Disclosure: I am the Director of Communications for the organization Heterodox Academy, an organization that advocates for and against some of the policies discussed in this book. The views expressed in this review are mine and do not necessarily reflect those of HxA. Tl;dr - A timely and persuasive book arguing that universities are inevitably opinionated through the decisions they make. Covers popular topics such as diversity statements, institutional neutrality, student evaluations, free speech, and university rankings. Great book for academic insiders. Since October 2023, universities have been subject to increasing controversy over their public statements, which ushered in a wave of institutional neutrality policy adoptions. More than 160 universities have since adopted policies that end or restrict statements issued by presidents and other university leaders in response to public events that don’t directly impact the university’s mission. But many also disagree about the virtues of institutional neutrality in the vision of the Kalven report issued by the University of Chicago in 1967. One such critic is Brian Soucek of UC Davis, who just published, The Opinionated University: Academic Freedom, Diversity, and the Myth of Neutrality in American Higher Education, with his criticisms of institutional neutrality being a centerpiece of his broader argument. I was surprised by this book for many reasons. I found it a persuasive case against a key policy I believe is a net good for higher education (institutional neutrality). It was well-written by a prominent expert in these issues. But it also covered more ground than I was expecting. Because institutional neutrality has been the subject of his book that has been most dominant in the higher ed discourse the past two years, I was expecting the book to be primarily focused on this issue. But he also covers diversity statements, student evaluations, university rankings, and broader speech regulations on campus in...