Within the rhetoric and composition literature, liberal and liberalism often denote unsophisticated theory and insufficiently progressive practice. I argue that such a view distorts the liberal tradition. Liberalism is, in fact, a potent reform project deeply connected to university writing instruction. During our field's social turn of the 1980s, liberalism's progressive potential was obscured. This was to the field's detriment; liberal goals, values, and ontological ideas can add meaning to our work and inform classroom practice. To illustrate my claim, I examine liberalism's relationship to the rising anti-racism movement. A commitment to liberal ideals, I argue, can help ensure the effective application of anti-racist principles.