For Philadelphia high school seniors, ’tis the season for choosing a college, and for perfecting applications before the January deadline required by many institutions. This year, their choice is even more complicated than usual because of how fraught the environment is on many campuses.

Drawing on a half century in university life — including 24 years as a college president — I offer these guidelines for making a decision that will allow for an intellectually free, healthy and robust experience.

First of all, as I have said before, ignore U.S. News and World Report rankings. Even their revised criteria yield misleading information, designed for the sole purpose of selling magazines, not providing reliable college guidance.

In today’s troubled environment, it’s especially important to seek information about how colleges and universities implement respect for personal and individual freedom.

Instead, carefully study university websites. Colleges and universities invest substantial funds in the website because they know that it’s their most universal recruiting device. Is it easy to navigate? What happens if you search for “first-year experience” and “writing across the curriculum,” both indicators that the institution is committed to teaching undergraduates?

Don’t hesitate to call university offices with specific questions. If you get the brush off from Financial Aid, Admissions, or an academic department, you’ve learned something about the campus’s responsiveness, or lack thereof.

Select colleges and universities that serve all your needs

Also consider carefully if a school — or its location — conforms to your student’s needs and values. For people who want reproductive choice, universities in Pennsylvania have an advantage over counterparts in Florida, Louisiana, and other red states because of their ability to access not just abortion but general medical advice on contraception and related health matters that should be between patient and doctor.

Last summer, after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe, I wrote about the importance of identifying colleges and universities with healthcare divisions showing respect for women’s agency in healthcare decisions. Eighteen months later, according to an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, “Increasing numbers of young women applying to colleges are avoiding schools in states that ban or severely restrict abortion, according to polls, scholarly research, and interviews with Philadelphia-area students, their families, and college consultants.”

The availability of comprehensive university healthcare services — physical and mental — sends a message about respect for the whole student. It pays to look closely and ask admission officers questions about the staffing of healthcare centers, confidentiality, and availability of needed prescriptions.

Select colleges and universities that teach respect for others’ evidence-based opinions

In today’s troubled environment, it’s especially important to seek information about how colleges and universities implement respect for personal and individual freedom.

In The Citizen a couple weeks ago, Larry Platt struck just the right note when he argued that the University of Pennsylvania, and all universities, must teach students to engage in reasoned exchange on controversial issues — a core value of the academy, based on respect for all learners.

Penn and Lafayette College were both identified recently by the US Department of Education’s Civil Rights Office for investigation into their handling of antisemitism, anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and other forms of discrimination and harassment.”

We are fortunate in Pennsylvania that we do not have statutes like those in Florida banning books and limiting what is taught in the classroom. Every PA institution has the right to “say gay” and to teach what’s on the historical record even if facts about racial oppression make some uncomfortable.

It breaks my heart to witness the agony of being a student at Penn right now, especially those who are Jewish (as I am) or Palestinian (Muslim). What can be done about constant yelling and everybody feeling unsafe?

That means how tough issues are addressed on Pennsylvania campuses is determined by the universities themselves. The investigation of Penn and Lafayette by the DOE Civil Rights Office should prompt heightened activity in teaching respect for evidence-based opinions and, in general, for the recognition of the humanity of those in opposition to our views.

Respect — that’s key to everything. Vicious, ill-informed slogans are dangerous because they are disrespectful, denying the humanity of opponents, reducing them to one-dimensional enemies.

Full disclosure, I am deeply loyal to Penn, where I earned all my degrees, BA, MA, PhD. It breaks my heart to witness the agony of being a student at Penn right now, especially those who are Jewish (as I am) or Palestinian (Muslim). What can be done about constant yelling and everybody feeling unsafe?

Actually, Penn knows what to do — what universities have always done. Here are just a couple of examples to learn from:

• Dartmouth immediately established public forums for rational discussion of the issues that hundreds of people attended online and in person, while allowing peaceful protests from supporters of both Israel and Palestinians to continue on campus.
• Students at Harvard University, another school roiled by threats and intimidation of both Jewish and Palestinian students after October 7, took it on themselves to launch a hotline run by volunteers of different ethnicities and religions from around the world, to help fellow students understand the issues.
• On October 12, Wheaton College (Massachusetts) invited the campus to the Cole Memorial Chapel (non-sectarian) for a Peace Ceremony, sponsored by the Center for Religious and Spiritual Life. It’s noteworthy that Wheaton had this Center, an already-established structural entity, to deal with controversy. That’s something to look for as students and families select colleges.

Universities and colleges must employ administrative, curricular, and pedagogic means to teach respect for individual freedom. It’s important to ask questions about the campus’s orientation program. Does it have a strong component of respect for opposing points of view? Does it assist students in differentiating hate speech from evidence-based arguments? How does the campus deal with the complexity of First Amendment rights and humane, informed decisions about how and what to say both in the classroom and outside?

Key to respect is active listening — one of the least-taught communication skills. Here are some ways to teach active listening:

• Use formal debate as a teaching technique and support debate teams as a co-curricular activity. Debate instructors often ask students to prepare convincing arguments for a position opposed to their own beliefs. What a great exercise in getting outside oneself and really hearing and understanding opposing points of view!
• Always set ground rules for discussion, with prohibitions against insult and personal attack. Ground rules do not repress academic freedom. In fact, arguing points within a mutually accepted framework allows for freedom of expression without the fear of being shouted down and silenced. Students accept ground rules in athletics. Why not in academics?
• Employ what is called Rogerian rhetoric, developed by psychologist Carl Rogers. As a classroom technique, it requires speakers to summarize the opposing speaker’s point of view in an acceptable form before proceeding with their own arguments. Rogerian rhetoric teaches respectful listening.

It makes sense to research whether the colleges and universities you are interested in are committed to respectful listening. Prospective students might seek permission to sit in on a class or two. Many higher education institutions invite accepted students to do just that before making that fateful choice on May 1.

What We Can Do

• • Encourage colleges and universities to teach personal and intellectual respect inside and outside the classroom.
  • Support universities that provide high quality, comprehensive health care.
  • Advise college applicants to look closely at signs of respect at the colleges they are considering: health care, structures for civil debate, first-year experiences, writing across the curriculum.

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