The reason we intend to strictly enforce restrictions on campus protests has less to do with pressure from the outside and more to do with what we owe to ourselves as an institution dedicated to discovery, scholarship, teaching and learning. Our central concern is not with reputation — how others see us. It’s with integrity — how we remain faithful to our foundational purpose. What is that purpose? The main clue comes from the word “university,” derived from the Latin “universitas”: the whole, everything, the universe. We are a university not merely in the sense of being a type of corporation that brings together many programs and departments. We are also a university in that each of us is part of the same truth-seeking enterprise — an enterprise that believes in the universality and interconnectedness of knowledge itself. Here at this school, a historian can learn from a geologist, a neurologist can collaborate with a musicologist, and a freshman student can question and challenge the most senior member of the faculty. Here, students with different backgrounds and perspectives can, with a bit of effort, discuss and debate ideas without descending to name-calling, intimidation or ostracism.

What I Want a University President to Say About Campus Protests OPINION BRET STEPHENS