I’ve been off this platform almost entirely. That’s because three months ago, I almost died. I’ve wrestled with what to say or whether to say anything at all. But what happened has so profoundly impacted my family & me that silence would be false.

RT @JoshHochschild: Another casualty of the higher ed blob. Is it ideology, incompetence, or blind bureaucracy? Does it even matter?.

RT @JasonLepojarvi: There's a lot of common sense in this thread. I can see it rubbing some academic folks the wrong way.

RT @JDHaltigan: This is unconscionable. Anyone that knows David from this platform understands that. The notion that Woke is dead or the un….

RT @mattleeanderson: I'm a distant bystander, but this seems like a bizarre move by UNC. David is an archetype of the kind of intellectua….

RT @jennfrey: I have no clue what's going on here, but I am very sad to hear this news. I've long known David to be a true and gifted schol….

RT @JOEBOTxyz: Dr. David Decosimo is a good man and his firing from the University of North Carolina is an indictment of academia. If our….

RT @ItzikBasman: Read this thread. And then tell me what of any of it raises disagreement. I agree with all of it.

RT @kevinnbass: I saw Dr. Decosimo's posts explaining the politicization of the universities a month ago and thought, "there was no way thi….

RT @JohnLBria: The biggest UNC L this week.

RT @ConceptualJames: It's too bad the only "solution" we're allowed to consider now is loyalty oaths in "the other" direction.

RT @asymmetricinfo: Deeply concerning. Civic schools represent one of the best possibilities for rebalancing American universities. But to….

RT @wokal_distance: This is an enormous loss, and a huge mistake by UNC.

I thought civic schools were our best shot at renewing higher ed. That may still be true. But we stand poised between two futures: Aristotle or Nietzsche. Power is essential. But without virtue, power is not enough. Not if the aim is real, lasting reform and a truly common good.

Civic schools must boldly engage the West's greatest texts & our most important questions. Not just in a class or two but across the curriculum. A redecorated status quo or a silo for conservative careerism is utterly impotent to reform academia, cultivate virtue, & change lives.

Schools devoted to civil discourse must exemplify it, starting at the top. They must welcome disagreement, not punish it. They must prize rigorous Socratic questioning, not coddle mediocrity. They must nurture & reward civility, not slanderous sophistry & lazy ad hominem attacks.

Schools devoted to leadership must model integrity, accountability, & openness to feedback. They must not be led in authoritarian, tyrannical ways. They should honor university policy & at least basic norms of self-governance. They should reject bullying, retaliation, & deceit.

Civic schools must reject the prestige-thirst that nearly led UF to hire Santa Ono. Academia has enough CRT, decolonial, & DEI activists. Instead, we must hire fearless scholars immune to group think & social pressure, & unwaveringly devoted to colorblind equality & free speech.

Reform must be built on merit, courage, & principle, not nepotism, ideology, & secret handshakes. Affirmative action for anyone is bad. Demanding loyalty oaths & unquestioning docility while selecting for personal connections & membership in certain networks is even worse.

I have been fired as Associate Dean of UNC's School of Civic Life & Leadership, without explanation & upon my return from parental leave. I have some thoughts on the future of the civic school movement & the possibility of university reform.🧵.

Starting after the pandemic, when colleges would come up folks would consistently say their kids at Newton North or South were interested in places like Auburn, Clemson, & Tennessee.