The strangling of a university

Too many thoughts swirling in my mind as I try to make sense of everything that is happening, particularly the assault on universities and students, which for me is personal. I came to the United States in 2005 as a student on an F1 visa, with one purpose only — to get the best education in science, engineering and mathematics. And I did. It was in the United States that I discovered the true joy of learning and the freedom to explore. I lived the spirit of liberty and the free exchange of ideas that defined the American education system and made it the envy of the world.

I benefited immensely from the flexibility, the transparency, and breadth of the American education system, from its diverse curriculum and cutting edge research. Campus life was defined by a vibrant international student community, a cosmopolitan atmosphere, a global progressive outlook, and freedom of expression. These were not produced by some liberal political agenda, but simply because education expands our horizon and broadens our mind, whose natural outcomes are a progressive outlook and a more rounded view of the world. It's that simple.

The fact is, whoever or whatever I am today, a major part of it I owe to the once-great American education system, the beautiful tradition of research universities. I am beyond grateful for having been granted that opportunity. The university is one of the few places where the ideals of the American constitution can be found in their purest expression, in my experience.

At a time when tariffs are being weaponized to boost manufacturing, it is important to realize that universities and research centers are the manufacturing centers of that invisible and intangible commodity called knowledge, and the invaluable diamonds that are hidden among them, wisdom.

Quitting Academia

Two years ago, I made the nost difficult decision of my life to leave academia for good. All I wanted to do was write. There is a universe within me that I wanted to explore through meditation and language, and I had no more use of formal academic departments. I had started to find academic boundaries oppressive and confining for my ADHD soul that wants to explore a thousand things at once, which I embrace with pride and joy instead of seeing it as a pathology.

Although a therapist once promptly diagnosed me as mild adult ADHD (never went to a therapist again!) I realized that when I'm doing something I love and am naturally curious about, there is no attention deficit. But academia demanded complete focus on a super-specialized domain of expertise, while I kept getting distracted by the cats, flowers and butterflies, the clouds and marketplaces.

I wanted to live directly in the fantastic world itself, which our modern intellect slices and dices into various departments and then proceeds to study the parts as if they exist separately and independently of one another. No, I wanted to live the world whole, from atoms to stars, and everything contained therein, like a child, rooted in my senses and the words my mind creates.

And so, at the end of Covid, with a heavy heart I bid farewell to the world of the university and its curious life, the only world I had known, and loved, until then. It was the university that instilled in me this feeling of wonder and the joy of exploration. Even though I’m not in a university, I try to carry the university within me at all times.

The manufacturing center for Ideas

So, even though I am not presently affiliated with any university, I love the spirit of universities and the sweetness of campus life, the diversity and vibrancy, the curiosity and passion for ideas. It affects me personally, to watch this extraordinary tradition being torched and trashed by people who understand neither the meaning nor the worth of education. It is like witnessing the sacking of the ancient university of Taxila or the Library of Alexandria, which I had read in history books. I never thought I'd witness some version of that sacking in real-time.

As of writing this, hundreds of students have been arrested, had their visas revoked, prevented from completing their degrees, kidnapped, jailed, harassed, tortured. Several universities have been threatened by and intimidated by the present administration, their funding discontinued, their faculty and students attacked without any warrant or order. Where once openness and free exchange of ideas was the norm, now has been poisoned by fear and division among students and their communities.

It is heartbreaking to witness the strangling of an institution of higher learning. At a time when tariffs are being weaponized to boost manufacturing, it is important to realize that universities and research centers are the manufacturing centers or that invisible and intangible thing called knowledge, and the invaluable diamonds that are hidden among them, which we call wisdom.