Given the current assault on critical education by various right-wing groups, the increasing corporatization of the university, and the growing influence of the national security state, it is increasingly important that higher education be defended as a democratic public sphere and that academics be seen and see themselves as public intellectuals who provide an indispensable service to the nation.

"Higher Education Under Siege: Implications for Public Intellectuals," Thought and Action (Fall 2006), p. 64