American higher education is in a bad place: public confidence is dropping, prices and student debt are crushing, political correctness in curricula is widespread, and free speech and academic freedom are under attack. At this Cato Institute event held 9/18/19 on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S. Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) leads off by discussing his interest in finding solutions to the many problems with higher education policy. We then hear from the authors and editors of three important new books tackling higher education’s myriad ailments and how to fix them. Many things must change in the ivory tower, and this program presents clear, grounded ideas about what those should be.

Opening remarks by The Honorable Rick Scott, United States Senator, Florida; Featuring Richard K. Vedder, Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute and Author, Restoring the Promise: Higher Education in America; Philip W. Magness, Senior Research Fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research and Coauthor, Cracks in the Ivory Tower: The Moral Mess of Higher Education; and Todd Zywicki, Professor of Law at George Mason University and Coeditor, Unprofitable Schooling: Examining Causes of, and Fixes for, America’s Broken Ivory Tower; moderated by Neal McCluskey, Director of the Center for Educational Freedom at the Cato Institute.

This event was sponsored and the video recorded by the Cato Institute.