Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 4 days ago
In this Career & Life Conversation, alumnus Jay Morris sits down with Dr Barry Strauss and Dr David Butterfield for a forthright discussion of academic freedom and the life of the mind. Beginning with their own stories, these historians consider how the state of higher education has changed over the course of their careers, noting political incentives, declining rigor, and the emergence of the service-model of education as forces that have profoundly altered the course of intellectual inquiry. They focus in particular on the subtle tyranny of safety, examining how the pursuit of emotional insulation has produced worse outcomes for both students and professors. In light of these challenges, the conversation turns toward intellectual humility, serious engagement with texts, and the creation of new institutions as responses worthy of both risk and resolve.
Applications for Ralston College’s MA in the Humanities are now open. Learn more and apply today at www.ralston.ac/apply
Authors and Works Mentioned in this Episode:
Thucydides
Lucretius
Epicurus
Aldoud Huxley’s Brave New World
George Orwell’s 1984
The Road to Rome
Alan Bloom
Donald Kagan
Roger Kimball
Robert George
Herbert Marcuse
Carl L. Becker
– Chapters —
00:00 - Opening
01:00 - Dr Strauss’ Way into History
03:30 - Dr Butterfield’s Entrance into Classics
06:15 - On Leaving Cambridge
08:45 - Changes in the Academy
10:50 - Would Your Earlier Work be Altered by Today’s Pressures?
15:00 - Decreasing Rigor and the Consequences on Freedom
18:00 - Advice to Students Struggling Today
20:00 - Dropping Standards and Decreasing Freedom
26:50 - Are the Institutions Beyond Hope?
33:25 - What Can Educators Do?
38:00 - Major Shifts to Official Policy
45:00 - What is Disconnecting Inquiry from the Answers it Seeks?
48:30 - What Composes Intellectual Humility?
51:10 - Bringing the Humanities to the Forefront
52:36 - On Creating Content Outside the Academy
54:52 - The Relationship Between Freedom and Nurture
59:30 - Closing Remarks
In this Career & Life Conversation, alumnus Jay Morris sits down with Dr Barry Strauss and Dr David Butterfield for a forthright discussion of academic freedom and the life of the mind. Beginning with their own stories, these historians consider how the state of higher education has changed over the course of their careers, noting political incentives, declining rigor, and the emergence of the service-model of education as forces that have profoundly altered the course of intellectual inquiry. They focus in particular on the subtle tyranny of safety, examining how the pursuit of emotional insulation has produced worse outcomes for both students and professors. In light of these challenges, the conversation turns toward intellectual humility, serious engagement with texts, and the creation of new institutions as responses worthy of both risk and resolve.
Applications for Ralston College’s MA in the Humanities are now open. Learn more and apply today at www.ralston.ac/apply
Authors and Works Mentioned in this Episode:
Thucydides
Lucretius
Epicurus
Aldoud Huxley’s Brave New World
George Orwell’s 1984
The Road to Rome
Alan Bloom
Donald Kagan
Roger Kimball
Robert George
Herbert Marcuse
Carl L. Becker
– Chapters —
00:00 - Opening
01:00 - Dr Strauss’ Way into History
03:30 - Dr Butterfield’s Entrance into Classics
06:15 - On Leaving Cambridge
08:45 - Changes in the Academy
10:50 - Would Your Earlier Work be Altered by Today’s Pressures?
15:00 - Decreasing Rigor and the Consequences on Freedom
18:00 - Advice to Students Struggling Today
20:00 - Dropping Standards and Decreasing Freedom
26:50 - Are the Institutions Beyond Hope?
33:25 - What Can Educators Do?
38:00 - Major Shifts to Official Policy
45:00 - What is Disconnecting Inquiry from the Answers it Seeks?
48:30 - What Composes Intellectual Humility?
51:10 - Bringing the Humanities to the Forefront
52:36 - On Creating Content Outside the Academy
54:52 - The Relationship Between Freedom and Nurture
59:30 - Closing Remarks
