colleges and universities are devoted to a different set of concerns. they have a different mission. they are concerned primarily with the pursuit of truth and the cultivation of excellence. these are not themselves democratic by their nature we don't decide what's true by asking for a show hands. we don't decide what's excellent by looking to see what most people do or most people think. so there is a tension between our democratic values and our academic values and that's a healthy tension i think the problem comes when the two are blurred and politics intrudes into the academy and the democratic principles of equality which makes a lot of sense outside in the public square becomes the dominant principle in academic life itself. outside in politics, we tend to identify with the groups that we associate ourselves with we divide up into groups. we quarrel and fight as