Brian Balogh is professor of history at the University of Virginia and is co-host of the podcast " Backstory ." He has been affiliated with the Miller Center for almost 20 years, and resigned from the Dorothy Compton chair there on June 30, before he had any knowledge of Marc Short's appointment. The views expressed are his own. Read more opinions at CNN.

(CNN) Ever since he announced his run for the presidency, Donald Trump has mounted a growing, unprecedented attack on civil debate, tolerance, respect for minorities and foreigners, fact-based discourse, the rule of law and other attributes of America's cherished liberal democracy. His opponents have been counting on the political system to stop this runaway train, to no avail.

First, they assumed that candidate Trump would implode. Then, they counted on any one of a dozen-plus established Republican candidates to win the GOP nomination. Next it was Hillary Clinton's turn to beat Trump. Once Trump was elected, the folks who were supposed to rein Trump in ranged from the "adults in the room," to Congress, to some of Trump's own appointees in the Department of Justice and the national security establishment. To date, however, all of these "checks and balances" have largely failed to constrain a President who will do anything for a personal win, even if it means changing the rules by which the political game is played.

Untested until recently as a guardrail against Trump is the academy. Admittedly, modern-day universities are not known for their courage in this area. As Dahlia Lithwick put it in a recent article for Slate, "A good many academics to whom I have spoken in recent months have told me their best hope is to keep to themselves, work in their limited fields, be good teachers and scholars, and count on something larger than themselves to change things in government."

Yet what better institution than a university to stand up to the President in the name of civil discourse, evidence-based discovery and the crucial role of disciplined expertise? That is why the recent effort to stop the appointment of Trump's former legislative director Marc Short at the University of Virginia's Miller Center is so promising, even though it has not yet succeeded.

More than 3,200 members of the University of Virginia community have signed a petition asking the Miller Center to rescind its offer. Two prominent historians, Melvyn P. Leffler, former dean of the university's College of Arts and Sciences and a prize-winning historian, and William I. Hitchcock, a leading student of foreign affairs and the presidency, resigned from the Miller Center in protest over the university's decision.

It is easy to see why the Miller Center might be interested in Short. The Miller Center is a nonpartisan think tank that specializes in the study of the US presidency. Short, who began his career working on the Senate campaign of Oliver North, the current president of the National Rifle Association, and was chief of staff for Vice President Mike Pence, has been one of Trump's top aides. Short certainly has seen conservative politics and the current administration from the inside.

and spewed thinly veiled racist and xenophobic bile. Short has directly parroted many of the administration's lies on I signed the petition because Short stood by as Trump labeled the press the "enemy of the people"and spewed thinly veiled racist and xenophobic bile. Short has directly parroted many of the administration's lies on issues such as immigration

JUST WATCHED Short: December showdown over wall is likely Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Short: December showdown over wall is likely 00:52

While scholars studying the presidency at the Miller Center need to talk to political operatives such as Short -- indeed, one of the Miller Center's most important programs, the Presidential Oral History Program, does just that by interviewing dozens of officials from presidential administrations -- it should not offer high-level positions to those who do not embrace the fundamental values shared by the academy and liberal democracies. Nor should it help launder the reputation of aides who have enabled the President to, in the words of Hitchcock and Leffler, "disregard, circumvent, and even violate the norms and laws that are fundamental to civil discourse and democratic politics."

In short, institutions such as the Miller Center, and universities more generally have an opportunity to double down on the values they most cherish by rejecting those who have sought to erode such values.

The process that led to Short's appointment also excluded vital input from faculty at the Miller Center. As the historians who resigned put it in their letter to center Director Bill Antholis, "Your decision was made without adequate faculty discussion, deliberation and a vote." This is standard practice at universities, and the reason for it simple: It falls to the faculty to ensure that universities are not tempted to stray from their central mission in search of financial or political gain. It is also the faculty's role to ensure that only the most highly qualified scholars join their ranks. Short has none of those scholarly qualifications.

JUST WATCHED Trump rewrites history on Charlottesville Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Trump rewrites history on Charlottesville 03:52

Had the leadership of the Miller Center consulted its faculty, it would have learned that the timing of this appointment was terrible. The university is approaching the anniversary of the tragic events that wracked the Charlottesville community on August 11-12 of last year, yet Short did not distance himself from Trump's racist comments in the wake of the Unite the Right rally and the tragic death of a peaceful counterprotester, Heather Heyer

Although Short has recently stated that he is "sympathetic to the pain in the community" and that "I think we could have done a better job expressing sympathy for the victims and outrage at those who perpetrated this evil," he failed to call out the President at the time or show any intellectual independence from his boss -- a quality that the academy, if it wishes to live up to its ideals, must demand.

Short moves into his Miller Center office this week. So why do the resignation of two professors and the signatures of several thousand people suggest a promising path forward? Because these protesters have articulated the fundamental values that should inform all universities, and those values, in turn, are precisely what Trump is undermining.

Those who defend the hire have invoked bipartisanship and nonpartisanship, saying we need to hire some conservatives to balance the progressives among our senior fellows. That misses the nature of the threat faced by the United States today. The norms and practices that have allowed liberal democracy to thrive in this nation are under assault. The battle lines must be drawn between the advocates of liberalism and the forces of illiberalism. That formulation comes from none other than Miller Center assistant professor Nicole Hemmer , not from a political operative for either party.

Which is why universities are ideally positioned to defend the values that undergird liberal democracy. But they must do so by hiring faculty who subscribe to these values, and who are highly trained in their specialized field, not partisan warriors.

If these values are not the flavor of the month in Washington, they do continue to inspire Americans in many walks of life. Because the academy has so much to lose should its members fail to act on these values, it is just possible that today's version of Army attorney Joseph Welch, who asked Joe McCarthy, "Have you no sense of decency, sir?" reads something like the last paragraph of the Hitchcock/Leffler letter

"As teachers, we have often told our students that the defense of democracy and its basic ideals -- respect for truth, inquiry, reason, decency, civility, and humanity -- requires constant vigilance and active engagement. We must not normalize or rationalize hateful, cruel and demeaning behavior. We should not reward and honor those who defend such behavior. When we see things we believe to be wrong, we must speak out and take a stand."

Follow CNN Opinion Join us on Twitter and Facebook

Marc Short did not stand up for these values while he enabled Trump to systematically assault them from the White House. Nor did the Miller Center stand up for these values when it appointed Short without consulting its faculty. But for thousands of students, alumni, faculty and yes, university presidents too, a golden opportunity to do the right thing awaits.