Viewpoint Diversity: What It Is, Why We Need It, and How to Get It

Viewpoint diversity is suddenly on everyone’s lips — yet few agree on what it really means. Is it about political balance? Free speech? Academic inclusion? Or something far more vital — the courage to engage across difference?

In Viewpoint Diversity: What It Is, Why We Need It, and How to Get It, leading heterodox thinkers tackle one of the most urgent questions of our time: how to keep open inquiry and constructive disagreement alive amid rising conformity on both left and right. Spanning essays on higher education, politics, culture, and the arts, this bold collection offers both sharp diagnosis and practical solutions for cultivating genuine pluralism.

Timely, provocative, and refreshingly constructive, Viewpoint Diversity makes the case for a richer, freer, and more resilient public culture — one that thrives not in spite of disagreement, but because of it.

Editors:

JOHN TOMASI is the inaugural president of Heterodox Academy. An Associate Professor of Political Science at Brown University and the Director of the Political Theory Project at Brown University, he has written Liberalism Beyond Justice: Citizens Society and the Boundaries of Political Theory (Princeton University Press, 2001), as well as published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals and general interest venues.

BERNARD SCHWEIZER is a literary scholar with 12 books (monographs and editions) as well as numerous peer-reviewed articles to his name. Schweizer, who grew up in Switzerland, earned a Ph.D. in British Literature from Duke University, and then joined the English faculty of Long Island University, Brooklyn. After retiring as an emeritus professor in 2019, he founded Heresy Press as a haven for outspoken fiction and unfettered ideas.

Contributors:

Nafees Alam is an associate professor of social work at the University of Nebraska, senior director of policy and research at the Institute for Liberal Values, and senior scholar at ProSocial Workers, known for research and commentary on viewpoint and political diversity in social work.

Danielle S. Allen is James Bryant Conant University Professor of Political Philosophy and Ethics at Harvard University, author of Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality, and a leading scholar of democracy and citizenship.

Mark Bauerlein is Professor Emeritus of English at Emory University and a senior editor at First Things, known for cultural commentary and author of The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future.

Komi Frey is a visiting scholar at the University of Pennsylvania and former Director of Faculty Outreach at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), known for research and commentary on academic freedom and higher education policy.

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University. An Emmy Award-winning filmmaker, he hosts the genealogy series Finding Your Roots on PBS and is the author of many books, including, most recently, The Black Box: Writing the Race.

Jonathan Haidtis a social psychologist and Professor of Ethical Leadership at NYU’s Stern School of Business. He is the author of three New York Times best sellers: The Righteous Mind (on morality and politics), The Coddling of the American Mind (with Greg Lukianoff, on universities and Gen Z), and most recently, The Anxious Generation (on youth mental health).

Keith J. Hand is a Professor of Law at the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, where he focuses on Chinese legal reform and viewpoint diversity in legal education.  He is the author of Resolving Constitutional Disputes in Contemporary China.

John Inazu is the Sally D. Danforth Distinguished Professor of Law and Religion at Washington University in St. Louis, author of Confident Pluralism: Surviving and Thriving Through Deep Difference, and a scholar of First Amendment freedoms and pluralism.

Yascha Mounk is a German‑American political scientist and Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at Johns Hopkins University, author of The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time, and moderator of the podcast The Good Fight.

Rollie Olson is Research & Media Manager at Interfaith America, writing on pluralism, civic life, and democratic engagement.

Eboo Patel is the Founder and President of Interfaith America, the nation’s premier interfaith organization. As a civic leader, speaker, and author of five books including We Need to Build: Field Notes for Diverse Democracy, his work advances pluralism and interfaith cooperation.

Richard North Patterson is a political commentator, columnist, and former trial lawyer, as well as a New York Times bestselling author of acclaimed legal and political novels such as Conviction, Balance of Power, and, most recently, Trial. His fiction explores justice, politics, and societal conflict.

Ilana Redstone is an associate professor of sociology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, author of The Certainty Trap: Why We Need to Question Ourselves More — and How We Can Judge Others Less, and a scholar of social dynamics and polarization.

Hollis Robbins is a Professor of English and Special Advisor for Humanities at the University of Utah, author of Forms of Contention: Influence and the African American Sonnet Tradition, as well as a noted scholar of African American literature and cultural history.

Bernard Schweizer is a literary scholar with a long list of publications and Professor Emeritus at Long Island University. He founded Heresy Press in 2023 as a haven for outspoken fiction and unfettered ideas.

Jesse Singal is an American journalist and contributing writer known for social-science commentary and the co-host of the podcast Blocked and Reported. He authored The Quick Fix: Why Fad Psychology Can’t Cure Our Social Ills.

Bret Stephens is a Pulitzer Prize–winning columnist for The New York Times, known for his commentary on foreign policy, politics, and culture, and for his independent perspective. He is the founding editor of Sapir, a quarterly journal of Jewish thought.

Nadine Strossen is a New York Law School Professor Emerita, a past president of the American Civil Liberties Union (1991-2008), and a Senior Fellow with FIRE. Her most recent book is The War On Words: 10 Arguments Against Free Speech—And Why They Fail, co-authored with Greg Lukianoff.

John Tomasi is a political philosopher and Professor of Political Science at Brown University, the inaugural President of Heterodox Academy, and author of Free Market Fairness and Liberalism Beyond Justice. He focuses on integrating market liberty with social justice, promoting viewpoint diversity, and advancing open inquiry in higher education.

Tyler J. VanderWeele is the John L. Loeb and Frances Lehman Loeb Professor of Epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, director of the Human Flourishing Program, and author of Explanation in Causal Inference.

Jonathan Zimmerman is the Judy & Howard Berkowitz Professor of Education and History at the University of Pennsylvania and author of The Amateur Hour: A History of College Teaching in America and other books on education and culture.