Committee on the Future of the American University | The Crisis of Trust

Higher education in America today faces an unprecedented set of challenges. But perhaps no crisis facing universities is more consequential than the loss of public trust. 

Recent survey data indicate a broad decline in trust that extends across ideological and demographic lines. A 2023 Gallup poll found that only 36 percent of Americans express a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in higher education — a substantial drop from 48 percent just seven years prior. That number did recover slightly in a 2025 survey, rising to 42 percent. 

One reason often cited for the decline is financial: escalating tuition costs, coupled with a perceived decline in the economic value of an undergraduate degree, have led many to question the return on investment in higher education. Another concern is ideological. Accusations of bias have eroded confidence in the ability of universities to foster open inquiry and promote academic freedom as a collective good, rather than a means to promote a single point of view. 

These concerns have been exacerbated by policy controversies around high visibility issues such as COVID-19 vaccines and the factors contributing to climate change. Federal agencies have also raised concerns about scientific integrity.

All this feeds into the broader crisis of confidence in universities, a crisis that mirrors nationwide decline in trust across American institutions, including government, media and industry. New technologies such as AI bots and deepfakes erode authenticity and challenge the discriminating power of critical thought and cultivated expertise. Meanwhile, political polarization, powered by a media environment that rewards outrage, reframes difference and disagreement as implacable division. 

As a result, our vision of the future can become occluded by the fear and vulnerability shaping the present, which engender distrust. Trust-building under such conditions faces strong headwinds. Yet working to build trust now can also constitute a powerful countervailing force to the proliferation of distrust in its refusal to forsake goodwill. Consequently, it is critical that we understand what we mean by trust and what is at stake in reestablishing American faith in higher education. 

Trust describes an implicit disposition of goodwill that allows communities to work effectively toward common ends, cooperate despite uncertainty and promote a general sense of security amongst community members. 

The research and training conducted at universities establish the background conditions of trust that makes everyday life possible. When we drive over bridges, we are trusting civil engineers trained at universities; when we board airplanes, we are trusting university-educated physicists; when we take medications, we are trusting university-based biomedical research. Almost every institution of American society — industry, media, government — relies upon the trustworthiness of university research and education to clearly define challenges, innovate solutions and explore new ideas. Trust in American society has become inextricably interwoven with trust in universities. 

So, what can we do? The Committee on the Future of the American University is eager to engage with voices from across the Cornell community to develop new approaches to bolster public trust. 

One lesson we have learned already is that public trust in higher education is symbiotic with trust within the university. “On campus” and “off campus” are closely intertwined, especially in the age of social media. What happens in one reverberates instantaneously in the other. Building trust on campus has tremendous power to reverberate far beyond. 

A second lesson is that public engagement is vital but requires attention. Over the last decade, Cornell engagement with community groups and public stakeholders has increased dramatically. Yet, despite this effort, public trust more broadly has diminished. So how can we do better?

Third, trust takes time and a willingness to share. Robust networks of trust emerge from a shared set of understandings, common goals, mutual interests and, importantly, a collective image of the future. None of these demand agreement or homogeneity, but they do require sustained discussion.

The crisis of trust facing American higher education presents a critical challenge. This moment of reckoning is an opportunity to reaffirm the university’s indispensable role in a democratic society. As institutions dedicated to inquiry, education and the public good, universities are not merely recipients of trust; they are the essential producers of the very conditions that make societal trust possible — from scientific knowledge to a citizenry capable of civil discourse.

The task ahead is immense, but the goal is clear: to embrace the profound potential of a revitalized American university dedicated to strengthening the foundational capacity for trust that sustains our mission and American society itself. 

Signed,

Adam T. Smith, Co-Chair of the Committee on the Future of the American University
Distinguished Professor of Arts and Sciences in Anthropology

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