broadening and deepening epistemic communities in response to university censorship

This article describes the impact of affective and belief polarization on growing direct and indirect censorship in institutions of higher education. While conventional responses to censorship often rely on appeals to free speech based on individualist rights claims, this article calls for an alternative response: broadening and deepening learning communities. It argues that universities should focus on cultivating trust, fostering collaborative inquiry, and embracing a wide array of evidence and perspectives in order to fulfill their epistemic and civic missions. In doing so, universities can resist the narrowing of knowledge caused by polarization and censorship, and instead model the conditions necessary for improved learning and healthy democracy. While this article focuses largely on censorship in the United States, the educational recommendations extend beyond its borders.