The public's impression that American higher education has grown closed minded is undeniably correct. The problem increasingly worries not only conservatives, but also some liberals in the academy. Ironically, some theories designed to explain patterns of durable gender, racial, and ethnic inequality could help improve matters. Such models — often falling under the label "structural" or "systemic" injustice — turn out to be surprisingly useful in explaining why so few conservatives are present among elite university faculties. And they gesture toward some unexpected directions for reform.