The current moment has underscored the fact that leaders in higher education are forced regularly to make difficult decisions that have competing ethical and practical consequences. How does one decide about the opening or closing of a campus during a pandemic? How does one balance a commitment to the free exchange of ideas against the potential for some ideas to create a toxic environment? What role should the university play in challenging governmental policies that conflict with the university’s mission? How does one weigh the importance and cost of access to college against the importance and cost of investing in the quality of college? In this course we will explore these and other challenging questions through a combination of actual case studies and broader discussions about the role and responsibilities of the university in society. Students will be asked to formulate careful arguments and to wrestle with the fact that life—on and off a college campus—is rarely simple.