Walk across almost any college campus in America, and you will encounter a powerful sense of identity. University names appear on sweatshirts and banners. Alumni proudly display institutional affiliations decades after graduation. Students gather around traditions, symbols, and mottos that often trace their origins back centuries.
These symbols matter because they represent something larger than school spirit. They reflect a set of ideals about why universities exist in the first place. Among the most enduring of those ideals is the pursuit of truth.
