The newspapers and higher education periodicals are fixated on the current conflict between President Trump and some universities, most notably the escalating fight between the administration and Harvard. The issues of direct funding, provision of overhead, and student visas are important (existential to some schools) and will presumably be litigated and resolved over time.
However, the immediate actions of the Trump administration should be seen as the tail end of a long-term disillusionment of significant parts of the public with higher education. It is only by addressing the real issues that go well beyond the Trump administration’s immediate tactics that schools will be able to develop a future healthy relationship with the federal government and the citizenry. Being the resistance is no substitute for a long-term strategy.
Public distrust of higher education has been growing for some time. In 2024, before the election, The Gallup Organization reported that, “Americans, in general, do not believe that higher education is on a positive path, as 31% say it is headed in the right direction and 68% say the wrong direction.”
The decline in public confidence is driven mainly by Republican doubts — 56% of whom in 2015 had a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in higher education but now only 20% have similar beliefs. Yet, high confidence in higher education has also decreased among Democrats (from 68% to 56%) and independents (from 48% to 35%).
This decline in confidence began to be transformed into policy some time ago. During the first Trump administration, a 1.4% tax on endowment revenue was applied to private universities with a high endowment/student ratio as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.
While applicable to only a very limited number of schools, the tax opened the door for universities to be treated as something other than nonprofits operating for the public good. Significant opposition from the universities affected did not prevent the tax from being adopted and it was not revised during the Biden administration.
The Biden administration itself displayed its own lack of faith in higher education through a variety of attempts to cancel (really shift onto future taxpayers) student debt with several initiatives that would have cost hundreds of billions of dollars. This was an implied vote of no confidence in higher education because the Biden administration was essentially saying that the schooling that students financed partially through debt was not worth it.
Regaining public trust is particularly difficult. Republicans dislike the political climate of universities while Democrats are worried about access and the price of tuition and independents share some concerns of each party.
Real efforts at improving access — which many schools have adopted in recent years without enough attention earned — and promoting freer campus climates — which too many schools have failed at — will have to be done simultaneously.
Understanding that regaining the public trust is the necessary long-term strategy will be difficult given the media likes to track daily who is “winning.” Certainly, the worst response would be faux reforms that do not address the very real concerns of the many across the political spectrum who are unhappy with higher education.
How to regain trust? While there are complex issues, perhaps the best way is to defy expectations and do more in areas of access and free speech than is expected/demanded.
Universities should, and should be seen, as taking the lead in the very areas where the public is most critical rather than being seen to being dragged to reforms or adapting them from a defensive crouch in response to critiques from the current administration. It will then be the universities that are once again setting the agenda for higher education.
This is not to say that universities should adopt policies which they find truly objectionable. However, by being proactive in the areas that different segments of the public care about, it will become clearer that universities are willing to change and why they find some suggestions truly impossible to accept.
Sensing the zeitgeist, Trump has undoubtedly moved the “Overton Window” — the range of politically acceptable views — around higher education and there will be no going back to the status quo before he was elected for the second time, no matter his successor.
Recognizing this crisis as a moment of opportunity where old blocking coalitions may break down and leaders can consider previously unavailable options in a proactive manner would be of enormous benefit to higher education.
Herbst has been president of American Jewish University and Colgate University. He was also previously president and CEO of the Newseum.
https://www.nydailynews.com/2025/05/30/how-universities-can-regain-the-publics-trust/