Universities Under Fire: Is the American Academic System Responsible for Trump's Criticisms?
In the United States, a growing disconnect between the general public and universities has been a significant factor in the election of Donald Trump. This alienation, combined with politicized attacks and narratives by Trump and his allies, has amplified cultural divisions and helped mobilize a voter base that supported Trump as a counter-establishment figure.
American economists and political scientists have failed to effectively communicate their fundamental insights to a large segment of the electorate. This disconnect, in part, fostered widespread cultural and political resentment toward higher education institutions, which were seen as elitist, out-of-touch, and ideologically opposed to many voters' values.
Trump and right-wing politicians turned universities into a central front in a broader culture war. They tied federal funding to partisan loyalty, publicly attacked institutions like Harvard, and made efforts to control curricula and governance in universities, deepening a divide between academia and the public.
The perceived gap included a sense that universities promoted progressive or elite viewpoints disconnected from working-class and rural populations, who felt ignored by traditional institutions. This divide helped create a fertile environment for Trump to portray himself as an outsider fighting against an establishment that included academia. His use of misinformation and appeals to "fake news" narratives further polarized trust in expert knowledge and mainstream media, reinforcing skepticism toward universities and experts perceived as aligned with the political left.
Among the top 50 ranked political scientists, a majority work at American universities. However, no reputable American university political scientist claims Trump's policies are beneficial to the country's democracy. Trump's actions, including inciting a mob to violently attack the central institution of the country's democracy, attempting to coerce election officials into manipulating the vote count, and refusing to concede defeat in a democratic election, have been widely condemned.
The Trump administration's policies are a threat to the fundamental liberal values inherent in the concept of "academic freedom." The administration has implemented hostile measures such as major cuts to research funding, demands to discipline certain subjects and institutions, and the deportation of foreign students.
Much of the innovation that has propelled the U.S. to its position as the world's economic powerhouse stems from the high-quality research and education delivered by leading American universities. Nobel Prize-winning economist Angus Deaton, for instance, argues that American universities are dangerously isolated from the society they serve. This isolation, he contends, has led many with lower education to view universities as serving only an economic and social elite.
In light of these issues, leading liberal writer Nicholas Kristof has called for increased participation in the public debate by the American research community. Bo Rothstein, a Senior Professor of Political Science at the University of Gothenburg, notes that American colleagues are less visible in the public debate compared to his experience in Sweden.
The American Political Science Association, with over 11,000 members, is the world's largest and most prominent political science profession. Yet, the profession has been criticized for its failure to effectively communicate its insights to the public. The question remains as to how the United States arrived at a juncture where a significant portion of the electorate chose to vote for Donald Trump, even for a second time.
[1] The New Yorker - The Cult of Trump [2] The Atlantic - The Trump Voters [3] The Washington Post - How Donald Trump won [4] The Guardian - The media and the election: How the coverage of Trump and Clinton influenced the race [5] The New York Times - The Trump Voters
[1] The disconnect between the American public and universities, exacerbated by politics and general news, played a significant role in the election of Donald Trump, as education-and-self-development institutions were perceived as elitist, out-of-touch, and ideologically opposed to many voters' values, ultimately fostering cultural and political resentment.
[2] The polarization of trust in expert knowledge and mainstream media, driven by misinformation and appeals to "fake news" narratives, further reinforced the divide between academia and the public, turning universities into a central front in a broader culture war, much to the benefit of Trump and his allies.
