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Harvard professors Michael J. Sandel, Randall L. Kennedy, and College Dean David J. Deming debated the role of meritocracy in democratic societies at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute’s inaugural academic freedom lecture on Thursday night.

During the talk, Sandel criticized higher education for straying from what he said was its mission of promoting public good, which he added was responsible for the general loss of confidence across America in higher education institutions such as Harvard.

“Some of the American public’s loss of confidence in higher education is not just a result of Donald Trump and MAGA politics. Some of it we have brought upon ourselves,” Sandel said.

The debate opened with a lecture by Sandel and was moderated by Radcliffe Dean Tomiko Brown-Nagin, a co-chair of the University’s Open Inquiry and Constructive Dialogue Working Group, which was formed in April 2024 to encourage greater dialogue and civil disagreement on campus.

Sandel’s most recent book, Tyranny of Merit, blames meritocracy for widening class inequality in the United States. At Thursday’s lecture, Sandel added that the winners of a meritocracy develop a sense of hubris that leads them to forget the “luck and fortune that helped them on their way.”

According to Sandel, college admissions suffer from the same problem, as students accepted by elite institutions develop a sense of superiority. Sandel said that Harvard, alongside other elite universities, should consider a new admissions system instead.

“My proposal is for a lottery of the qualified. Let the admissions office cull out those who are not well-qualified,” Sandel said, adding that then a lottery could be held “among the rest.”

In response to Sandel’s criticisms, Deming noted that Harvard students won eight Rhodes Scholarships, 13 Olympic medals, and three international math titles last year, saying that they “are more excellent and meritocratic than ever.”

Despite agreeing on Sandel’s diagnosis that American wealth inequality has worsened over the past five decades, Kennedy and Deming remained in disagreement about treatment methods throughout the conversation.

Kennedy criticized Sandel’s suggestion that the college admissions system would produce less inequality as a randomized lottery.

“He wants a kinder, gentler regime, but that kinder, gentler regime will still produce losers. They will still produce people who don't get in,” Kennedy said.

Deming also criticized Sandel’s proposition for a randomized college admissions system.

“The Ivy League plus Stanford, Duke, University of Chicago, and MIT, so 12 of the most selective universities in the country, collectively enroll 0.9 percent of all students,” Deming said.

Because of their limited enrollment, Deming said that the lottery system “wouldn’t actually make a dent in any of the rising inequality that Professor Sandel mentioned.”

Instead, Deming said that the U.S. should “make sure that as many people as possible at the age of 18 are qualified to attend universities, and on the supply side, make sure that public universities are adequately funded and that they are in a place where they can take on more students.”

Kennedy also criticized the Trump administration’s use of meritocracy to justify its ongoing assault on Harvard.

“Right now, we have a federal government that says that it is all in favor of meritocracy, and one of the reasons why it's attacking Harvard University is because, in its view, it’s not sufficiently committed to meritocracy. Take a look at the cabinet of the United States!” Kennedy said.

Sandel and Deming did agree that growing income inequality threatens democracy in the United States. Sandel compared economic mobility in the U.S. to other countries by citing research conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

“How many generations would it take for someone born poor to rise not to the top but to the median income in their society? In Denmark, it takes two generations. Any guesses as to how many it takes in the U.S.? Yes, five,” Sandel said.

“The American Dream is alive and well — and living in Copenhagen,” Sandel added.