But for all their firepower, where was the intellectual spark—the creative flare that can spring you out from inside the box?

For liberalism demands that believers enter public dialogue stripped-down—or as Stephen Carter of Yale writes, “only after leaving behind that part of themselves that they may consider the most vital.” Non-believers, on the other hand, are not forced to check their principles at the door.

For all our Nobel Prizes, it’s increasingly clear that investment in higher education gets the most bang for the buck when it’s put into community colleges, not Ivies. There are two reasons why community colleges should be a top priority for anyone who cares about higher education.

So, students, philosophers, bums, fellow classmates, and anyone else pitching tents in front of University Hall, get out of the Yard.