One hears the phrase “trust crisis” so often these days that it has become a cliche. But just because a term is overused doesn’t mean it isn’t true. Indeed, many of the most important recent social trends in the United States, from populism to polarization, stem at least in part from the growing lack of trust that Americans have in elites and elite institutions. 

Higher education has not been immune from this trend. In fact, sizable majorities of Americans now routinely say that they don’t have confidence in colleges and universities. Perhaps more surprisingly, majorities now also say that attending college is no longer worth the time or money—a sentiment that more than 40 years ago, when I set off for college, would have struck my parents and my friends’ parents as absurd.

So what went wrong?  

In a wonderful new essay in this issue of inquisitive, Martin Gurri tries to answer that question by pointing to what he believes is a profound ideological disconnect between the ideas and priorities of university faculty and administrators and those of most average Americans. This sense of alienation, he writes, combined with the advent of social media makes it increasingly hard for the academy to command any respect from a large and growing share of the population. 

In a pair of excellent companion essays, James Lileks and Heather McGrew tackle many of the same issues, but from a slightly different angle. Both point out that the entire spectrum of the academy, from top to bottom, leans heavily left, making it harder for Americans who don’t share these views to trust universities, particularly in such a politically polarized age.

Meanwhile, Kevin Wallsten tries to answer a different question: not what went wrong, but what should be done. The short answer, he says, is that universities must first reestablish trustworthiness before they can hope to be trusted. 

On a different note, this will be the last print issue of inquisitive. As HxA's work increasingly centers on direct partnerships with universities and concrete reform on individual campuses, we're putting more of our energy into those areas. Exploring open inquiry through essays like these remains important to us, so inquisitive will live on with contributed pieces on our Free the Inquiry Substack. More information about these changes can be found on inquisitive’s website.

Meanwhile, let me thank all of our wonderful authors as well as Alice Dreger (the founding editor of inquisitive); our amazing graphic designer, Janelle Delia; my incredible colleagues on the communications team, Nicole Barbaro Simovski and Jake Klein; and our crackerjack copy editors, Elizabeth Miles, Lyndi Schrecengost, and Amy Stern for all of their hard work and creativity. And finally, let me thank you, our readers, for making the last two years such a fun and worthwhile journey. 

All the best,

David