Higher education must be rebuilt to restore public trust. Here’s how.
Opinion
Higher education must be rebuilt to restore public trust. Here’s how.
The heads of the American Association of University Professors and the American Federation of Teachers lay out their vision for overhauling the sector.
Published May 26, 2026 By Randi Weingarten and Todd Wolfson
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Randi Weingarten is president of the American Federation of Teachers, and Todd Wolfson is president of the American Association of University Professors.
Last month, Yale University released a striking report acknowledging that public trust in higher education is eroding — and that universities themselves bear responsibility. The report’s authors offer a candid recognition of the depth of this crisis, citing a recent Pew Research Center poll indicating that 70% of Americans believe higher education is heading in the wrong direction.
Reports like Yale’s point to real issues: cost, transparency and questions about academic culture. But recognition is not the same as a reckoning.
This crisis of trust is long in the making. It is the result of decades of political choices — federal and state disinvestment that has shifted costs onto students and families, and culture war attacks and policies that have reshaped higher education away from its public mission. Over time, this has produced a system that leaves students struggling, workers insecure and communities underserved. It undermines confidence in colleges and universities, restricts what can be taught and weakens the very institutions that serve the public.
We cannot fix those issues with incremental reforms or better messaging. The scale of the crisis demands a new direction.
That is why the American Association of University Professors and the American Federation of Teachers have launched a policy agenda — called “A Blueprint for Strengthening and Transforming Higher Education.”
Our vision is clear: Higher education should be free and accessible, without the burden of crushing debt. It should provide dignity, fair pay and job security for all who work in it. It should provide a pathway to dignified, well-paying jobs for graduates, and it should be a driver of the state and regional economies. It should advance research in the public interest, ensuring that scientific and scholarly work serves society, not narrow private gain. It should be supported by robust public investment. And it should be governed democratically, with faculty, staff and students shaping the decisions that affect their institutions.
This is not a marginal adjustment. It is a reassertion of a basic principle: Higher education is a public good. And if we are serious about restoring trust, we must be equally serious about strengthening and transforming the system so that it serves students, workers and communities alike.
Without these changes, students face skyrocketing tuition and mounting debt, while also struggling to cover housing, food and basic living costs. Many work long hours just to stay enrolled. They encounter crowded classrooms, reduced course offerings and fewer supports, as institutions stretch limited resources. Too many can’t complete their degrees — not because they lack ability or drive, but because the system is underfunded, overstretched and no longer meets them where they are.
This is what a breakdown of trust looks like on the ground. Students are not asking for special treatment; they are asking for a fair chance to learn, complete their education and build a future.
At the same time, the people who make higher education possible — faculty, staff, researchers and campus workers — are being asked to do more with less. Stable academic careers have been replaced with contingent workers — some 70% of all instructional staff — who receive low pay, little job security and limited voice in decision-making.
Advising and student support systems are stretched thin, and, even before the current administration’s attempts to defund the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and other agencies, research is increasingly shaped by short-term pressures rather than long-term public need. These are the predictable results of a system that has been steadily underfunded and reorganized around market logic rather than public purpose. When the people who educate and support students lack stability and voice, students feel the consequences directly.
And yet, even as trust erodes, the stakes for higher education have never been higher. Our colleges and universities are among the most powerful engines we have for research, innovation and economic growth. They drive medical breakthroughs and advances in healthcare. They train the next generation of nurses, engineers, scientists and public service workers. They anchor local economies and create pathways to social mobility.
They are also foundational to our democracy — one of the few places where people from different backgrounds come together to engage with ideas, challenge assumptions and prepare for civic life.
This is not a new vision of higher education, but it is a deeply American one.
More than a century ago, the Wisconsin Idea — a concept that originated at the University of Wisconsin — held that the work of the institution should reach every family and that its research and teaching should directly improve people's lives. The Wisconsin Idea went on to influence landmark policies like workers' compensation, unemployment insurance and Social Security. It was a vision of higher education rooted in the belief that knowledge should serve the common good, not narrow private interests.
Trust won’t be restored in higher education until students can afford to learn and complete their education, workers have the stability and respect they deserve, and institutions are protected from political interference and are accountable to the public they serve.
That work will not happen on its own. It will require action — by policymakers, educators, students and communities alike. But it is possible.
Higher education has been one of the most powerful engines of opportunity, innovation and democracy in our nation’s history. It can be again. The task now is not simply to defend it. It is to rebuild it so it truly serves the public. That is how trust will be earned back