This is John Batchelor, speaking with colleague Peter Berkowitz of the Hoover Institution, writing at Real Clear Politics, his column on higher education and what needs to be done to regain the trust of the American people who are not on campus.

Peter outlines the place to start.

There's much more of this later on tonight.

Peter Berkowitz.

Thank you.

Well, first I want to say, and I say this with due respect, I must mildly correct you.

You said you were guilty of distrusting these colleges and universities.

I say that you rightly distrust them because they are guilty of a number of offenses, which have rightly lost your trust.

And we've discussed them already today and in many of our conversations.

They have been censoring free speech.

They have been denying students accused of wrongdoing,

especially in cases of sexual misconduct.

They've been denying them basic due process rights.

You cannot constitute an institution of learning

unless you have presumptions of innocence

and give everybody fair hearings. And they have been

hollowing out the curriculum. When they haven't been politicizing the curriculum, they use the undergraduate

curriculum to teach courses on their favorite subjects, rather on the subjects that students need

if they are to become responsible citizens.

So I believe the universities have well earned your distrust.