A vibrant intellectual life is not assured by the autonomy of cultural institutions. Our East and Central European colleagues are now struggling for a necessary but not a sufficient condition of their deliberative role in democratic society. This is most evident as we turn to the American scene, particularly to the American university. On the grounds of the American university, we often observe how the autonomy of a cultural institution may even work to undermine intellectual criticism and public deliberation. This is of great importance because much of America's public life is now found in the universities, overshadowing the traditional public spaces of cities. As painting, music, and theater have found their place in American universities, so has intellectual life. The strengths and weaknesses of the American university, as an independent cultural institution, therefore, have broad public implications.

When we look for intellectuals in American society, the natural starting point is the universities. It has not always been the case. Through much of American history, intellectual life was a component part of the liberal professions, and even up to the post-war era intellectuals tended to center around independent journals and magazines more than in university departments and research institutes. But today general interest magazines and critical political and cultural reviews no longer are profit making enterprises on the open cultural market. They are more often appendages of academic departments.