charles C. W. Cooke is a senior editor at National Review and the host of The Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast.

Samuel Goldman is an associate professor of political science and executive director of the Loeb Institute for Religious Freedom at George Washington University. He is author of God’s Country: Christian Zionism in America, and After Nationalism: Being American in an Age of Division, and has written for many publications. He is the editor of FUSION.

Stephanie Slade is a senior editor at Reason and a fellow in liberal studies at the Acton Institute.

Related Links:
Charles C. W. Cooke, "A Roadmap—If We Want It" (Law & Liberty)
Stephanie Slade, "Is There a Future for Fusionism?" (Reason)
FUSION: In the Tradition of Liberty, (Samuel Goldman, Editor)
Charles C. W. Cooke, The Conservatarian Manifesto

Human beings are flawed, finite creatures. But they are not problems to be solved, argues AEI senior fellow Christine Rosen, author of The Extinction of Experience. In the technological age, we too often see basic human activities, from reading and writing, to shopping and conversing, as obstacles to efficiency that must be overcome, simplified, or replaced. And while digital technology has provided many benefits, it has also come with unintended consequences for our habits of mind and social interactions. Rosen argues that we need a "new humanism" that puts the human person front-and-center and encourages people to regularly "touch grass."

Related Links:
The Extinction of Experience (Christine Rosen)
The Outrage Industry ( Jeffrey M. Berry and Sarah Sobieraj
Irony and Outrage (Dannagal Goldthwaite Young)
"A Long View on Artificial Intelligence" (A Law & Liberty forum on artificial intellegence led by Rachel Lomasky)
"What the Smartphone Hath Wrought," (A Law & Liberty review by Joseph Holmes of Jonathan Haidt's The Anxious Generation)

Christine Rosen is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a columnist for Commentary magazine, senior editor at the New Atlantis and fellow at the University of Virginia’s Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture. She lives in Washington, DC.