There is some disagreement about the first university; in any case, universities have existed for over a thousand years. And for all that time they have been places to gather those with more-than-average intelligence to study and learn, to think and to investigate. Crudely stated, the smart teaching the smart how to use their smarts.
I spent most of my professional life in a series of nine universities. At some I spent a few months, in others 1-3 years, and at one I spent nearly 30 years. I’ve been an undergraduate and graduate student, adjunct faculty, tenured faculty, associate dean, and in retirement, emeritus professor. Looking back, I have few regrets.
A regret I acquired recently was reading that my undergraduate university - San Jose State - aims to create an equity-based ‘honors’ program for BIPOC students. It is, of course, a part of the racist CRT movement in academia and, as such, much to be regretted.
One suspects it intends to be an academy teaching Saul Alinsky-style rabble-rousing tactics. The program's 'graduates' will have few-to-no employment opportunities, something not relevant to the university. Its real aim is to create within the university a safe space for academically disinclined students of color in order to meet real or implied quotas and keep the State funds flowing in a state with a progressive legislature which favors such projects.
